Thread: Does your shave last longer with a straight than with other methods?

Originally Posted by PapaBull

A straight razor can actually cut the follicle below the surface of the skin. I tried to figure this mystery out with a USB microscope and what I found was that the safety razor cut at the surface and the straight razor below it.

I'd be interested in the science behind this - or is it maybe a little PapaBullShine?

Withe the same preparation I achieve just as close a shave with straight, DE, SE and cartridge. I also manage to achieve WTG, ATG and XTG with any of them if required.

For those who believe a straight is closer please explain how the whiskers are aware of what is cutting them.

Seems to me anyone who can't get a close shave with any instrument using a sharp blade is lacking in technique.

Edit - one effect that may be overlooked is post shave treatment - a close shave followed by moisturizing can hydrate the skin and make it puff up - maybe that's why any particular shave feels closer than one where we lather up, shave and go.

Originally Posted by UKRob

I'd be interested in the science behind this - or is it maybe a little PapaBullShine?

Intelligent blade design. And, yes.

Originally Posted by UKRob

I'd be interested in the science behind this - or is it maybe a little PapaBullShine?

This is why I don't post on forums any more. People are too quick to belittle others, often without knowing anything about them.

A straight razor can be used to shave more closely because, when the edge is just right and the angle is right, it presses into the skin, which gives way and let's the razor catch the hair below the surface of the follicle. The skin gives way before it's downward pressure and the hair is caught quite deeply. The "safety" part of the safety razor prevents it from grabbing that deeply. The "safety" is a bit of a compromise. It made the whole process a little easier. Better? That's what people still debate and, hopefully, respectfully.

Now if you removed that safety limitation from a safety razor, you could do the same thing. But then it wouldn't be a safety razor.

The safety razor has a built-in limitation that the straight does not and that explained that mystery sufficiently to me.

Originally Posted by RobinK

Intelligent blade design. And, yes.

I see the forums have certainly not become either kinder or gentler over the last decade.

Intelligent blade design. It's the microchips, man. It's the microchips.

Check please!

Originally Posted by PapaBull

This is why I don't post on forums any more. People are too quick to belittle others, often without knowing anything about them.

A straight razor can be used to shave more closely because, when the edge is just right and the angle is right, it presses into the skin, which gives way and let's the razor catch the hair below the surface of the follicle. The skin gives way before it's downward pressure and the hair is caught quite deeply. The "safety" part of the safety razor prevents it from grabbing that deeply. The "safety" is a bit of a compromise. It made the whole process a little easier. Better? That's what people still debate and, hopefully, respectfully.

Now if you removed that safety limitation from a safety razor, you could do the same thing. But then it wouldn't be a safety razor.

The safety razor has a built-in limitation that the straight does not and that explained that mystery sufficiently to me.

No attempt to belittle you Robert - I thought I was being humorous but it obviously didn't come across that way.

My problem with your theory is that if it's correct then doesn't it suggest than an ATG pass becomes unnecessary if you have already cut the hair below skin level?

Having shaved for 50 years, always with a brush and soap but only the last 4 or so with a straight - my personal experience is as outlined before. No matter what I use, I still need to shave after 24 hours yet I get BBS nearly every time.

As someone pointed out earlier, a lot may be to do with preparation when taking up wet shaving and getting a better shave all round.

Hi, Rob. I found the images I took surprising and merely searched for an explanation. I think of it as the "squeegee effect".

I think that, as with most things, a simpler tool with fewer "safety features" and "fixed settings" allows an expert hand to get a better result than a tool designed to make the task more foolproof.

The thing that makes it foolproof also prevents expert manipulation. Think Linux vs Windows.

Ps. An "against the grain cut" is still necessary for the closest shave because the "squeegee effect" always catches the hair further below the skin when the hairs are leaning toward the blade instead of away from it.

This might help explain why the mythical effects of shaving with a cut-throat razor, especially one forged and ground in the US, are only being observed in said US. And not anywhere else on this planet.

Squeegee microchips with coleslaw and extra cheese almost sounds like a winner, though.

I've never did this type of experiment - as far as I'm concerned there's way too many variables involved, and I do not have a decent laboratory.

(At a tangent, it always amazes me that one of the SR shaving brethren can take a new product, test it once or twice, and is immediately able to say how good or bad it is, as I said: too many variables).

But it does not seem very logical to me that there would be a marked difference in how long your skin stays smooth.
Even if it's correct that with a straight you go below the skin and therefore you cut off more beard hair, what is cut off additionally should be very very small and unless there's a difference in speed of beard hair growth depending on what you use for a razor, it doesn't make sence that the difference would be noticeable.

I think it's more likely a difference due to technique.

Originally Posted by RobinK

This might help explain why the mythical effects of shaving with a cut-throat razor, especially one forged and ground in the US, are only being observed in said US. And not anywhere else on this planet.

Well, since I am not omniscient, I can't say what people do or do not observe across the entire world but since you seem to have such knowledge, I'll just take your word for it. .

Of course, the fact that I found this out before I ground my first razor so many years ago would seem to belie your theory here, but can't argue with omniscience like yours.