My second straight shave. Getting better. But I still need guidance

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05-04-2006, 03:01 AM
gnomore

My second straight shave. Getting better. But I still need guidance

Well I did it, my second shave.

I took a very long and hot shower, and soaked my face for about 20 minutes.

Stroped slowly (before the shower) 15x on the linen side and 80x on the leather side. I didnt shake the brush this time, and the lather was MUCH better.

The difference this time? 95 percent less pulling.

My cheeks went decently but everything else, it was like the razor was missing all the hair. It glided over the face smoothly this time, but wasnt really cutting.

After shaving, I still retained my 5 oclock shadow. My chin and neck hair is about .25mm to 1 mm long. Its random. I tried different angles of the blade, from about a 40 degree, all the way down to a 15, the hair just does not want to cut at skin level. How much pressure should I be applying?

I did two north to south passes.

My lip went much better this time. I did a diagonal pass on it, and it cut smoothly. Although, there is still a shadow. And roughness when I rub my hand over it, but if I could get the rest of my face at least "shaved" like this, I will be happy. I did however have a bit of burn on my lip, but that went away thanks to the geo f trumpers coral skin food. I envisioned problems, so I got the best aftershave I could afford hehe.

I would also like to add, I paid extra special attention this time to stretching the skin. Wherever the razor touched, skin was stretched tight.

Any input? :shrug:
05-04-2006, 03:15 AM
robertlampo

G, sounds like your blade is a little dull, or maybe you should use a little pressure on the blade when shaving. Are you sure you're going against the direction of the hair growth? The stretching should stand the hairs up which will aid in the cutting. It allows for close cutting, to be more direct.

If I just use the weight of the blade, with my rough beard, I would get the same results as yours (with a conventional; the replacable str8 blade needs no pressure at all).

Test the blade for keenness then try using SOME pressure when shaving.

-Rob
05-04-2006, 03:24 AM
gnomore

I have not gone against the direction of the growth yet. Mainly because I am trying to master the easier n to south and diagonal swipes first. I hope I did not somehow dull my blade, this was the second shaving since being sharpened by lynn.

But, there was alot of improvement this shave over the last, so well see about the next shave :)
05-04-2006, 03:24 AM
EdinLA44

I agree with Rob, I think your blade may be a bit dull. Give it some laps on the pasted strop before the next shave. I've had the same problem as you have and it's usually been due to a dull razor. Another thing to try is to reduce the angle on the razor when doing your neck to just slightly off your skin (like 5-10 degrees). Another test to see if it's the razor is to have a DE with a new blade handy and when the straight doesn't cut, try the DE and if the DE cuts, then it's probably your straight.
05-04-2006, 03:25 AM
Joe Chandler

Glad the advice on the brush worked. If your cheeks went well, it almost sounds to me like your shaving angle is too shallow. You don't want to have too steep an angle, or you're scraping your face rather than shaving, but if the angle is too shallow, the edge isn't engaging the shaft of the hair, and therefore not cutting it. I'm not sure, but that's what it sounds like to me. Also, soaking your face for 20 minutes might be excessive...you might have problems with overdrying and stripping all the oil off your skin (or at least I do). You might not have that problem.
05-04-2006, 03:39 AM
gnomore

I would like to add that, I do have sideburns. And I became very confident with my right cheek today. Its the spot on my face that gets the best shave. When I did the first n t s pass on my cheek which was about 1 inch away from the edge of the sideburn, it went fine. Then when I got in close to the sideburn there were a couple of stray hairs that came in the path. I did not realize this. So I continued on with the stroke, and when the blade touched those hairs, mega pulling. Now with my first shave, I had tons of pulling, but I attributed that to too much growth, so I shaved with the electric razor. But it hitting the long hair and locking up, hmm. Why would a razor have trouble with long hairs, but not short hairs if it is supposed to be cutting everythiing at the base?I can say those two cheek strokes are the best out of my whole shave. Because its the easiest. So the lockup on that confident 30 degree stroke?????
05-04-2006, 04:06 AM
Joe Chandler

If it's pulling, it's not sharp enough. I though it was shaving well in some areas and not others.
05-04-2006, 04:45 AM
JLStorm

I agree with the other posters of having a dull blade, I experienced this when first starting and that extra little bit of sharpness really makes or breaks a shave.

On another note, dont be afraid to try cross grain or against the grain once your blade is sharp enough to be comfortable. When I first started shaving with the grain was the most difficult for me and cross grain was the easiest. It is important (as you seem to realize) to hone your skills in all areas of the sahve, but its just as important to do what feels more natural so that you dont get to frustrated to fast.
05-04-2006, 05:35 AM
gnomore

Shaving well is a relative term. I had to shave my entire face with my electric razor just to be able to shave without pulling the first time. When you guys say no pulling should occur. Describe this for me a bit. Should it feel similar to shaving an area of the hand with very thin hair strands?

As a test, I just tried to shave the trail on my stomach. It gets about half an inch before it is "stuck" in the hair.

I will try again on my face tomorrow, know I am a noob, and I dont want to blame my equipment. And even with the problems, I am sooo adicted to this lol... I find myself planning my next shaving (attack) often during the day. Was it the same for you guys when you started out?
05-04-2006, 05:44 AM
Joe Chandler

A razor that shaves well (for me) doesn't pull at all. It glides through the hair. I can feel it cutting, but there's no pain, and no pulling. For me, the heavier blades seem to be the smoothest (half hollow, with heavy spines...although the absolute best shave I've ever gotten came from my C-Mon 6/8 (that I honed:D)). If it's pulling, it needs sharpening, IMO. The hair on my face is extremely tough...sparse (I couldn't grow a full beard if I wanted to), but very rough. Face prep and technique improvement cured most of my problems, though.
05-04-2006, 05:46 AM
JLStorm

Quote:

Originally Posted by gnomore

Shaving well is a relative term. I had to shave my entire face with my electric razor just to be able to shave without pulling the first time. When you guys say no pulling should occur. Describe this for me a bit.

As a test, I just tried to shave the trail on my stomach. It gets about half an inch before it is "stuck" in the hair.

I will try again on my face tomorrow, know I am a noob, and I dont want to blame my equipment. And even with the problems, I am sooo adicted to this lol... I find myself planning my next shaving (attack) often during the day. Was it the same for you guys when you started out?

A good sharp straight over your stomach should feel like you are dragging a letter opener over your stomach...it should feel comfortable, solid, and effortless. the only difference is when you look down you wouldnt have any hair in the area you just passed over.

As far as your face and neck. I think you just established that your blade is definitely NOT sharp enough to shave with, I would send it out or hone it yourself (if you know how) before your hurt yourself or get to frustrated. Even with a shave ready razor your hands have to get used to your face and your face and neck need to adjust to the blade, it took a while on a very sharp razor for my neck to not get irritated by the shave.

I know its frustrating and hard to admit that your new razor that you have been looking forward to using is not ready to shave with. Trust me though, a bit of patience now will make a world of difference when you get it back and its REALLY shave ready. BTW, this same thing happened to me with my first straight, and thats when I decided to send it out to Lynn. This happens to more people than not I think, so dont be to frustrated by it.
05-04-2006, 05:57 AM
gnomore

Hehe the thing that makes this bite is I had it sharpened by lynn 2 shaves ago. I must have did something to screw it up. I just dont know what... I must have stropped incorrectly. I was very very carefull to go slow, and I it a point to make sure the spine was on the strop at all times. The only lifting that occured was the edge coming off the strop sometimes as I was developing my technique. Not once did that spine ever come off the strop....

Maybe I should pm lynn and see if I can send it back to him to see if I ruined the edge, or I am just being a noob and have crappy technique.
Lol its so hard though, even with the pulling, I still dont want to pull out the mach 3 ever again. The last time I did that, my face had to heal for 5 days. I was dumb enough to try an against the grain pass... :cry:

Also, I havent bought any honing equipment yet, what should I get to start me out? Pasted paddle? Or the norton 4k/8k?

I am going to get the radioshack microscope to check things out a bit more.
05-04-2006, 06:13 AM
JLStorm

Quote:

Originally Posted by gnomore

Hehe the thing that makes this bite is I had it sharpened by lynn 2 shaves ago. I must have did something to screw it up. I just dont know what... I must have stropped incorrectly. I was very very carefull to go slow, and I it a point to make sure the spine was on the strop at all times. The only lifting that occured was the edge coming off the strop sometimes as I was developing my technique. Not once did that spine ever come off the strop....

Maybe I should pm lynn and see if I can send it back to him to see if I ruined the edge, or I am just being a noob and have crappy technique.
Lol its so hard though, even with the pulling, I still dont want to pull out the mach 3 ever again. The last time I did that, my face had to heal for 5 days. I was dumb enough to try an against the grain pass... :cry:

Also, I havent bought any honing equipment yet, what should I get to start me out? Pasted paddle? Or the norton 4k/8k?

I have purchased a usb microscope that zooms into 200x though, so that should help me get a close look at whats going on :D But it wont be here for about 2 weeks.

I dont want you advise you on honing, because I dont hone yet either...I have gotten away with a 4 sided pasted strop so far. As far as Lynn is concerned. I am sure he will be happy to look at it for you. I had him do this for me as well with a TI of mine, and it turned out the blade was just a little strange and he has to do some extra work with it. You wouldnt be the first person to dull a good blade, but either way Lynn should be able to tell very quickly by looking at it if you managed to dull the blade or if there is another issue.

I would recomend getting a less expensive shave ready razor ASAP so you dont go nuts waiting, and then sending your current razor to Lynn. www.billysblades.com has some great stuff, I think you could probably get a truely shave ready razor for around $50.00 including shipping. there may also be some users on here that would be willing to let one of theirs go for less, it cant hurt to ask.