Thread: I've been at this for a week now and I'm hoping you can help me a bit

I have a week of straight shaves under my belt now and I guess it's going OK but there are a couple things that have got me stumped.

• I'm getting the razor hung up sometimes.
  At the beginning of a stroke or sometimes part way through the razor will stop and I have to apply more pressure or lift the razor away and try again. I think it's more often happening XTG or ATG but I've done it at least a couple times WTG also. I've cut myself once so far on one of these hangups.
• I sometimes skip the razor
  I'll be sliding the razor across my face and the blade will skip over a part of my face and land a fraction of an inch away from where it was.
• My beard grows sideways on my neck and under the chin.
  So far I have not found a way to go exactly ATG here. Am I right that the length of the blade and the configuration with handle at one end is going to prevent me from going exactly ATG and I will have to go somewhere between XTG and ATG? And is it possible to get as close a shave with a straight going X/ATG as I can with a DE exactly ATG?

Am I not being firm enough? Bad Angle? Skin too slack? Not enough lubrication? Or something I haven't thought of?

I have noticed that my WTG and XTG passes - when done correctly - give better results than the WTG or XTG passes with a DE. I have also noticed that the ability to finely control the angle means I can do multiple passes with no irritation - a far better outcome for me than doing that with a DE. On the other hand going ATG without properly reducing the beard is frightening with a straight. So far I have not gotten a uniformly BBS shave using a straight. I get very close on some parts but chin and some parts of the neck are proving very difficult. And if I try too hard, that's when I start to collect nicks. So I'm trying to limit myself to three passes plus one touchup max and just settle for whatever I get for now.

Was your razor honed by a pro , or does it still have the factory edge ? BTW , your progress seems pretty normal . At the stage you're at , you really shouldn't be worrying about BBS or trying to shave ATG . The razor skipping could mean it's not quite sharp enough , or it could be a problem with your technique .

I have experienced the same two problems you mentioned:
1: blade skipping-i started using Shave Secret oil on my face before I lather.Helped tremendously
2:ATG under the jawline-I had to learn(still learning it)to scythe.Jockeys has a pretty good video on here to show you whats up with that.Its the only way I can get smooth with a str8 in that same area

But,my blades are not 100% shave ready and my experience is slim.Only about 2 months with a str8.Please take my advice with at least one grain of salt!LOL

It was honed by a pro but it's been subjected to my stropping since then. I don't always remember to try a hanging hair test every time. And maybe I just need to be more patient.

Timj,
Like shinyribs, I too am new, keep the "salt" handy.
I have experienced the "skip' as well. I found that pulling the skin tight, then applying the razor allows it to move without the skip. And the other thing I've noticed is that blade pressure seems to be at the root of a lot of shaving issues. The less amount of pressure applied to the razor on the skin, the better. It seems as if you can not apply too little pressure.
Again, I am a newbie so clearly take my findings in stride.

Andy

You want to be careful with that shaving under the belt thing mate. You might want those bits that the razor is getting hung up on.

On the serious side, a week in isn't much. You will improve as you get better technique in both the prep and the shave. Right now, I think it may be a dull blade or dry lather, perhaps both.


Mick

You are shaving a week and doing ATG and the neck too? You are too adventurous and shaving beyond your experience. If I were you I would concentrate on the face only and WTG only then when things are going your way try across the grain then maybe the neck. take small steps. Each thing builds on the previous. Get too far ahead of yourself and it's like a house with a weak foundation.

+1... Only a week in so it's highly likely your prep, lather,technique & stropping are all contributing to less than stellar results.

To attempt advanced strokes eg. ATG is risky to say the least.

Yeah, I've been SR shaving four months, and very rarely go ATG. Every once in awhile I'll give it a shot. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Regardless, my shaves are of a higher quality than the triple blade beast I was using before. Shave prep is highly underrated by us noobs it seems. Gotta get the prep right, or nothing else will go right either.

Thanks for the advice everyone. I've been wet shaving for a long time with a DE so I think my prep is OK. But the dry lather makes sense. I've noticed that a lather which would be great for DE does not feel nearly as slick with the straight. And I am certain my stropping is not what it should be - anything which gets as much attention here as stropping does is probably not going to be mastered quickly.
I guess I've been moving pretty fast with this because I haven't been hurting myself. A couple nicks but no real cuts and very minimal irritation. But I guess I'd better slow down and get used to the idea that I'll be using my DE at least part time for a good while yet. Maybe I'll use some proraso pre shave for every shave for awhile and see if I can get some more water in to my lather. And some extra stropping practice won't do any harm.

I said no cuts. Funny thing about that. I prepared myself for the possibility of some cuts while I learn this and I did get one fairly bad one - on my finger! I was turning the razor over or switching hands or something and I got my finger on the shoulder. Wow that got my attention.