Thread: Just no luck with straights

I disagree. Because there is a possibility that you have created an incorrect muscle memory with the shavette, you should stop using it. The DE, on the other hand, is held entirely in a different manner so its use should not compromise your straight razor technique.

Use a straight when you can and use a DE as a backup.

[QUOTE=Gcramer1234;1438206]I really do believe my beard is the thickest type of beard there is. I made the town barber give up with a feather. IM serious guys, i may be half Bigfoot. Anyway, razor sharpness I doubt is the problem as I said they don't do the job even first shave after honing. I will try better beard prep. I thought I did a great job with that but I will try something new. Any soaps or tips you guys know about let me know. I don't do prep oil. Hate it. Anyhow I have a true passion for this and would try anything to succeed.
Thanks happy new year[/QUOTE
OK here's my cents worth, this prep was used when I had a shave at Trufit and Hill in London.
Wash face in as hot water as you can stand. Then rub some pre shave oil into your beard, wrap face in very hot towel for about 5 minutes. Make a really rich lather, lather your face then wrap in another hot towel again for 5 minutes, relather then shave. First pass WTG, second pass XTG third pass ATG. If that doesn't work my only other suggestion is use a blowtorch!!

Or a small amount of Kryptonite.

Originally Posted by Gcramer1234

Hey guys. First a want to say I love the site. I've spent hours upon hours reading and learning. I'm new of course and want to present my issue. I cannot get a decent shave from any of my straights. I'm a year into shaving with sr's and yet to get a shave I would consider half as good as my shavette. Of course I've considered my stropping and technique being the problem. But I've bought 5 brand new razors and took them straight to my face and still have no luck. And they are from good places. West coast, classic shaves and SRD. Every time I start out with a straight and half way through first pass I have to switch to my dovo shavette. I pay attention to angle and pressure and all that good stuff but I've been beaten down trying to get a single great shave. Equipment isn't the problem, I have thousands of dollars in the best you can buy. I just feel like my insanely thick beard is too much for a straight. This surely can't be true right? Any comments will be greatly appreciated.

ps. I'm using professionally honed bokers, dovos, and thiers issard.
thanks

It took me two years to master the straight. I really wanted to master this in the worst way. What allowed me to persevere was my attitude of it being something I want to do. I was always fascinated by the way it looked in the movies and a barber shop.

I also have a coarse beard that can give a Feather or Kai straight a hard time. A perfectly honed and stropped high quality standard straight has trouble doing the job with a standard prep (wash, hot towel, pre-shave, hot towel, shave soap, hot towel, lather and shave). What allows me to use a straight is a prep in the shower... I guess the hot steam in the shower and the continuous hydration may be the key. While in the shower I wash my beard with Mitchell's Woolfat shampoo, then wash it with shaving soap. I leave my face wet. Right after the shower, I lather up and shave. I also find that for me the shave soaps with tallow or lanolin work better with my straights. (This doesn't seem to be an issue with a DE, where non-tallow soaps like MDC work great). Give it a try. Good luck on your quest.

Originally Posted by CaliforniaCajun

I really wanted to master this in the worst way.

Don't give up! Cajun is spot on; keep working at it because you love it. The answers will come. I am at the beginning of this journey myself, and one year in feels as though I've barely scratched the surface. Once a student, always a student. If you have access to a mentor, that would be the direction I would go in. God speed.

A picture is worth a thousand words.
A shave coach is worth a thousand pictures.

I have a beard like yours. Use the straight at a shallower angle than the Feather. Stop using the feather as it is reinforcing the wrong angle. Try this, it worked for me:

Take the first pass with your straight, no matter how bad it is, with a shallower angle than you used with the feather. Use your non dominant hand to do the "non dominant" (same) side of your face. Concentrate on an effective pass on the flattest, easiest part of your face. For many this is the cheek near the sideburn. Finish your shave with a double edge razor.

Do that every day, checking to see how angle affects the shave. When you start getting decent first pass results on the easiest part of the face with your nondominant hand, transfer that angle to the dominant hand. As daily practice improves the result on the easy part of the face, start tackling the tougher parts.

Little by little, day in and day out, your results will appear.

Make sure you are not dulling the blade by touching it to anything but a strop, your face, a careful towel wipe, or a hone. If your straights were originally honed with a secondary bevel or with tape, you may not be getting them sharp even though your honing technique seems right. Learn the HHT and check your blades.

Let time and practice do the work. Good luck and don't give up.

.................

Unnecessary details follow:

I prep with olive oil soap Pre de Provence lavender (which I buy at Cuffs in Chagrin Falls, a great, great, high end store with salt of the earth people at its heart). I use Castle Forbes Lavender shave cream but can get a good shave with just about any soap or cream except Kiehl's "lite flite". Whether its Williams shave soap, an Arko shave stick, proraso, or another shave cream, I use very hot water. I always shave with a quarter ground straight, either a Hart or a Le Grelot. I hone once every two to three months using Lynn's synthetic water stone progression to 12k, then add 7 x strokes without pressure on a 16k shapton glass and on a 30k shapton glass. Before each shave I strop 11 strokes on the webbing then 77 strokes on a latigo 3" strop, taking care not to roll the blade into the strop.

Work ready shave is two passes on my face with extra attention to the chin and under the chin. BBS requires 3 passes plus extra chin work. I love straight razor shaving, and even with the outlay for pricey hones, have saved significantly compared to multiedged "modern" razors over the years. If I get called in to work in the middle of the night and time is limited, I shave DE with a Merkur barberpole using an Iridium Super blade or its equivalent, packaged for the market in Turkey. These are the only DE blades which will last me more than 3 three-pass shaves.

YMMV, but don't give up. Straight razor shaving is a skill which time and practice will make your own. Mastery of straight shaving is a gift of competence which a man gives to himself.

See if there is something in these instructions that may help.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/shavi...ng-basics.html

I keep two things close to me for all my shaves:

1. Barber's home to touch up the SR.
2. A DE to touch up areas I am not so confident or skillful enough to get to yet. I always only use the DE after trying the SR.

Yes I know 2 makes mess less of a purist but I prefer to have a good shave rather than being pure.