New straight razor shaver in Scotland

Hello,

I'm a new straight razor shaver and thought it was about time I stopped lurking and introduced myself.

I'd been intrigued by straights for months and then on a trip to California to visit my wife's family I spotted and Art of Shaving store. I had a long discussion with the staff and went away to do some research. A few days later I went back and got myself a TI blade and set of oil/cream/balm to go with it.

Back in chilly Scotland now and I've got six or seven shaves under my belt. The first was by far the worst (What a mess!) but getting better all the time. I'm getting comfortable with the blade and I think I'm starting to get better results WTG than I did with my Mach 3.

My biggest problems so far have been irritation afterwards, decent lather and ATG shaving. I'm hoping the irritation will pass and it's just my face getting used to the blade/closeness, I'm also investing in an alum block and witch hazel to help. My lather seems to start off nice and thick but after 5/10 minutes turns into a sort of watery bubbly fluff, I have to start again if I want to keep shaving. I'm really liking WTG shaving and getting the hang of XTG (stretching the skin SO important!) but whenever I try ATG I find my beard really grabs at the blade - maybe I'm not removing enough with my XTG pass? It gets so tough that I tend to stop before I end up pulling the blade into my nose when the blade's released.

Hi there

Was going to introduce myself in a separate thread but thought I'd tack on to yours!

I've been DE shaving now for about 6 months but have had a Dovo Special straight about 5 years but never got the courage to learn to use it! Anyway I decided to start using it a couple of weeks ago and was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't as difficult as I thought! Albeit I needed a bit of tidying up with my DE! After deciding tht I was going to definitely start to learn to use a SR almost exclusively but not (at the moment) having the skill to strop/hone I bought a Feather RX. Oh what a lot of blood on the first shave!! But by the 4th I'm starting to get the hang of it :) I'm actually getting a lot less irritation on the neck area than I did even with a safety razor.

But being an obsessive sort (I'm sure there are a lot more in here!) I've decided to get another couple of straights to add to my collection 2 TIs one a basic black and a particularly nice desert iron wood one just because I like the scales. I have a strop on order althought haven't got a clue how to use it (a lot of reading and videos watching ahead!) and, although I have a few water stones that I use for my kitchen knives <6k grit I have just ordered an 8k and a 10k Naniwa. This may be overkill but no he can ever accuse me of going in half hearted! Looking forward to the long and steep learning curve ahead.

I see there's an absolute wealth of knowledge on here which, I must admit, sees a bit overwhelming at the mo'.

Back to your post, what cream are you using? it seems odd that your cream is breaking down so quickly...

Oh yeah and if there's anyone in the UK in my area then I'd love to meet up perhaps??

Cheers guys
Jason

I'm using the AoS sandalwood cream which I've read is pretty good, so I'm guessing the problem is me!

With all creams/soaps the trick is getting right balance of product:water. Your water would be nice and soft up there so you should be ok. Does the lather in your bowl break down or is it just the lather on your face you are referring to?

I've used the AoS Lavender cream with no noticeable problems although I tend to skip around to different creams a lot :w

I'm sure there's someone here who'll be able to point ou in the right direction :)

Dobbs --

The straight razors from AOS (according to many past posts) are sold as they come from the factory. They have not been carefully hand-honed. So it may be that your blade isn't sharp enough. Shaving ATG is a real test of the blade's sharpness. And shaving with a slightly-dull razor is a frequent cause of razor burn.

Some things you might try:

1. Flatten the razor against your face when shaving ATG -- the "correct" angle, ATG, is less than the angle for WTG.

2. Use a _little bit_ of hair conditioner on your beard before you lather, to soften the hair a bit.

2. Give the razor a really good stropping -- like 100 laps on fabric, 100-200 laps on leather. Sometimes, that improves the edge. I assume you're stropping between shaves already.

The next step is a pasted strop, the step after that is:

. . . Send the razor out for honing.

Charles

PS -- I may be wrong about the AOS TI's being not-quite-sharp; I'm sure I've read it about the AOS Dovo's.

Dobbs, since it's your introduction, I'll attempt to advise you first. Regarding the irritation: I'm thinking it is an angle and/or pressure issue. Lighten up the pressure and if it is during the ATG pass perhaps lay the blade a little flatter to the skin. Your lather will probably seem less of a concern as you get a little faster at the shave, but for now, re-lathering is not a problem. If you feel your lather is moist, bubbly and thin. Add less water. If it seems dry and slightly powdery...More water is required. It ain't rocket surgery, but practise will get you there. Keep up the good work.

Now, what was the name of that ring in whose hanging off your apron strings....?


Mick

I think Dobbs is using a Thiers Issard razor

Sorry did I step on someone's shoes??

Thanks for the helpful replies!

I'm sure the missus will have some conditioner somewhere, I'll give that a go.

I've tried flattening my angle for ATG but the the blade still sticks. I'm certainly thinking blade sharpness has something to do with it - I'm aware that new razors aren't shave ready despite claiming to be so (The chap I spoke to in the AoS store actually mentioned when he does the complimentary SR class he notices a big difference between those who bought Dovo and those who bought TI, with the TI being much closer than the Dovo to shave ready and not irritating the newbies as much).

I'll try stropping as you suggest but I think at this point I'll send the blade out for honing and hope that'll help. At least it will eliminate sharpness as the cause. Interestingly there was a set of instructions that came packaged with the TI blade which I assume (given the contents) were from TI, they actually suggested shaving several times with the blade before stropping for the first time. It's not a piece of advice I've seen anywhere else!

I'll stick with my WTG shaving and only try the occasional ATG until I get the razor honed.

Thanks again for the help.