Thread: Shave Went from Good to Bad

So I was shaving last night and everything started of well. I was getting some minor pulling, but as a Newbie, I have pretty much gotten use to this for the time being. I was able to get through one cheek and side of the neck without too much trouble but as I started the other side of my face the experience quickly went downhill. The pulling was getting to be more than usual and the razor seemed to have difficulty cutting hairs. I ended up just finishing with a DE rather than subjecting myself to pain.

So I guess my question is, why would that happen? Is is just time for the razor to be refreshed on a pasted paddle?


Thanks

Originally Posted by Shay

So I was shaving last night and everything started of well. I was getting some minor pulling, but as a Newbie, I have pretty much gotten use to this for the time being. I was able to get through one cheek and side of the neck without too much trouble but as I started the other side of my face the experience quickly went downhill. The pulling was getting to be more than usual and the razor seemed to have difficulty cutting hairs. I ended up just finishing with a DE rather than subjecting myself to pain.

So I guess my question is, why would that happen? Is is just time for the razor to be refreshed on a pasted paddle?


Thanks

It's always tough to diagnose these sorts of problems. But if your razor is pulling, it's a pretty good bet that it isn't sharp. So, yes, I'd say refresh it on the pasted strop until you're sure it's shaving sharp. Then if something is still wrong, you might have to look at what the other problems could be.

If you were able to get a decent shave from your DE, that eliminates prep and lather as potential problems.

That leaves us with stropping, sharpness and shave technique. If the razor was pulling on your cheeks, which are the easiest places to shave for most of us, then chances are it's either a stropping or sharpness issue.

I'd suggest giving the razor 100 careful laps on your strop, then a test shave. If it's still pulling, you probably need to refresh it.

What equipment do you have to refresh it? I would think five to 10 laps on a pasted paddle should do the trick.

Let us know how it goes,
Josh

Thanks very much for your responses.

I guess I should mention that my previous shave with the same razor was absolutely wonderful. It plowed through a week's growth without any trouble, just very very minimal pulling. If a razor has to deal with a thicker beard, as opposed to say daily growth, would that increase the frequency that it needs to be refreshed?

The equipment that I have includes a Tony Miller #4 strop, a Tony Miller double-sided pasted bench strop with 1.0 and 0.5 micron pastes, a 4000 stone and an 8000 stone. Plus sandpaper in numerous grits up to about 2000.



Shay

I'd try some plain stropping to see if it will come back. If not, I'd hit the paddle strops. Make sure you wipe the blade when switching sides, and before going to your normal strop to prevent any accidental transfer of paste material.

Originally Posted by Shay

Thanks very much for your responses.

I guess I should mention that my previous shave with the same razor was absolutely wonderful. It plowed through a week's growth without any trouble, just very very minimal pulling. If a razor has to deal with a thicker beard, as opposed to say daily growth, would that increase the frequency that it needs to be refreshed?

The equipment that I have includes a Tony Miller #4 strop, a Tony Miller double-sided pasted bench strop with 1.0 and 0.5 micron pastes, a 4000 stone and an 8000 stone. Plus sandpaper in numerous grits up to about 2000.



Shay

I would guess that the problem is a rolled edge from stropping. You should be able to get the edge back with your pasted paddle. I would start with joshes instructions for refreshing and go from there.

I'm not sure if you're switching hands or not while you switch sides, but it took me quite a while to get comfortable doing the N-S pass with my left hand (I'm a righty). Just going out on a limb here, but if you had a previous, pleasant experience, you may have just adjusted the angle by switching hands.
I'd try some more stropping as the others have recommended then start with the side that gave you trouble last time. This way, the small amount of dulling that will occur with your other hand may give less irritation since your good hand will shave at the proper angle.
Good Luck,
Fred

There are many possibilities for your problem but since you were able to shave successfully before we can rule out technique and prep so I would say that your razor was originally marginally sharp and you squeaked by with the first shave and began your second with the razor beginning to fail and as you progressed it rapidly deteriorated. Depending on just how sharp it was and is now it might just need a good stropping or maybe some light honing or light pasted stropping depending on what you prefer to do.

The real question here is do you know what a truly sharp razor should feel like? The answer should be that if you were blindfolded and someone shaved you, you would never guess they were using a straight on you. It should be that smooth and comfortable. Anything less less means you need to go to honing city grasshopper.

Wow, you guys are great. Thanks so much for everybody's help.

I think what I will try to do is to give it another shot after stropping. I should be able to tell after a stroke or two whether it feels any better. If it doesn't, I will try the pasted bench strop. What is the suggested number of strokes on 1.0 micron (diamond) and 0.5 chromium oxide?

As for whether it has to do with which side of my face I started on and which hand I was using, I initially thought that this was the problem too but I tried with both hands using different angles and it just stopped working. It either did not cut anything or I got pulling.

Also, I clearly don't know what a truly sharp razor feels like because I am sure I managed to screw up the edge pretty quickly on the two razors that I have which were honed by people who knew what they were doing. And because of this, I am hesitant to send one out for a proper honing until I am satisfied that the rest of my technique (shaving, stropping, cleaning, drying, etc) will not ruin the edge.

Again, thanks everybody. I will keep you posted on how it goes.

Shay,

I would start with five laps on the 1 micron and 15 on the chromium oxide. I haven't yet used the chromium yet--my bench hone has its first application, and I'm waiting to apply the second--so you may want to wait for someone else to jump in first.

Josh