Thread: 4th shave and have some questions

1. Ive watched videos and read as much info i can. But im still having trouble with angles mainly on my neck and the left side of my face. any advice would be awesome

2. The more i shave it seems the worse and less hair gets removed, Im trying light pressure but it seems as the blde is just passing over the hair and not slicing it ?? But my blade is sharp and slight nicks can test to that.

3. I switched to cream for my other shaves, my first shave was with soap on half my face. Is it possible number two could be because of the switch. My cream is Proaso n soap as well.

Any other advice would be great, i tend to be quite hard on my self and a perfectionist so i keep worry about my flaws and it seems to make it worse haha so it definetly comes down to my own mindset.

Thanks for the advice guys im very exicted to conquer this challenge!

. . . But my blade is sharp and slight nicks can test to that. . . .

. . . Besides "it'll nick me", how do you assess whether the blade is sharp?

. . . How much stropping do you do between shaves? On what?

What you're describing _could_ be caused by a blade that's slowly getting dull. A dull blade is plenty sharp enough to nick your face, but _not_ sharp enough to cut hair.

My suggestion for angles:

. . . Start with the blade flat, and raise the spine just enough so the edge catches and cuts your beard.

That will happen with the blade almost flat going ATG, and with the spine elevated more XTG, and elevated the most WTG. That's my experience, anyway.

Charles

10 full strops during faceprep then 15-20 while letting lather sit, then touch up lather then shave. I still think its a confidence thing ill get it, thanks for your input though man!

There's no rule, but lots of people use 20-40 laps on fabric, then 40-60 laps on leather before shaving.

Maybe you just need to strop more . . . Try it, won't cost anything.

Charles

Originally Posted by pat567

2. The more i shave it seems the worse and less hair gets removed, Sounds like the edge is degrading ~ usually a stropping problem. A fresh honing may confirm that.

Im trying light pressure but it seems as the blde is just passing over the hair and not slicing it ?? But my blade is sharp and slight nicks can test to that. The blade is not sharp if it doesn't cut hair with light pressure, especially wet soapy, well lathered hair Skin is much easier to cut.

3. I switched to cream for my other shaves, my first shave was with soap on half my face. Is it possible number two could be because of the switch. My cream is Proaso n soap as well. At this early stage stropping & lathering problems are common & not likely the fault of the product used.

Any other advice would be great, i tend to be quite hard on my self and a perfectionist so i keep worry about my flaws and it seems to make it worse haha so it definetly comes down to my own mindset.

Thanks for the advice guys im very exicted to conquer this challenge!

Nothing wrong with being a perfectionist but be a patient one It will take a little time to get it all wired.

Of course everyone's beard is different, but I went for a couple of weeks when I started without a strop at all, though I did strop once during that time on newspaper. Of course your blade may be dulled from your beard, or from poor stropping (rolling the edge). I strop 30/70 (canvas/leather) before each shave while the lather softens my beard.

In regards to the LH side of your face, are you using two hands? I'd highly recommend trying it if you're not already (i.e. right hand for right side of face, left hand for left side of face. Have you checked out at what angle the hair grows (mapping your face)? It may be the hair on the left side grows at a different angle that the other and needs therefore a different stroke of the blade. IME the neck is always hard, esp if the hair grows EW rather than NS. If I wanted to get REALLY smooth on the neck I think I'd resort to a DE for that; but normally it's not an issue for everyday life.

IME Proraso is a good soap, but making an Überlather will make it even better.

Check out your angle too, 30 degrees is pretty much optimal.

Being a perfectionist is something I can relate to, and you're in luck, straight razor shaving very much fosters that mind set! However, four shaves is really, for this art (and it is an art), very early. Give it a hundred shaves. After a hundred shaves I was very comfortable shaving with a straight. I still need to learn how to hone. I can keep my blades sharp, but I wouldn't sell a razor as 'professionally sharpened' or even 'shave ready' by any means. Each of the razors I've received have had a better edge than I can get on them, though I am getting pretty close; though not consistently so.

Originally Posted by carlmaloschneider

Of course everyone's beard is different, but I went for a couple of weeks when I started without a strop at all, though I did strop once during that time on newspaper. Of course your blade may be dulled from your beard, or from poor stropping (rolling the edge). I strop 30/70 (canvas/leather) before each shave while the lather softens my beard.

In regards to the LH side of your face, are you using two hands? I'd highly recommend trying it if you're not already (i.e. right hand for right side of face, left hand for left side of face. Have you checked out at what angle the hair grows (mapping your face)? It may be the hair on the left side grows at a different angle that the other and needs therefore a different stroke of the blade. IME the neck is always hard, esp if the hair grows EW rather than NS. If I wanted to get REALLY smooth on the neck I think I'd resort to a DE for that; but normally it's not an issue for everyday life.

IME Proraso is a good soap, but making an Überlather will make it even better.

Check out your angle too, 30 degrees is pretty much optimal.

Being a perfectionist is something I can relate to, and you're in luck, straight razor shaving very much fosters that mind set! However, four shaves is really, for this art (and it is an art), very early. Give it a hundred shaves. After a hundred shaves I was very comfortable shaving with a straight. I still need to learn how to hone. I can keep my blades sharp, but I wouldn't sell a razor as 'professionally sharpened' or even 'shave ready' by any means. Each of the razors I've received have had a better edge than I can get on them, though I am getting pretty close; though not consistently so.

Thanks man im trying both hands today

Thanks for the input

When I first started using a straight razor I had a hard time envisioning what a 30-degree-to-the-face angle looked like, especially on portions of my face where I was already feeling awkward merely holding the razor against. One day, I read a post on SRP that mentioned keeping the spine about one spine's-width off of the face. That made a huge difference for me.

Obviously, prep, lather, and stropping are huge factors too.(assuming your razor is shave-ready).

Hang in there - from one OCD kind of guy to another.

Greg

Looks to me like it's just a matter of practice and developing that facility with the blade. As time goes on you will adapt to the particulars of your face and instinctively know how to shave each area. It's something that only comes with time. 4 shaves is little time to develop this. You just have to be patient.