Thread: A Tale of Two Shaves

I've been shaving with a straight for a few weeks now and every shave but the last one has been great. Before the last shave I did a particularly bad job of stropping and the shave reflected it. I knew at the time that I wasn't keeping the blade flat on the strop and putting pressure on the blade but couldn't seem to get out of my own way. So tonight I resolved to fix that.

First I decided use the pasted sides of the strop to try to get it back to where it was when I received it from joshearl. The first shave I had with my straight was remarkable and a testament to joshearl's honing ability so that was my reference. It didn't feel like I had screwed the edge up too bad so I did a pass on the 1.0 side and then 5 on the 0.5 side. Still didn't seem quite there so I did another on the 1.0 side and 3 more on the 0.5 side. After that it felt pretty close so I moved to stropping it, paying careful attention to keeping the blade nice and flat and no more pressure than the weight of the blade. After about 20 passes on the strop it seemed to be in the ballpark so I proceeded to the shave test.

I also shave my head and it was due so I figured this would be a nice time to compare cartridge shaving (using a Fusion/HeadBlade for head) to straight (face) since this would be the first time I did both at the same time. Now, there's obviously some differences so it's not exactly an even comparison but I figured that it wouldn't be totally unfair since a) generally my head is more taut and I was only going to focus on the top-front for comparison, b) I've got a lot more experience shaving my head and c) I prepped the head first with clippers so that it was a little shorter than facial hair (which helps a lot with a Fusion and clogging).

Sooo.... after about an hour of shaving, trying to take equal care on each, the results were that my face feels great and my head feels like . While this wasn't totally unexpected normally the difference hasn't been as apparent since my face usually felt like too. Both shaves ended up about equally close, slight edge to the face, with passes with/across the grain on the face and with/against on the head. Even on the with the grain pass on the head I ended up with a nick though. I only used light pressure but there was a new blade in the Fusion and HeadBlade which always seem to result in a few. Two more nicks on the head on the against pass but no nicks on the face at all. I also realized how much time I spend/spent during a shave trying to unclog multi-blade cartridges...

Anyway, sorry for the long rambling but I found the difference interesting since the Fusion hasn't been used in a couple weeks and I really wanted to get a somewhat relative comparison. I haven't enjoyed shaving this much in... well.... ever.

Oh and a big thanks to joshearl (razor and honing), Tony Miller (4-sided paddle strop) and Colleen (lather and scent) for all the great components of a wonderful shave.

Ant

Thanks for sharing that Ant. I've always wondered how guys manage to shave their heads with a straight and now I've got a slightly better picture of it.

I wonder if your head raze isn't just a result of it being the first time with the straight since it can be an aggressive depiler. Perhaps that's just a matter of time more than anything.

X

Actually the head was a combination of Fusion and HeadBlade. I probably didn't make that clear enough in the original so I'll edit it a bit. I haven't gotten quite brave enough to try the straight but I tell you, I'm tempted. If it wasn't for the areas I can't see or reach easily to control the angle on I'd do it. As it is I think I'm going to try DE first.

Ant

Ah. Go carefully pale pated shaver.

X

Originally Posted by AntC

Oh and a big thanks to joshearl (razor and honing), Tony Miller (4-sided paddle strop) and Colleen (lather and scent) for all the great components of a wonderful shave.

Ant

This is lofty company to be mentioned in. Thanks for the compliment--made my day.

The pyramid approach to pastes seems to work well for me. Test shaving frequently is good as it'll help you stop before you overhone. Overhoning can be done with pastes, although it's not easy. (Trust me on this one. )

Once you get close it's probably good to lay off the 1 micron and just go with five to 10 swipes on the .5. Then test. I'll do this three or four times sometimes before I get the edge where I like it.

Just so you know, I think I finished your blade on the 8K Norton. More recently I've been enjoying the extra sharpness I'm getting from the pasted paddle. So the edge I sent you was sharp, but it can be sharper. Sharper isn't always better; it'll depend on your skin and beard.

Good luck,
Josh

Originally Posted by JoshEarl

Just so you know, I think I finished your blade on the 8K Norton. More recently I've been enjoying the extra sharpness I'm getting from the pasted paddle. So the edge I sent you was sharp, but it can be sharper. Sharper isn't always better; it'll depend on your skin and beard.

Good luck,
Josh

Hmmm, I'll have to experiment more once I get another razor. As it is I'm getting such good shaves I hate to screw it up.

Ant