Thread: 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?

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

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

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.

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.

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?????

If it's pulling, it's not sharp enough. I though it was shaving well in some areas and not others.

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.

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?

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)). 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.