Things to look for as a beginner

Today marked my fourth SR shave. I started with a set of 70 laps on the strop. I took a shower and used Nivea pre-shave face scrub while my brush was soaking in hot water. I built up a lather with my AoS lavender shave cream and used AoS pre shave oil and lathered on top of it while I got everything ready and gave my razor 10 more laps on the strop. I relathered and started my WTG shave. It went pretty smoothly today but I still feel like I have some tugging and every so often there feels almost like a suction between my neck and the blade.

My XTG went okay... I had a little time constraint so I neglected my upper lip since it came out pretty good in the first pass. I had some nerves since my last shave left me with a nice 2 inch slice on my left cheek! My neck came out a little better than it has but is still stubbly. I finished up with cold water and AoS after shave lavender (I love the smell but I have some ToB sandlewood on it's way!)

My razor only passes the HHT in the middle. And I am aware that it's not an accurate way to test the sharpness of a blade but since the toe or heel doesn't pass is there something I should do to improve that? Is there something that I should be looking for or looking out for as a beginner? With the tugging is there something I should look out for, especially when it comes to my neck? Lastly how often should I oil my strop?

Thanks in advance,

Rob

Hello Rob

I am kind of newbie here, but I read some articles related to fight the urge to, finish shaving when the tugging is happening in your face here is the link

First straight razor shave - Straight Razor Place Wiki

Now the warning of the tugging is in italic (I should have read that one before because I cut myself a little trying to do this) what I understood of the article is the way to learn, it says "several little longer strokes can be used to go back and clean up any remaining hair/whisker in this area. Once you have accomplished this, go ahead and use your regular method of shaving for the rest of that shave." The key here is to train, first some parts of your face then the rest of them.

Now for the strooping I saw a video where it shows how it is done and it is important to apply only a very small pressure or none and role the razor on its spine when you do it the link is here

Straight Razor Place - Stropping Video

It is remarkable that the gentleman in the video the way he roles the razor on the spine. Another thing to mention passes the razor like 70 times but are 35 per every side I do not know if the laps you mention are one side or both sides, you maybe are strooping the razor too much.

I hope the information it is useful to you, and we go for the 5th shaving (me too I specify).

Best Regards

I went over both of those a couple times each before my first shave. I just didn't stop with part of my face to start. I'm more just looking for something like a sensation that I should be aware of that experienced shavers have gone through.

You mention suction of the blade against the neck - are you keeping the blade at the right angle? I can only think you would get suction if the blade was flat on the skin, which could also cause tugging. (Just guessing here, I'm new to this myself).

About remaining stubble on the neck, I still haven't got a smooth shave on parts of my neck in 20 shaves. I think it's because the hair direction is difficult to approach ATG there - in the hollows either side of my adam's apple, the hair grows very flat to the skin and towards the ears. It's taken me some time and practice to get even a half decent shave there. You'll need to work out what direction of growth you've got all over your face and neck, and just try different ways of holding the razor and approaching the stubble to get the best results. (I'm over 40, and I only just found out a month ago that my stubble didn't just grow straight north-to-south as I always assumed it did. lol. )

To Villalon88: I read somewhere hereabouts that you can't strop a razor too much (if you are stropping properly) and that there should be a little pressure, not none at all, when stropping.

Well if you are stropping properly more than 100 passes up and down on the leather probably will not make any real improvement. the suction you are feeling could be a couple of things... dried out lather and/or incorrect blade angle, or even not having the skin taut enough. yes in differnt areas of your face the hair will grow diffently a little stubble with the WTG pass is normal the cross grain and ATG passes should fix that. think of each pass not as removal but as diminishing the hair.

I am aware that my neck hair is very slanted and I take that into account when I'm going wtg. When the suction occurs there is some lather on the blade. When stropping should I hear the blade running against the leather? I do reapply lather to my neck if I feel like it might be drying out. When I do this is there any problems applying the new lather over the slightly dried or should I rinse off first?

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Originally Posted by syslight

Well if you are stropping properly more than 100 passes up and down on the leather probably will not make any real improvement. the suction you are feeling could be a couple of things... dried out lather and/or incorrect blade angle, or even not having the skin taut enough. yes in differnt areas of your face the hair will grow diffently a little stubble with the WTG pass is normal the cross grain and ATG passes should fix that. think of each pass not as removal but as diminishing the hair.

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Good advise.

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Originally Posted by Cavere

I am aware that my neck hair is very slanted and I take that into account when I'm going wtg. When the suction occurs there is some lather on the blade. When stropping should I hear the blade running against the leather? I do reapply lather to my neck if I feel like it might be drying out. When I do this is there any problems applying the new lather over the slightly dried or should I rinse off first?

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I haven't had this problem in a while, but I just re-lather over the section. When we're learning sometimes it takes us longer and this happens. Also, make sure your lather isnt too thick in the bowl. A drop or two of water on your brush, then going over the dry section can help too.

Just my two cents

Was the blade properly honed before you started straight shaving? A barely passable factory edge might not survive long for a beginner (which I am myself, about 5 or 6 months). Even if you honed it yourself, or plan to hone it yourself, get it honed by a pro, learn to shave, get it honed by a pro again. Then you will know what a good blade feels like and will have a reference for your own honing or maintence needs. I notice a lot more tugging when my razor is ready for more than the strop can adjust. Lastly, have some patience learning, stick with WTG & finish up with your old razor if its not good enough. If you read and follow the leaning guide, you should still be on just your cheeks WTG now. It takes patience and practice. I dont remember how much stropping they suggest, I doubt more than 50 laps. Personally I go with like 6 linen and 13 leather laps, most of shave, couple more linen & leather passes before ATG lip/chin area. That is me, start with the the guide advises and stick with it for a while. Oh, dont try and strop like a pro (i dont know if you do, just pro-active advise that fits the theme of this post) so dont try and strop like a pro, take it slow and pay more attention to stropping right than fast.