Thread: getting best shaves of my life.....aas long as I use the M3 instead of straight

Need your good advice. Shaved with a straight while I was in college, 50+ years ago. Then I used a low-end DublDuck, strop, frictionite hone an Foamy lather from a can. Got excellent shaves and never had the razor honed in the four years I used it, just the BH once a month or so. Watched the James Bond movie and decided to return to a straight. Haven't had a comfortable experience with the straight this time around. Have tried VDH soap puck and Aveeno shave cream. Best lather is VDH plus a small squirt of shampoo. Always shower and hot towel before lathering face. With this regimen and Mach 3 I get the most comfortable and closest shaves of my life. I know the lather is working fine.

Experienced sharpening both wood and metal cutting tools. Have Norton 220/1000, and naniwa superstones in 5000, 8000 and 12000 grits, CH12k and diamond sprays in 1/2 and 1/4 micron sizes. Strop is Star Shaving Big Daddy in Bridle leather + felt, diamond sprays on DIY two sided felt paddle. Absorbed all the videos on honing and practice honed five or so different antique store razors several times each until felt i had good edges before I ever touched one to my face. The stropping technique returned immediately, have put only one small nick on the strop and that was on the very first try after 50 years. Use 20 felt /50 leather laps on strop before each shave. Use a very light touch on both the hone and the strop. All experiences with the straight have been VERY uncomfortable. Bought a new Dovo 1/2 hollow and sent it and a Shumate full hollow to gssixgun (Glen) for honing. I know the razors are sharp, have examined edges under 10x, 40x and 60x magnifiers. The edges are not rolled and are not jagged. Glen's edges are more refined than mine in that fewer of the scratches from edge setting remain, but the two sharpened by Glen are just as uncomfortable as the ones I have honed. I shave slowly and stretch my face carefully before trying to cu any whiskers. When I try to cut whiskers, it feels as if I am pulling half of them out. Second pass is more tolerable.

I have read about every thread on this site on pulling. I'm out of ideas. What am I doing wrong?

I don't know what to tell you. I am an old codger of 65 and first shaved with straights in the 1980s. I gave it up for 25 years and stuck with the Gillette Good News until a friend got me interested in straight razor shaving again. I had a lot of time go by before I could get shaves that equaled the Good News, or the DE with a Feather blade, but eventually, as my honing and straight razor technique developed and improved, I began to get shaves as good, or sometimes better, than I was getting with my Merkur Slant and Feather blade.

As Lynn points out in the beginner's guide, you've probably read it, stay with the easier parts, down passes on the cheeks, neck, finish the tougher spots on the jawline, chin, with the DE until you start to improve your stretching, blade manipulation, the whole being the sum of its parts. I don't know if any of that makes sense. I do know that I used to have a lot of frustration with my shaves before they began to get better.

Well Dry fly,wellcome to getting old.Like me you have an old stiff collogen depleated Beard.
By your post I think you are overthinking the entire process,stay off the hones after you get your blades pro honed again,Which I think you need to do.
If glens Blades are not comfortable,than your stropping is most likly sub par.
do not overthink this,break all down into the diff componants,and start fresh.all will come together

+1 on what pixel said take it slow and break it down into parts of your face, if Glen honed it ,it's ready ,, maybe your angles are wrong , I've been guilty of that when I started , and even now I still pick up my DE every now and then. Usually when my blade does get dull . I got Lynn's video when I started ,so if you don't have it PM me I'll lend it to you ,lots of good starting info on the DVD. Good luck and hang in there, by the way did you try shaving with the gssixgun hone job before you stripped or after? Tc

Shaved with both razors before I touched either to the strop. The Shumate was a bit better, and I am saving it for comparison to other razors I have honed. Not trying to do either lips or chin. Only passes from sideburns down and up along neck (with the grain for me). Holding blade almost flat to face. As for getting old, hell, I'm just a puppy at 72. My beard may be a bit older and I suppose that could be the problem. Don't remember even having to stretch my face years ago. Now, if I don't have it stretched tight, my skin bunches up like a bathmat without a rubber backing and, yup, I get a cut. Thanks for your comments.

If everything else is clicking then concentrate most on Angle and Pressure as these two things are what will be most different from the M3..


Let me know how it goes are you going to try and make the Denver meet up in July ???

I'd guess after years of using the M3 you need to adjust your angles. I know exactly what you describe I had the same problem, you'd swear the blade was not sharp enough. I really concentrated on angle and pressure and the shave improved I still really notice it on the ATG pass when my concentration lapses.

In vids I sometimes see SR users who can do long strokes like one does with the cartridges, but I get best results from short strokes. Tcrideshd above called it breaking it down into areas. Others call it "shaving a diamond." I'll do the top of the cheek, lower cheek, upper neck, lower neck, etc. helps keep my angles stable. Good luck!

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Let me know how it goes are you going to try and make the Denver meet up in July ???

Absolutely, will be there. Let me know time and place when decided

I used either a disposable or cartridge (or even worse, an electric) for 30 years. I had to completely recalibrate my hands to use less pressure. Try using less angle and less pressure and see how it goes.