Thread: Baffled by needing many passes

Sounds like you rolled the edge to me. My first wtg pass knocks off all the stubble & leaves me pretty slick in that direction.

After a shave like that, with so many passes, do you have trouble with irritation or razor burn?

Edit: I'd recommend sending it to be rehoned. While its out you might consider getting a straight that uses disposable blades like a shavette or feather artist club. That would allow you to practice shaving with a known good edge every time while you're getting the basic stropping technique down. Straight shaving has a lot of things to learn all at once, good prep, making a good creamy lather that'll cushion the blade, stropping & so on.

Give your strop technique another try before sending it off for another hone job. Give it a hundred laps or so, and try it again. May be just the angle of the razor on your face.

4 passes is a bit much to start with. Re-read the Wiki, look at the videos, and try just your sideburns and cheeks in a single pass. If you are satisfied with the results there, it's probably your technique that need a bit of refinement.

One step at a time. You will get there.

One pass should leave you pretty well off. After a couple months of learning I started on multiple passes and I find that its not always necessary. With that said, +1 to both of what was said above. First try a good stropping and if that's not working you might want to send it off to fix the edge.

Ken, if I rolled the edge, can proper stropping recover it? I've been stropping properly for four days now, and my shaves get better every day, although its impossible to tell if its me or the blade.

It's hard giving rookies advice because there are so many things that can be wrong. It can be the razor, it can be your lack of experience and technique. There is a learning curve and it can take months to get really good shaves so since you just started this week I'd be leaning towards the experience and technique thing. You can test the razor by doing an easy part of the face like under the sideburns. You should get a good result if your razor is proper sharp unless of course your skills are really off.

I second/third the motion to give the razor a good stropping or two to try and recover the edge. I also agree that technique may be contributing. May I suggest that you pay attention to the angle of the blade. Try for a 30 degree angle. Not flat against the face and not a 45 degree angle. Start with almost flat against the face and gradually increase the angle. You will notice the difference.

Mball, 'Good input so far - nicely summed up by TBS.

With a week into it - it could be anything. Stropping & blade angle were my bane. My stropping dulled my edge, and I clung so hard to the '30 deg.' angle going WTG that when I ran into heavy timber, the blade just stopped. I couldn't use that blade for the next 6 wks - not being able to mow the thick stuff w/ the 30 deg. angle. Weeks later, I tried a heavy grind & thought I'd found the Holy Grail of blades. I still love the heavies, but found I could drop the angle on my flexible hollow and mow heavy timber just fine.
It'll come together and your shaves will get easier and more fun. If it turns out you need a hand w/ the edge and your seller doesn't touch-up for free - pm me. 'Just actual costs to mail it back to you. At the point you send out your razor - you can see the value of having a 2nd razor to use while one is out. 'Doesn't have to be a costly blade - just good shaving condition.

Best of Luck. I think we'll hear more joy from your shaves soon.

Did you come from using cartridge blades? If so it is really tough to compare results because of simple math..You have a three, for our five blade cartridge you are essentially doing almost ten passes because of all the blades..technique is different and prep is everything as well..don't be discouraged..stropping is not easy either..
I know it is hard at the beginning but it is am art that simply takes time..there a lot of help here so keep at it!

Anthony

One of the first things you'll hear is that you rolled the edge on your blade. And who knows, maybe you did. But when I first started and was having trouble, it wasn't that I rolled the edge. The blade was never really shave ready in the first place. That was the first problem. The second problem was one of being a little too timid with the blade. I had a tendency to allow the blade to glide over the beard rather than cut through it. Its a matter of simply getting the right feel for what you're doing. Shaving with a straight is very different from the other methods and has a completely different feel. Only after my razor was sharpened by someone who knew how to properly hone a razor did I finally get my groove going. And what a difference it made. Unless your angle is at 90 degrees I can't imagine needing four passes for passable shave. I would start with your razor and be sure its up to the challange. Then you know that whatever is not going right is a technique issue. Its like when you have a problem with the TV, the first thing you check is to see if its plugged in. But like others have said, don't expect great shaves right away. I would also recommend a paddle stop. Its helped me focus on running the blade over the stop correctly without worrying about how tight I'm holding the stop. Later I may upgrade to something more tradtional but for now this has eliminated one variable that could ruin my chances to succeed. Basically, try to neutralize as many equipment issues as you can so you can focus only on the shave itself. But start with the razor and be sure its ready.

What great replies! Thank you to everyone! Based on the comments, I'd say about the only additional piece of info I can offer is that I encounter very strong resistance when I get to a part where my beard is thick, say, for example on either side of my chin. It feels like I would actually have to really shove the blade when going ATG. From everything I've read, that isn't good. Thoughts?