Thread: Learn How To Shave With A Straight Razor

Learn How To Shave With A Straight Razor [My Tutorial]:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Learn-How-To-Shave-With-A-Straight-Razor/?ALLSTEPS

I'm going to have to go against the grain here.

Seems like PM is the more appropriate venue for my comments.

I'd suggest you start by reading all the stickies in the various sections and watching Lynn's DVD (link is a sticky in the Buy/Sell/Trade Section)

Good luck with your instructions

i thank you for the words, however i have no intention on retracting the entirety of the information that i have brought forth. i have more confidence in our fellow man. given the information, i forsee the masses doing great things. they can perhaps see the light and become converts at a steady pace, they just need to learn that the fears and misconceptions about straight razors are unfounded and untrue.

the movement has begun, i have explained to the people that i am by no means an authority on the subject, but i have done an extensive amount of research. if people are unsatisfied w/ my ways, then they can click on the various youtube and web links which may guide them to the proper direction.

if my step-by-step tutorial is incorrect, then by all means, correct me. my instructable is extemely popular which has been featured as an article on the Life Hacker website.

http://lifehacker.com/373628/learn-to-shave-with-a-straight-razor

i think it is an enormous success for the people of this community. you should welcome that men from all over the world are becoming interested in this dying art form. as for the inferior blades that i may have promoted, the ebay site that i have provided will weed out those blades. i have set it up in such a way that only the strong blades are viewed first, and key words negate the possiblity of a zeepk or inferior gift set making themselves known.

what i want from this community is imput. i want to make sure that my techniques are at the very least valid. i know there is still a tremendous amount of work to do, and i plan to be a soldier on many fronts for the decades to come, against our most hated, battle-hardened enemy: The Disposable Razor.


Yours Sincerely,
Adam J. Gonzales



Hi

It is always exciting to see somebody enthusiastic about straight shaving, but that is quite not enough to 'bring straight shaving to the masses'. The masses will never shave with straight razor again - the learning curve is too steep and most people prioritize fast and convenient first, even if the shave isn't particularly close or comfortable.

If I were to learn from your guide I'd probably have a $200 equipment in my attic, collecting dust.
Even if your step-by-step instructions worked for you, they will certainly fail for at least 90% of those who try them.

First, the razor - the chances are following your links people will end up with junk razors from ebay (Zeepk, Master USA, to name a few).

Second, the honing - I do not believe that a person can learn to hone from the instructions in your post. Of course I realize you are here asking for help, but if I were you I would first find out the correct info and then post it.

Third, the shaving - you ought to give people realistic expectations - it normally takes weeks until you master the basics. If you read the stickies in the various threads you'll quickly realize that people who have successfully guided hundreds of newbies through the process have quite a different approach than - that's the technique. Heck, check the barber's manual if you want to see how you teach a professional when you aim for success.

Anyways, I'm not trying to shoot your effort down, just help you. Iif you are really interested in helping others you should first make sure you know what you're doing yourself.

I'm going to give my thoughts as I read through this tutorial.

The first thing I'm noticing is all the links. Many of the products on E-bay are not quality, I would suggest sending them to more reputable sources.
Classicshaving.com, and the wellshavedgentleman are both reasonable, and have high quality products.

Also the razors sold on E-bay are rarely shave ready, so by sending them there you are setting them up for disaster. Even brand new razors need honing. and no beginner is going to hone a razor properly on his first try. This is not a good thing.

2 why are you advocating microwaving the soap? this can hurt the EOs in some soaps, and is not a method I have seen or heard of anywhere. Hot water is a good thing, hot soap?
a couple of drops of water and a good brush is what you need here.

3 It appears that you are advocating honing before every shave... This is very wrong, and will quickly destroy a good blade. Also honing takes a long time to master, if you are teaching people to hone a blade that is sent by a honemeister, you are instructing them to dull their blade. I hone every one of my blades on/up to 120,000 grit, or 1/4 micron diamond paste... by using an 8000 grit stone you have just ruined that edge, or at least set it back about 5 steps.

Honing is a completely separate skill set, and it is only necessary to serious razor collectors and users. A beginner can save lots of headaches, time, and money by having his razor(s) honed professionally.

This guide appears to be written by someone who has never used a straight razor... I'm sorry if this offends, but you are giving out some very bad advice.

You should only hone a razor every 3 to 6 months with normal use.

around step 6 you are starting to make some sense, although it looks like you copied this from another author...


I would say your drying position in step 10 is not ideal. You are better off leaving your razor open on a towel, or drying it off with a blow dryer...

You continue to refer to the 30 degree angle, although this is a good angle, it is not always the best. I use 30 as my absolute max, and would recommend a shallower 15-25 for a beginner. Aka: what ever angle cuts the hair the easiest for you.

*when you feel that your blade is extremely sharp, take the time to sharpen it once or twice a month; 25-50 strokes on the white stone and 25-50 strokes on the yellow stone.

this is just bad... a good blade should be sharpened once or twice a year not every 2 weeks... and 5 to 10 strokes is often enough You are advocating the destruction of perfectly good razors.

don't shave w/ your blade for 24hrs after use.

there is no reason or proof to advocate this.

*after the initial beginners phase, each pass should take approximately 3.33 minutes. After three passes, the total time for morning shaving should take 9.99 minutes for a shave that lasts an entire day.

The average shaver takes longer than this, you are giving unreal expectations here. they shouldn't expect a 15 minute shave for the first year at least.

sharpen-strop-shave. Sharpen-strop-shave. Sharpen-strop-shave.

and you'll turn that nice 6/8 into a 4/8 in no time flat...

You are also advocating only one stone, there are hundreds of options out there that are acceptable. Frankly if I were going to advise a beginner to get one hone, it would be a 12k... this can maintain a blade for a very long time, the 4k/8k would be for fixes, and they could save money by sending out to a honemeister.

I would strongly encourage you to remove all references to honing from this and refer them to SRP, or a honemeister, until they and you know more about this.

This entire tutorial is frightening, because it has just enough good information to make it look respectable, while the bad information will cause sub par shaves, and cause severe wear and probably damage vintage razors.

You are setting people up for failure.

step 1 - will not touch

setp 2 - will not touch

step 3 - will not touch

step 4- just updated it with all of your advice

step 5 - my stropping technique works for me. don't know how it could be wrong at this point.

steps 6-10 on the tutorial i will not touch, it's the most comprehensive pdf i have found on the internet which deals with the complexities on how to shave, it's not even my own words and i explicitly stated that in the tutorial. the pictures are great and it gives people a sense of the motions needed to take place during the shave; i explained to the people that i mostly learned how to shave from watching people on youtube.

step 11 - i'll probably erased and add some things.

Originally Posted by adamjgon

step 5 - my stropping technique works for me. don't know how it could be wrong at this point.

The last image in your stropping section worries me. You're telling people to lift the spine at the end of a stroke, and I'm surprised you're getting good results like that. By lifting the spine I'd think you'd be almost guaranteed to fold the edge, and thereby dulling it.

I don't know what to say other than instructing people how to destroy their razors and and cut themselves can only result in bad karma.

Your dog will die and your penis will cease to function.

-Bob

Originally Posted by RobertFontaine

I don't know what to say other than instructing people how to destroy their razors and and cut themselves can only result in bad karma.

Your dog will die and your penis will cease to function.

-Bob

There should always be a disclaimer in such tutorials to mitigate any potentially hazardous karma. Furthermore, why should the dog suffer for the sins of its master??

Originally Posted by Mike_ratliff

This guide appears to be written by someone who has never used a straight razor... I'm sorry if this offends, but you are giving out some very bad advice.

+1 To me it appears as though a search on how to use a straight razor has been conducted without any thorough investigation and then turned into a tutorial.

There was mention (I think some posts have been deleted since I last viewed ) that that the tutorial has been viewed over 14000 times, so what? I viewed it and that doesn't mean I like it or am even contemplating following the instructions. Which would be facial suicide

Originally Posted by Adamjgon

what i want from this community is imput. i want to make sure that my techniques are at the very least valid. i know there is still a tremendous amount of work to do, and i plan to be a soldier on many fronts for the decades to come, against our most hated, battle-hardened enemy: The Disposable Razor.

Well these appear to only be words since you do not wish to change a large portion of your tutorial.

Originally Posted by Adamjgon

if my step-by-step tutorial is incorrect, then by all means, correct me. my instructable is extemely popular which has been featured as an article on the Life Hacker website.

Corrections have been made but not taken on board IMO. I guess since the said tutorial featured in an article on another site, you don't want to change your tutorial or you may look silly.

I'm sorry but that tutorial is going to have people continue to shell out for those multi blade monstrosity's.

I do hope you will reconsider and take the advice of the more experienced members here.

It looks as if most of his instructions are gone.

The bad thing about the age of "open information" is that without a vetting process, someone can pass off misinformation if they take the guise of an expert.

The good thing is that it's very easy to spread good information as well. I'd recommend some members of this site take the time to do a better tutorial for instructables. There is no apparent policy against redundancy. A handful of proper instructions will drown out poor ones.