Hello from a new New Orleanian... Please help

Sooo... I just got started... been researching and studying for the last 3 months, This site was a godsend by the way!! Got the VDH luxury shave set as a gift for Christmas and just had my Brand new beautiful DOVO 5/8 Inox 41 in Ebony scales delivered today along with my 3" Black Latigo with white linen strop from Vintage Blades LLC, (thanks Lynn for the Honing!!) First Shave about 5 Mins ago, Seems to have gone surprisingly well... I followed the advice I've seen on here, to start small and work my way up to a full shave and multiple passes, while I couldn't do the area under my sideburns (I have a beard...Sorta) I only did one cheek. NO BLOOD!!!! YAY!!! :o I did however run into one interesting occurrence that I need some info on because it makes me kinda nervous... I made my lather, nice and creamy (I've been practicing while I waited for my razor to arrive) put it on my face and approached with the razor... I made my first couple of hesitant strokes and noticed that the razor seems to be sticking to my face!! Almost like the lather was grabbing the razor instead of helping it to glide nicely over my face. This continued through the whole cheek. The razor of course is shave ready as all Vintage Blades' razor come Honed professionally. Now I know that of course my technique needs work as this is just my first shave, but should the razor stick to me like that??? Any and All advice is Very VERY much appreciated as I am extremely excited to be getting into shaving the right way!!

Dave

P.S. Here is my whole setup, I Like it!!!

Attachment 118890

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Originally Posted by Murmle

Sooo... I just got started... been researching and studying for the last 3 months, This site was a godsend by the way!! Got the VDH luxury shave set as a gift for Christmas and just had my Brand new beautiful DOVO 5/8 Inox 41 in Ebony scales delivered today along with my 3" Black Latigo with white linen strop from Vintage Blades LLC, (thanks Lynn for the Honing!!) First Shave about 5 Mins ago, Seems to have gone surprisingly well... I followed the advice I've seen on here, to start small and work my way up to a full shave and multiple passes, while I couldn't do the area under my sideburns (I have a beard...Sorta) I only did one cheek. NO BLOOD!!!! YAY!!! :o I did however run into one interesting occurrence that I need some info on because it makes me kinda nervous... I made my lather, nice and creamy (I've been practicing while I waited for my razor to arrive) put it on my face and approached with the razor... I made my first couple of hesitant strokes and noticed that the razor seems to be sticking to my face!! Almost like the lather was grabbing the razor instead of helping it to glide nicely over my face. This continued through the whole cheek. The razor of course is shave ready as all Vintage Blades' razor come Honed professionally. Now I know that of course my technique needs work as this is just my first shave, but should the razor stick to me like that??? Any and All advice is Very VERY much appreciated as I am extremely excited to be getting into shaving the right way!!

Dave

P.S. Here is my whole setup, I Like it!!!

Attachment 118890

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Hi, Im from Slidell, been at it a couple months now. Starting to see more and more from the NOLA area on this site lately. My first guess would be that you do not have enough water in your soap. I would start adding water a little at a time and try it at different stages until it stops pulling. Another culprit could be the angle that you are holding your blade. Try almost parallel with your face, one or two spine lengths and go up from there and see if that helps. A lot of people start with the soap you have and it should do you fine. Let me know if I can do anything for you. Hit me with a PM anytime.

Congratulations on joining the group. Your choice of equipment is outstanding! Add more. Water to the lather. That should. work.

Angle and pressure at first learn. Start spine close as stated then work it farther out. Very light pressure against your face. Stretch the skin and you'll get it. I found it smoother when you start the razor from a smooth spot then went into the beard. That way you are always at the base of the hair where it meets the skin. Otherwise you are cutting through some hair to get to the base of others. That will cause some pull for sure. Unavoidable at the side burns or coming away from any mustache, etc.

Nice set up by the way. Good choice. Welcome to SRP !

Hi Murmie,

That's one fine setup you have. Came from a good vendor too!!

If I read your post correctly you're not saying the razor was pulling or tugging from cutting the whiskers. I think your talking about, as you said, it sticking like suction. Again I'm assuming you're using a pretty flat blade angle to your face, which is good.

You probably may need to add a bit more water to your lather. I try to get a consistency of lather that will stay on the razor as I shave without running, but will rinse clean with just a couple of seconds under a hot water rinse... Not even leaving a residue toward the edge.

It'll take some practice and patience, but you'll finally hit on the right amount of soap/cream to water for that perfect lather.

If your not using a fairly flat angle, then your lather may be way to thick, or the razors not sticking as I described, but probably tugging at the whiskers. (edit:If that's the case then your angle may be too steep and you're kind of scraping at the whiskers. That can take a toll on the edge and dull it and then it will tug and pull.)

:gl:

Regards,
Howard:)

Forgot to say "Welcome". Glad to have you on the forum!!

Thanks for the warm welcomes all!! :) I'm glad you all feel I did pretty well with my setup!!

SirStrops, yer right its not the pulling on the Hair, its the sticking like suction, or like I have tape on my face... I am using a very flat angle though I did try to adjust that a bit, I can see the add water idea working out pretty well I think, my Lather is pretty darn thick. I may also need to figure out where I need to tug to pull the skin tight properly. my other thought is do you think a Preshave oil would help with this issue at all? I was gonna get some today any recommendations on a place around here to get some CCase?

Again thanks all and I look forward to many more conversations on this wonderful art/sport!!!

If the spine is touching your cheek you need to bring the spine away a little bit. What the angle is depends on where on your face/neck you are but something like 20 to 30 degrees is usually about right. Flattens out more around the knob of the chin but like I say, the spine shouldn't lay on the skin.

Welcome to SRP !

Hey Murmie,

On the flatness of the blade, what Jimmy said is right on. I initially had put "try raising the angle of the blade a little at a time until it shaves smoothly and doesn't stick as much". I did some cutting and pasting, i.e. the edit part and lost that sentence and didn't catch it, sorry!

On pre-shave oils, I've tried them, didn't really care for it though, but many do. It made my hands slicker than I like when handling a straight, even after I washed them because you still pick up some on the blade with the lather. Getting the right consistency with the lather really negates the need for pre-shave oils, IMO. if you want to try one, I have a new Trueffit & Hill 2 oz. bottle I'll let you have. If interested, just pm me an address and I'll send it to you.

Stretching can help a lot. Generally you stretch on the opposite side of the direction of the stroke, or on the spine side and away from the direct of the stroke. Sometimes though you may have to get creative and do it a little differently.

Again, :gl: and enjoy!!

Regards,
Howard :)

Here's a video of Lynn building lather with an SRD soap, but it's pretty much the same for each soap.

Building a shaving lather with a brush directly on your face. - YouTube

ok... Soooo just shaved my other cheek! it went better this time taking into account the extra water and the blade angles... I think its just gonna take a little bit of experimentation to discover exactly the right angle and amount of water... as I was shaving I was analyzing what was happening with the lather, it seems that it dries out on my face very quickly and as this happens it seems to get stickier and stickier does this sound right or am I just completely Bonkers??

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Originally Posted by Murmle

as I was shaving I was analyzing what was happening with the lather, it seems that it dries out on my face very quickly and as this happens it seems to get stickier and stickier does this sound right or am I just completely Bonkers??

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My first week ...... maybe more, what now takes 10 minutes took me 45 minutes. The lather would dry on one side by the time I shaved the other side. I had to relather the dry side for awhile. As my proficiency increased my time decreased and pretty soon I was getting both sides before it got too dry. Keep on truckin'.:tu

The VDH does dry out quicker than some others and thus gets sticky. But that also is true with some other soaps if you don't use enough water. try using more water in your lather and also a preshave oil. The preshave oil approach works for me and others.

Hope this helps :)

One last update on this thread... I just shaved my neck for the first time!!! Did both sides and I have to say it turned out GREAT!! I have really funky directions on my neck and my cart razor has never been able to handle it well... The SR took care of it with very little issue!! I may have over shaved a bit as I have a bit of burn but I kinda expected that from what I've read on here. I did end up with my first nick, very small, though it seems to be a bit of a right of passage from what people say. So I have now shaved my whole face (minus my very minimal beard and goatee area)!!!! though of course not all at once. as far as the Sticky lather goes a little more water and a better angle appear to work wonders!!! oddly enough the angle thing was easier to figure out with my neck than with my cheek even though there is that whole "DON'T SLIT YER THROAT!!" factor in there. I think my cheeks will be a lot easier in the morning now that I have a little better idea as to lather consistency and blade angle. Thank you all for yer help in getting me started and a special thanks to SirStropalot!!

Hey Murmie,

Glad it went well. If you shaved your neck that easily, you're ahead of the curve. That's the hardest part for most all of us.

Congrats on your successes!!

Best Regards,
Howard :)

Its all about the research!! I just kept reading and reading and using the advice ya'll give on here and it has truly been a great help!! Now I'm not saying I did the official wtg/atg/xtg, but sort of a mish-mash of all of them, it did work out though so thats ok yeah?? currently reading up on how to cut back on the razor burn... I'm guessing I just went over spots a couple too many times. just gotta practice and refine and all should be great!!