Thread: Transition from Shavette to Straight

I rushed home from work, so excited to receive my Package from SRD, ripped it open and spend about a hour scrubbing down my bathroom, hanging my new strop, stroping my new razor, I had set this up to be special for the following morning. I did my usual routine with extra care and unfolded my new tool. My arm felt complete, I held it up to my face and... had a horrible shave?? It was so awkward, it felt strange in my hand and the angle was all wrong. Instead of gliding across my face it rubbed and pulled. I couldn't seem to cut my whiskers but managed to slice my cheek. I gave up after my first pass (still covered in stubble) and I didn't even have the heart to get my shavette out, so I finished with a norelco. I came out of my shave cave feeling horribly defeated and discouraged.

Anyone else have trouble making the transition?

Concern one is if you messed up the edge when you stropped it. If you did it will have to be repaired. Otherwise a straight is different and you have to adjust. First you need to be comfortable with the instrument. Until then you will never get a shave worth mentioning. Once you have some facility then you can start with the easy areas on the side of your face for instance and experiment with angle and stroke and pressure until you get it right.

This is a skill and it takes time to master. For most it's months.

You're not the first to make this transition with the same result.

Do a search and read up on all the solutions.

The first one that pops to my mind is that a straight requires less angle than a shavette.

I only know what I've read. I dove straight in, because of reading the issues people had with starting with what they thought would be an intermediate transition.

Welcome CplOFMarines: Most S.R. shaver's agree it takes minimum of one hundred shaves before you feel comfortable. Here are some good videos to help develop your S.R. shaving technique. If your razor is pulling and not cutting whiskers smoothly, the edge may be dulled through improper stropping. The quickest route is to send it out to a member on the forum to be rehoned.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r24ar_SSGVo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIM0Coix6Gg

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

Concern one is if you messed up the edge when you stropped it. If you did it will have to be repaired. Otherwise a straight is different and you have to adjust. First you need to be comfortable with the instrument. Until then you will never get a shave worth mentioning. Once you have some facility then you can start with the easy areas on the side of your face for instance and experiment with angle and stroke and pressure until you get it right.

This is a skill and it takes time to master. For most it's months.

I don't believe I curled or dulled the edge at all, I was very careful with my stropping and had done a lot of research. The razor still passes the hanging hair test and it catches my finger. I also shaved the back of my hand and its smooth as my face usually is with my shavette. I think its my angle, I think I'm doing more of a 10 degree angle rather than a 20-30 degree.

try doing just your sideburns with the grain. Try very short strokes using different angles to get a feel for what works. Start off with the blade flat on your face(bevel and spine both touching your skin) to feel the mildest possible angle. Next, another short stroke or two with the spine lifted a little. Look at the width of the spine, that's how far it should be raised for the second angle(one spine width). This angle should be about ideal. Third try some short strokes with the spine raised two spine widths. Be careful, as this is a more aggressive angle and it's easier to cut yourself as the spine gets raised further. After you get a feel for these different angles you can fine tune what works for you. If youre unsure err on the milder side. Don't get discouraged. This skill is developed with time and repitition.

the instructions from SRD say that you only need to shave first , no stropping ,, 99.9% of the time new guys strop incorrectly doesn't matter how much you read its an art to learn , and the hanging hair test doesn't mean anything,i still don't get a good hanging hair test and my blades are honed by one of the best,, everyones hair aint the same so hopefully it will come around ,, if the damage isn't too bad you might be able to strop it back in line ,, but you have a free honing coming from them so might have to use it.
we have all done something similar so just hang in there ,, and yes the angle is a little different tc

I would recommend a paddle strop while you are learning to strop as there are fewer variables involed. Then once you get the hang of that, you could switch back to a hanging strop.

I started with a shavette too....and once I got good with it, I switched to the straight. It was not the easiest transition...

The shavette is two things that a straight is not;
1: sharper
2: replaceable blade (I dinged my straight on the faucet just after my second shave...)

The fact that the shavette has a sharper and thinner blade means that you can get away with a clean shave at less precise angles (spine widths from the cheek) than a full straight. The straight likely has a bit more heft to it, so it probably feels a bit more clunky. This will most certainly pass.

Just take your time stropping...use a kitchen knife (like a regular table knife - not sharp) and get the muscle memory of stropping dialed in a bit before you try to speed it up with your razor. A lot of heartache to be saved there...

The just aim for 1-2 spine-widths between your face and the top edge (spine) of the razor. Do that a few times and it will start to fall into place.

Lastly....if you don't have one already, get an Alum Bar. Use after shaving to grade yourself and your progress. When you get a nice close shave and the Alum doesn't burn (a tingle is a great sign)...you are really on your way!

**UPDATE**

Alright so I figured I had to send the razor in but I wanted to give it one last chance to see if I could strop it out. I put the razor deep in my bathroom cubby and went back to the shavette for a few days. I got back to the basics, focusing on beard prep, going super slow, trying to maintain a perfect angle. I read up A LOT on stropping and tried to figure out what I was doing wrong. I tried to forget what I was doing before and just start from scratch, so I used a butter knife and just did it over and over again. A few minutes ago I went back to the straight. I gave it a good 80 laps on each side applying what I learned, then I lathered up my hand. I managed to shave my hand smooth (I have very harry hands) so we'll see tomorrow how it does on the face.

I noticed to get the hairs on my hand I was having to open my angle much more than I thought. I saw in Lynn's video he was talking about vertical he keeps his razor. I was holding at about 1x the width of the spine away from my skin to get the hairs.

Hopefully tomorrow we get a cheek pass