Thread: Hello, new here.

Nice to meet everyone.

Now to business.

Tried my first shave tonight. Did the cheeks only for the most part. Experienced a good bit of pulling/tugging it felt like. What causes this? I tried different angles of blade to face, adding more water/soap to lather (to some degree, probably could have experimented more) and couldn't figure it out. Wasn't able to correct the problem before calling it a day. However, I will note that I didn't cut myself. So maybe that's a sign that I was being too cautious, lol. But seriously, maybe I was trying to go too slowly and not letting the blade do it's work? (I was trying to go slowly mind you.) Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks everyone.

Welcome.What blade are you using?

G'Day Sirwazzles and welcome to SRP and all the info it contains.
IME it could be the blade may not be shave ready.
When I bought my first straight (a GD) I tried using it straight out of the box and had the same feeling as you describe.
After finding this site and studying the information here (particularly in the WIKI) I found that, not only had I bought a razor that is not recommended, I should have gotten it honed to make it shave ready.
I then purchased a shave ready razor from the classifieds, found out what a sharp blade feels like and was pleasantly surprised.
That enabled me to work on my technique knowing that it was not a razor problem, if that makes sense.
You have not shared what razor etc that you are using so it is difficult to give any specific advice, however, it could be the razor, your technique or the lather.
Try reducing the amount of variables, by ensuring the razor is shave ready, and you will be able to narrow down the problems that you are having IMHO.
Geoff

Yup i think HavaChat has it right. Slow or fast that razor should be popping hairs. Tell us about your new razor.

Thanks for all the replies guys. I did a little research before buying a razor and saw that on a few sites Ken Rupkalvis (ruprazor.com) was recommended to newbies. So I got a set of items from him. If I'm not mistaken, the razor I got is vintage. Quite frankly, I never really asked if it was old or new. But assumed it was vintage. I'd say it was if I had to guess (from look and name). Specifically it's an "Our Beauty" by Klostermeier Bros razor. I don't know anything about it, lol. Anyway, to the extent of my knowledge Mr. Rup honed it (as he does with the razors he sells), so it wasn't factory new unhoned or eBay unhoned. I asked him what his advice would be as well and he said one of the most common newb mistakes that could have caused my problem is too steep a blade angle (which very well could have been the problem). He suggested starting with the spine against the skin and just raising it ever so slightly until the angle where the hairs cut smoothly is found. Figured I'd try that. Any other suggestions?

Welcome to the world of SR!

Take caution if you think this blade is vintage. You do not know what bacteria could be lingering on that blade and even with soap and hot water, it might not be killed. Buy a can of Clippercide ($5 - $10 USD) which you can buy from a Sally Beauty Supply store located at 1860 SANDY PLAINS RD 201A MARIETTA, GA 30066 Phone: (770) 565-7480. From my understanding if a blade comes "shave ready", you should still strop it prior to shaving. From what I read about shaving angles, you should be less than 30 degrees when shaving. Have fun!

Originally Posted by brandon215

Welcome to the world of SR!

Take caution if you think this blade is vintage. You do not know what bacteria could be lingering on that blade and even with soap and hot water, it might not be killed. Buy a can of Clippercide ($5 - $10 USD) which you can buy from a Sally Beauty Supply store located at 1860 SANDY PLAINS RD 201A MARIETTA, GA 30066 Phone: (770) 565-7480. From my understanding if a blade comes "shave ready", you should still strop it prior to shaving. From what I read about shaving angles, you should be less than 30 degrees when shaving. Have fun!

Thanks for the thought on disinfecting it. I actually hadn't thought of that. Probably not a bad idea.

Ken is a member and vendor here. From what I know about him he is very reputable. I wouldn't say its not possible the edge is not shave ready but I would not jump straight (yes I did) to that conclusion, but things happen. Try what Ken suggested and then contact him with your results. Or post them here and I am sure some of the more experienced members would be glad to help. I am still too new at it to make any more suggestions other than don't be discouraged and keep at it. Its not going to happen over night.

Originally Posted by Sirwazzles

Nice to meet everyone.

Now to business.

Tried my first shave tonight. Did the cheeks only for the most part. Experienced a good bit of pulling/tugging it felt like. What causes this? I tried different angles of blade to face, adding more water/soap to lather (to some degree, probably could have experimented more) and couldn't figure it out. Wasn't able to correct the problem before calling it a day. However, I will note that I didn't cut myself. So maybe that's a sign that I was being too cautious, lol. But seriously, maybe I was trying to go too slowly and not letting the blade do it's work? (I was trying to go slowly mind you.) Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks everyone.

Hello and welcome to the SRP forum! What is your pre-shave prep like? Also, how about the consistency of your lather? I have had experience with a too dry of a lather causing some pulling and tugging. Just a couple thoughts to help diagnose your situation.
I hope it all works out for you and your "issue" is a minor one.
All my best to your shaving success.
Patrick

Originally Posted by poppy926

Ken is a member and vendor here. From what I know about him he is very reputable. I wouldn't say its not possible the edge is not shave ready but I would not jump straight (yes I did) to that conclusion, but things happen. Try what Ken suggested and then contact him with your results. Or post them here and I am sure some of the more experienced members would be glad to help. I am still too new at it to make any more suggestions other than don't be discouraged and keep at it. Its not going to happen over night.

Yeah, I'm definitely gonna keep trying for awhile before I make any conclusions. Not only am I a beginner, so skill is guaranteed to be lacking. But I also have very sensitive skin (haven't shaved ATG in something like 4 years because of it) and pretty thick/coarse beard hair (was one of those early bloomers who started shaving at age 12). Gave it a second go today. It was better. Not that much though. Still not enough to be sure of anything however.

Originally Posted by pmburk

Hello and welcome to the SRP forum! What is your pre-shave prep like? Also, how about the consistency of your lather? I have had experience with a too dry of a lather causing some pulling and tugging. Just a couple thoughts to help diagnose your situation.
I hope it all works out for you and your "issue" is a minor one.
All my best to your shaving success.
Patrick

Lather/pre-shave hasn't been great or consistent. Yesterday I got my stuff in the mail hours after having taken a shower which is when I would normally shave. Didn't want to wait to try it out though, lol. Today, I had a job interview and just did a quick pass over the cheeks after shower. Lather wasn't great (felt too watery) but couldn't spend the time to fix it. As far as being too dry goes, I don't think that was the case today. Definitely still have to find the right balance though. While on lather topic, I was thinking of adding some olive oil either to the lather or a light layer as a pre-shave.

Another couple thoughts are I might not be stretching the skin enough and might be applying too much pressure. The past two shaves I think I thinned the skin. I haven't cut myself. But I've left those light blood marks/dots from taking skin off, if that makes sense.



Thanks for the encouragement and advice guys.