Thread: Newbie looking for help

I have been shaving or at least trying my best to shave with a straight for about 8 months or so. I started with a Boker and restored it and honed it myself and was getting it to shave. The problem was that it was not as smooth of a shave as a double edge that I found and restored from a flea market. i have recently purchased a shave ready razor from classicedge.ca and find that it still feels like it is pulling. My question is, does it matter how long your facial hair is when you shave? Should I expect a smoother shave from short stubble meaning I would shave every other day or should I be able to get the same feeling shave regardless of hair length?

Thanks
Jeff

Funny you mention that..there was a thread not to far back about the pleasures of shaving with a three day stubble..I really don't like shaving with that much..I tend to find it harder to shave. My beard growth is pretty quick and gets thick quickly...what's even funnier tho is that i tend to wait to long to shave in between because life stuff just gets in the way...got to love the irony..

Look that thread up and see what others have to say about it.

You should be able to shave smoothly in both instances. What I would do is send both razors out to be honed. There are many factors to a smooth shave, ruling them out one by one is a nice way to go.

You could also scrutinize your beard prep, your lather and your shave technique, particularly your angle and the actual shave stroke.

Best of luck, and have fun!

Thank you both of you. I have tried to be as consistent with my prep as possible, I use eshave cream after a hot shower. I soak my brush in hot water for the length of my shower as well. I am still unsure how I would have a better shave from a double edge than from my straight.

It takes time to learn how to properly use a straight razor. Don't look to be perfect, just use each day as opportunities in your learning curve. Absolutely get your blade honed by one of the members of this site. Then take your time and be easy. It takes about a year to learn how to do this w/o making a mess of your face. But the journey is so well worth the process. Welcome aboard!!!!

Originally Posted by racenutt68

Thank you both of you. I have tried to be as consistent with my prep as possible, I use eshave cream after a hot shower. I soak my brush in hot water for the length of my shower as well. I am still unsure how I would have a better shave from a double edge than from my straight.

A double edge will take away certain factors such as blade angle and sharpness due to the disposable blade.

A couple things to keep in mind, I've bought razors from vendors that claim to sell shave ready blades and found that not always to be true. I can't speak for classic edge but to say they are damn nice people having bought other items from them. But its not beyond possibility that your razor really isn't shave ready. But also keep in mind that shaving with a SR is different from a DE in that you don't have the same leverage on the blade that you do with a handle holding the blade at the end. Add to that the fact that the surface area of the blade is greater as well. If you can truly feel it pulling the hairs and the discomfort that goes with that, I'd say your blade is not sharp enough. Check your angle. Be sure you're shaving at about a 20 degree angle. If so, and you still have the pulling, you may need to have your blade honed. But keep in mind that even with a sharp blade, you will feel a different form of resistance in you hand as you draw the blade over your beard. But pulling the hairs is not what you should feel. If that's the case, you'll likely end up cutting yourself sooner than later. But to answer your original question, I don't find that more of a beard matters much in my shave with a SR. Three day growth with a disposable was bad because it tended to grab and pull and clog up the razor. But I think I cold lap off my goatee with my SR with no problem. In fact, if I get a little too close to it, it'll end up all out of shape from where I trimmed it by accident.

I see where you said you honed it yourself. If you haven't honed a razor before, and depending on how well you set the bevel, what stones you used, and if you used pastes or sprays all come into factor now. Lots of variables to sift through. Send it out to be honed, if it's better, then your honing may be the culprit (not bashing at all here; we all started somewhere), if the same, then possibly your technique shaving (again not bashing here).

When I shave with my dovo, or genco and I go 2 passes wtg and atg I cant even feel stubble for about 14 hrs. Hat bieng said t think the guys here are making good points only thing I would add is using the good ole sharpie trick when setting bevel and dont even think about moving forward untill it completely passes test with NO PRESSURE. Thats the important part. Then tpt and tnt remember after testing to make a few more passes on your 1k before moving on. If you get frustrated or don't posses the experience/skill drop me a personal message and you can send it to me n ill do it for u for free and ship it back. I didnt like sr shaving at first either. I believe I had your same problems. But now I wouldnt trade my ritual for anything (besides my kids n guns).

Pulling in a razor is prima facie evidence the thing isn't proper sharp. Now it is possible really bad technique can have something to do with it too. However after months of shaving you should be pretty good with the razor now unless you are learning the wrong thing and just reinforcing it. About the easiest way to test is just run the razor straight down the side of your face. That should be the easiest WTG stroke and if you have pulling you can blame the razor.