Thread: Cuts and Nicks while learning

Originally Posted by Jimbo

Actually, I found my shaving technique on the face improved markedly after attempting my head a few times. The fact that you can't see the back of your head meant that I developed a pretty good feel for the razor on my skin back there.

Hmmm, perhaps there are benefits to being follicly challenged...

Many benefits.

1) God made a few perfect heads...the rest he covered with hair.

2) It operates as a solar panel to power a sex machine.

Over a year for me and I sometimes nick myself too, esterday as a matter of fact. Usually this is when my razor isn't as sharp as I like and I end up applying some pressure. Sometimes when I haven't been patient enough to prepare my beard and face properly.

PATIENCE!

X

Hey,

I sat down and watched Lynn's DVD again last night, while I was watching I tried to imagine the things I do wrong/differently during my shave which cause me the razorburn and cuts. I identified a few possible problem areas so I decided to change what I usually do. This morning I did a 2 pass shave with my Dovo, copying exactly the strokes demonstrated by Lynn on the DVD, because I was doing less passes than usual I used a more aggressive razor angle similar to on the DVD. I also used slightly more pressure, though not much more.

The first pass was totally N-S (top to bottom) everywhere. The second pass was diagonally across the grain on the top part of my face (cheeks, sideburns, sides of the moustache area), sort of ear to jaw direction if you can imagine that. And everywhere below the jawline I went S-N. On the chin below my lower lip I just went N-S on both passes as Lynn demonstrated, rather than N-S and S-N like I usually do.

I got a pretty good shave, probably my best with a straight so far. No cuts, no razorburn, and it was all quite easy with no dragging as I wasn't going against the grain anywhere. It got pretty close too, it feels smooth stroking my fingers with and across the grain, and just a little rough stroking them against the grain.

I think I'll stick to this same pattern every day now. As my technique improves I'm sure the shaves will get closer, and when my Lynn honed razors arrive it'll be closer still.

Thanks for the advice all.

***Update***

A bit of an update. I've had some pretty good shaves over the last 4 or 5 days, I do 2 passes and get almost BBS, usually with no new cuts and no razor burn - overall I'm very happy.

Only problem, I have a few cuts on my left cheek from over a week ago which haven't healed yet - so I decided I'd use my Merker Slantbar for few days to let them heal up. I keep re-opening them with the straight and so they're taking longer than usual to heal.

So, I used my Slantbar fitted with a Feather blade this morning, and did my usual two passes in the same way I'd use for my straight, including all the same skin stretching.

It's the first time I've been happy to get a disappointing shave! I did my two passes, and I can feel noticably more stubble than if I'd used my straight. Particularly my cheeks and my neck are still a little rough, I think if I did a 3rd pass I'd be getting close to my results with a straight.

So I can safely say, I can now get a noticably better shave with a straight than I can with a DE - at last!

This has filled me with confidence , I'm really happy I decided to start using straights. When my cuts have healed up completely I'll probably sell off the DE razor and just use straights exclusively.

Thanks again to everyone for all the advice so far.

Congratulations!
The addiction only gets worse with each new success .

Originally Posted by Iwan

***Update***

A bit of an update. I've had some pretty good shaves over the last 4 or 5 days, I do 2 passes and get almost BBS, usually with no new cuts and no razor burn - overall I'm very happy.

Only problem, I have a few cuts on my left cheek from over a week ago which haven't healed yet - so I decided I'd use my Merker Slantbar for few days to let them heal up. I keep re-opening them with the straight and so they're taking longer than usual to heal.

So, I used my Slantbar fitted with a Feather blade this morning, and did my usual two passes in the same way I'd use for my straight, including all the same skin stretching.

It's the first time I've been happy to get a disappointing shave! I did my two passes, and I can feel noticably more stubble than if I'd used my straight. Particularly my cheeks and my neck are still a little rough, I think if I did a 3rd pass I'd be getting close to my results with a straight.

So I can safely say, I can now get a noticably better shave with a straight than I can with a DE - at last!

This has filled me with confidence , I'm really happy I decided to start using straights. When my cuts have healed up completely I'll probably sell off the DE razor and just use straights exclusively.

Thanks again to everyone for all the advice so far.

That's the way to go. I threw my mock3 out almost 2 years ago and have never looked back. Enjoy.