Thread: First shave and don't know what to think

Originally Posted by Fathardie

Hea everyone!


I reached the point of shaving really comfortably with the shavette, but it never gave me a really close shave on some parts
of my face like the chin and jaw.

This is what i was referring to, that you were atill not getting a close shave even with a sharp shavette. That's why I said it's probably technique. I probably should have asked if you had tried multiple passes using WTG, XTG, and ATG with the shavette. It really takes a good lather, proper angle, and a sharp razor for ATG. I still don't go ATG on the mustache.

Ah that is what you were referring too. Yes I did have a little bit of a stubble left there, but not real hairs still sticking out like I have with the SR :P
Never did any ATG as I did not have real lather but only canned goo and I was not confident enough yet. A shavette can really create nicks easily haha.

I read the wiki page about shaving passes and it seems that my angle was way to great according to the manual. But if the angle is greater with ATG shaving,
doesn't that give an even closer shave? The skin seems to able to handle angles of up to 30 degrees when shaving WTG so why does it hurt the skin so much?
Probably something simple that I don't see here :P

You actually want to keep the angle smaller; you want the edge to just glide across the skin and not dig into it (which is what is causing the skipping). Also make sure you are being careful when you strop the razor; not putting any more pressure on it than what is need to keep the spine and edge in contact with the leather and most definetly not digging the edge into the leather.

You may want to think about resending the razor out to be rehoned just to be sure that it is still sharp.

If possible you could try posting some pics and/or videos of you stropping and shaving and some of the more experienced members might be able to point out some corrections to your technique.

I thought this might help you determine how your blade is doing. What is "The Shave Test" for a Straight Razor - YouTube
This is how a honemiester tests his work. I see a lot of great info in this thread and the word pressure doesn't come up much ? I don't have any idea what a shavette feels like or how much different the 2 are but I would forget what you know about that and think all new when learning the straight. I have had razors that act like what you describe and have brought them back with a good stropping. By the way stropping is another learning curve you must master. If you don't figure this out then I would suggest finding someone close to you that can help you figure this out in person. You can learn more in 10 minutes from another SR user than in a year of experiments. :<0)