Thread: Trying not to hurt myself, Please help!

For starter I always cringe a little bit when I hear that somebody has taken their straight to a local cutlery shop to be sharpened. Unless they have a lot of experience honing straights, very doubtful in this day and age, the edge may not be what it should be. Honing a straight is "not" like honing a knife.

I would have it honed up by somebody that knows what they are doing. I would then shave with it without stropping it first as being new to this sport the is a chance you can dull an edge by improper stropping technique. Strop before the second shave and if the razor does not shave as well as the first time then you might have a problem with your stropping.

You are using Proraso which is a good shave cream but you must be able to make a good lather. If the lather is too dry your razor will not glide as well as it should and even stick. If the lather does not rinse off easily it maybe a sigh it is too dry. A good lather with the right combination of water and cream goes a long way to making a shave enjoyable.

Make sure of you angles, about 2 spine widths between face and spine for WTG and decreasing slightly for XTG. Darn near flat going ATG. You remove the whiskers in stages so don't expect them to all disappear with the first WTG pass. If you are trying to accomplish that you might be using too much pressure.

Sorry for the long ramble, I would just start from square one again with a properly honed shave ready razor. Keep the other points in mind if that does not help.

Bob