Thread: Quality of badger hair

Thanks for the advice! When you say grain pass, do you mean with the grain? I haven't been stretching my skin so that is probably what I am doing wrong. And yes, the razor was professionally honed. I bought a started razor and strop from Ken Rupkalvis here on the forums. So I am eliminating the possibility of a badly sharpened razor. I know I am probably not stropping it right. Although, I was able to shave the hair off my hand without any trouble or pain. So....it is most likely my technique. I am probably using the wrong angle and not stretching my skin enough.

Yep - that's what I said - with the grain - abreviated WTG. Usually that is the easiest, although it doesn't get you to the holy grail - BBS (baby's butt smooth) -that takes against the grain, and possibly across the grain. Did you "map" your face to see which way the grain goes, and where? It won't be the same all over. Sounds like you are figuring things out. I just read something that suggested it takes two weeks (!!!) to six months to get reasonably good at the process, so enjoy the journey.

Originally Posted by ladavis89

When you say grain pass, do you mean with the grain? I haven't been stretching my skin so that is probably what I am doing wrong. So....it is most likely my technique. I am probably using the wrong angle and not stretching my skin enough.

That's exactly the problem. Good stretching is integral to a great SR shave. For a WTG (with the grain) pass you stretch in the opposite direction you are shaving; likewise, when going ATG (against the grain) you are stretching and shaving in the same direction. I hope this helps. With proper stretching you'll find yoiur shaves will improve by leaps and bounds. You just have to make sure your skin is taut.

Originally Posted by skipnord

Yep - that's what I said - with the grain - abreviated WTG. Usually that is the easiest, although it doesn't get you to the holy grail - BBS (baby's butt smooth) -that takes against the grain, and possibly across the grain. Did you "map" your face to see which way the grain goes, and where? It won't be the same all over. Sounds like you are figuring things out. I just read something that suggested it takes two weeks (!!!) to six months to get reasonably good at the process, so enjoy the journey.

Whoops sorry. I guess my eyes skipped over that part...lol. I haven't really mapped my face completely however, I know the direction of my cheeks and neck. I got in to this 3 years ago but got discouraged after only a couple of attempted shaves. At one point i sliced my face on accident...haha. I recently got back into it because my fiance bought me a ~150 year old Wade and Butcher that is in fairly good condition. I am having it restored and it will be my first "real" razor. Every one on here keeps saying how straight shaving is supposed to be comfortable so I am just going to have to keep at it until it feels as comfortable as my mach III. I definitely appreciate all the helpful tips and you all will be responsible for any success I have. If I have any!

Originally Posted by ladavis89

Its probably my technique but I also think I am not stropping correctly because my razor always feels like its pulling the hair out and i get really bad razor burn and the pain during shaving is almost unbearable. Im not sure what I am doing wrong but I just can't get the razor to shave smoothly.

You need to stop where you are at and have that blade touched up on the stones. Sounds like you may have rolled the edge...we have all done it & it's no big deal...it just won't shave right until the edge is corrected. It shouldn't take much to get the edge back right.

Originally Posted by shooter74743

Sounds like you may have rolled the edge...

I did an up close inspection the other night and did a few tests on it to feel for any abnormalities and everything looked fine. Didn't see any rolled edges or chips or anything like that. It didn't pass the hair test though...but the edge looked perfectly straight.

The hair test doesn't mean much anything. It won't cut the hair on your face...so it fails the hair test. If the razor is pulling like you mention, you might take it to a pasted strop around 20x, then to the leather for 50-60x. If it still pulls after this, the razor needs touched up on the stones as their is something wrong with the edge.

For reference: A razor that starts to tug a bit needs to be touched up...a razor that feels like it's pulling hair out more than likely needs honed as the edge has severely deteriorated....or been rolled.

You more than likely can't tell what it is unless you look at it under magnification, even then you have to know what you are looking for.

Do you have a barber hone or any other hones?

Ya I tried stropping about 50 passes last night and then tried shaving again. I lowered my cutting angle and pulled my skin really tight. The horrible pain went away with this adjustment but its still not cutting much hair off. I am definitely not getting a baby butt smooth shave thats for sure. I have 2 stones I use for sharpening my knife. One is as stone that im not sure what the grit is and the other is a fine Arkansas stone. Do you think I should try honing with these?

I would say you need to reset what you are dong there. You should never use a stone you know nothing about with a razor unless you are advanced and are experimenting. Do yourself a favor and get a stone or two designed for straights.

No, don't use knife hones on a razor. Where you finish off a knife that is fantastically sharp is where we start with honing a razor. I would recommend sending it to a honer in the classified's so that it will have a proper edge for you to learn to shave off of. First learn to shave, then look into learning to hone. The majority of the stones used for honing are either Naniwa, Norton, or Shapton waterstone's. There are some naturals that are great...but I would recommend learning to hone off the synthetics first.