Thread: Trouble getting a comfortable shave.

This is my first post. Been reading a lot or good information on the forum. Thanks to all who posted. Been straight shaving for about 4 months. Been doing okay on shaving and stroping I think. Honing has been a challenge . Bought a Norton 220-1000 and 4000-8000 set and 1200 naniwa.I use three razors in my rotation. Two dovo's and a thiers . Gave them a freshening yesterday (so I thought) . Got the razors to pass the hanging hair test. Took some stropping to do it. Tried shaving with one today and a very harsh Un comfortable shave.How can it pass the hanging hair test an not shave nice. Hope this post is not too long winded. Thank you for your help. 8

Welcome to SRP. There is a wealth of useful information here and plenty of old hands to give advice BUT, you are pretty much asking an open ended question without giving enough information. How did the razors do prior to you honing them? Did you try to freshen the edges with a paste on strop before honing them? If so, how well did they shave? What is your routine when honing razors (if you have developed one)? Did you reset the bevel, and if so how did you do it? There are to many holes that need to be filled before we can give any reasonable answers without speculation The HHT is not the end all be all of tests as you have found out already, the ultimate being the shave test.

Thank you for your interest. The razors where just barely usable.They were pulling and skiping. I did not reset the bevel. Started with the 8000 stone. Didn't count the laps. But used a loupe to look at the edge. When all the scratches looked uniform I went to the 12000 stone. Had success in the pass with the same routine. This time no luck. Maybe I just got lucky last time. Bought the razors from classic edge. Haven't been able to duplicate the melt the whiskers off sharpness that they came with. I am determined to continue trying till I am able. How Can You Tell When A Razor Needs More Than A refreshing? Can you refresh it more than once?

You probably could have stopped with the 8K and then stropped the razor. Did you strop after the 12K? Depending on your stropping skill I would look there first for your problem. Send either one or both razors out to a honemeister to bring them back up to snuff and then pay attention to your stropping and go slow, speed comes with time and experience. As far as the HHT, are you checking all along the edge or just in one spot? You may be applying pressure to one spot on the edge both in stropping and in honing, common problem.

When I was where you are on the timeline, I didn't hone, or do anything but strop. I did send one out at about the 6 month mark for a re honing.

My thought process was that until I perfected shaving (with everything prep included) and was getting regularly DFS shaves, there was no need to spend $$$$ on hones to mess the razors up.

Not to say that you did, but based on results it sounds like you're not doing them or your face any good.

FWIW, the hanging hair test or others don't mean much...it's the shave test that counts.

I always reset my bevel. Just habit and the time between honing sessions for each razor is so far apart that it won't effect the lifetime of the razor at least not in my lifetime. Anyways HHT is a fun test but not always accurate. Your hair my get cut at a certain level of sharpness but that level of sharpness might not be comfortable to your skin. Your skin has feeling your hair doesn't. I can get a razor to pass the HHT no problem at the 2-4k level but it would not be the best of shaves. Make sure your razor is flat along the stone and make sure your putting even pressure along the length of the blade make sure your spine isn't lifting up. You said you have nortons so maybe you could try "the pyramid" method. I remember that method being quite effective when I had my nortons.

I don't have any experience with TI's but I have heard they can be a pain to hone especially to beginners. Also, when I bought my first straight it was from classic edge and they will give you your first honing session for free.

One last thing. Don't think the hones you have aren't good enough. You could live your whole life and be completely satisfied with those hones.

Another thing that just popped into my head, have you lapped the stones? Even new ones need to be lapped before use.

Thank you for your advice. Will look at my stroping technique. Been having a great time learning how to use the straight razor. Thanks again for your help.