Thread: Straight Shaves Closer Than DE ?

I know this question gets asked a lot, maybe more on the other forums than on this one but it's a comon question just the same.

In my experience a good Feather DE blade may be sharper than a straight but it never sems to shave as close. I know if I do use a DE once in a while my 5:00 shadow is coming on strong by mid afternoon and I can fel the stubble easily with my fingers. A straight will take me well into the evening before I notice the stubble.

An unplanned experiement this morening confirmed this for me. I was in a hurry so grabbed a Merkur 1904 with a 2 day old Feather blade in it. Did my neck, 2 passes, one down for reduction, one up to finish off and it looked nice. I did a downward pass on my cheeks with the same DE, felt guilty about cheating and grabbed a well sharpened Dovo white Micarta "Zebra" and did an upward cheek pass. WOW, did this thing hang up on the stubble that was left. Normally a downward pass with the same razors leave my face really nice and the upstroke is just for good measure. This time there was plenty left from the DE for it to cut.

I am convinced I will always get a closer shave with the straight.

Tony

Tony

I have had a similar experience. My hair grows at a fast speed and I defintely notice a premature stubble with the DE relative to the straight. For me, I somewhat attribute it to the pressure I use with the straight, it's slightly more than the DE and perhaps that accounts for the extra bit hair i remove.

BTW, i purchased one of your paddle strops last night....very excited for its arrival.

~JR

I agree, enough that I've dispensed with the against the grain stroke. It's simply not needed for a shave that'll last into the evening.

I shave with both, but the DE doesn't offer nearly as close a shave as the straight.

I get about the same results but my cleanest shaves come from 2 passes with a straight and cleanup with a DE. No other combination works as well.

I get a closer shave from the jawline up with a straight, but a DE can do better on the neck if I want to take the time since it's easy to make a sideways ATG stroke there with it.

I did, ONE time, get a shave with a DE that I thought was comparable to a straight. The chin doesn't come as clean with a DE as a rule unless I make a ridiculous number of passes there.

The ultimate shave for me when I want perfect BBS in every direction is to do a normal straight shave and then finish with a couple additional DE passes every which way on my neck - particularly on either side of the adam's apple to get that last bit of coarse sideways stuff. Both of them together give me better results than I can get with either by itself.

Originally Posted by DMS

I get a closer shave from the jawline up with a straight, but a DE can do better on the neck if I want to take the time since it's easy to make a sideways ATG stroke there with it.

I did, ONE time, get a shave with a DE that I thought was comparable to a straight. The chin doesn't come as clean with a DE as a rule unless I make a ridiculous number of passes there.

The ultimate shave for me when I want perfect BBS in every direction is to do a normal straight shave and then finish with a couple additional DE passes every which way on my neck - particularly on either side of the adam's apple to get that last bit of coarse sideways stuff. Both of them together give me better results than I can get with either by itself.

You been watching me Dave? That's about my story. The DE does great on the neck with the sideways action, but the chin isn't in the same league as a straight. Combine the two for absolute BBS perfection.

Originally Posted by DMS

The ultimate shave for me when I want perfect BBS in every direction is to do a normal straight shave and then finish with a couple additional DE passes every which way on my neck - particularly on either side of the adam's apple to get that last bit of coarse sideways stuff. Both of them together give me better results than I can get with either by itself.

This works best for me as well. There's some places on the neck I just haven't figured out a workable angle for with the straight that the DE can easily go a bunch of different directions on. For everything else the straight is superior for me.

Ant

Originally Posted by DMS

I get a closer shave from the jawline up with a straight, but a DE can do better on the neck if I want to take the time since it's easy to make a sideways ATG stroke there with it.

Originally Posted by sensei_kyle

You been watching me Dave? That's about my story. The DE does great on the neck with the sideways action, but the chin isn't in the same league as a straight. Combine the two for absolute BBS perfection.

Originally Posted by AntC

This works best for me as well. There's some places on the neck I just haven't figured out a workable angle for with the straight that the DE can easily go a bunch of different directions on. For everything else the straight is superior for me.

I may have to try a DE on my neck. Today, I got about my smoothest (straight or otherwise, used straight) shave ever on my neck, but it required some impressive razor acrobatics and neck contortions to pull it off.

-Michael

For those who are getting a better shave with a straight vs. the DE, I have a question. Do you employ the same skin stretching technique with a DE as you do the straight? I still get a better shave with a DE, and I blame it on the fact that I am normally a 50/50 user of each, and that my across the grain technique with the straight is still not good. But since I enjoy using both, I don't want to give up either option.

RT