Thread: Many tiny Micro cuts? Its nonsensical!

Ok so as of recently, i just purchased a 12k hone and some chromium oxide paste from SRD, and finally got my razor to make it feel like its not wanting to rip my chin hairs out.
Long story short, my first shave (after the honing) was pretty successful, but on my second and third attempt, I encountered a problem.
Absolutely all of the WTG shave is great, with minimal pulling on my chin hairs, and 90% of the ATG is good to. However the 10% is what is burdening me.
On my upper lips and the corners of my chin, my razor is for some reason giving me "micro cuts" and lots of them. They arent realy like normal nicks. Its like in small patches, every spot where there is a hair, when the hair is removed from my face ATG, the skin gets a tiny cut too.
So imagine 12 tiny cuts in an area of half a dime, in one stroke. As you can imagine the blood pools rather fast and i look like i was just shot....
Why is this happening? My first shave was glorious! And of the 10-15 shaves i have under my belt, this is my first encounter.

The only thing i can think of is a fair sized nick i gave myself (1/2 inch long?). Would that possibly make the razor act like that right after a hone?

Ok got yer PM and I have a few questions


1. Brand of razor
2. Honing history on the razor
3. Number of shaves under your belt
4. Prep, lather, setup, etc:

Basically give us a rundown like the write ups in the SOTD forum

The more info we have to star the more help we can be

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Ok got yer PM and I have a few questions


1. Brand of razor
2. Honing history on the razor
3. Number of shaves under your belt
4. Prep, lather, setup, etc:

Basically give us a rundown like the write ups in the SOTD forum

The more info we have to star the more help we can be

1. Revisor Razor, I'm it's first owner :P
2. I've done the only "hone" (just 6 laps on the 12k naniwa which was also brand new and lapped mind you), I had the blade checked by a Barber who has been shaving with a straight for 15 years, he got it to be what he considered shave ready (which I'm sure was adequate)
3. I think I probably have 15 shaves under ma belt.
4. Of those two shaves one included a hot shower before hand and both included a hot towel, and a lather using Tabac shaving cream. I think that's everything important :P if I didn't include anything else it's quite possible it didn't happen :P

2. Look At The Edge With A Loop 20X OR 30X Will Show You What You Have.
3. With So Little Time Shaving... I Would NOT be Doing 3 Passes Yet.

Just My Opinion... Take It For What It Is Worth...

Did you shave the razor before you honed the razor and if so how was it ???

With only 15 shaves it could be a few things. Pressure, blade angle, incorrect stropping, incorrect lathering, wrong prep, etc.... That's why it's important to go slow and only WTG for the first six months to a year. You're trying to develop good technique with everything, so when you do have a problem it is easier to identify.

Stropping is kind of important. Just seems to be missing in all this is why I mention it. :<0)

Originally Posted by 10Pups

Stropping is kind of important. Just seems to be missing in all this is why I mention it. :<0)

Hahaha oh my bad, stropping completely left my mind when writing this up :P yes i strop before every shave.
For ggsixgun, yes i got about 8 or 10 shaves in before i decided it was pulling far to much hair. I than got my hone, and strop paste, got my razor all good (i think :P) shaved once more and it was good. Than on the shave after that, it started giving me all these itty bitty cuts on my upper lip and corners of my chin.

Kettlebell i do agree with you, i probably should be taking it slower, but its so difficult to stop pampering yourself after just one pass, shaving Im finding is a lot of fun

Hi there! In my experience, an edge gets mellower with stropping, unless there is debris on the strop or the stropping was not perform right. It also could be that it needs more passes on the chromium or a trip back to the finisher. I would go with stropping first.

Clean the strop with hand and do 100-150 laps. If it's to many laps for you to do properly in one sitting, do increments of 50 or so taking breaks in between. If that doesn't do it, try 7 more laps on the CrOx, strop and try. Doesn't do it?, try going back to the finisher for some more laps, then CrOx, strop and try. Good luck let us know how it goes. It's part of the fun!

Another course of action is to send it to one of the guys here with a good reputation (Glen, Lynn or other) for honing, if you still get the cuts, then you know it's your shaving, maybe too much pressure or too steep of an angle (when going ATG).

After reading my post over, I would start with the last advice (less pressure, less angle)! Change one thing at a time, so you can identify the problem and learn from it. Double O

Well let's try a test..

First the stropping, lay the strop along the edge of a counter or table just on the Leather do 100 laps carefully and diligently trying for a perfect result..

Now watch this Vid and using even more time and patience then I did in the Vid follow it as best as possible, this will test the edge, it is not perfect because there is still some user input to be factored in but is a good as we have found to test the edge and not the shaving..

http://straightrazorpalace.com/video...-test-vid.html


also keep in mind that there are different levels of "Shave Ready" and that pertains to the razors's edge as well as your skills, at 15 shaves you are pushing the performance envelope with going ATG. It means that you are pushing for a BBS shave and honestly that takes awhile to achieve... If you are getting CCS (close comfortable shave) in less then 6 months you are doing just fine, also keep in mind that the angle that you learn for WTG and XTG changes when going ATG you have to get a flatter angle which also means less pressure.. Another trick to the ATG pass that helps many people is to use slightly more wet lather, so try either adjusting the lather a bit or simply dip the tips of the brush when you lather up for the ATG...

Let me know the results of the Shave Test...