Thread: Questions about straight razors

So I'm pretty new to wet shaving. I've been doing it for a couple months with a safety razor and had good success. My biggest problem however is when I shave my chin. I always seem to cut myself. I use soap and a badger brush (both from the art of shaving). I lather well and use both pre and after shave gel. Any tips? Also I plan on purchasing a straight razor soon and hope to also purchase one for my grandfather who recently retired. I'd like to give it to him as a retirement present. I was looking at a few examples from bobs razors. Is this a good place to buy? Any place cheaper? I want to purchase something quite nice for him. If this is on the wrong section, my apologies.

The chin is one of the hardest places to shave. It takes a lot of stretching with fingers, tongue whatever you can use. It may take a few passes in different directions. Use very short strokes.

It's over 20 years of straight shaving and I still cut my chin now and then.

There are a few things that make the chin tricky. As mention the stretching is difficult and important, also there is the angle and on a curve it is tricky to maintain, and then there is pressure which because it tends to have the toughest and most dense whiskers tends to get a little more pressure than other places. Wrap these all together and that is why it take a while to get it right.

Does your Grandpa shave with a straight already?

Try Straightrazordesigns for a quality razor and strop. If you are buying him a hobby are you sure the straight is something he wants to tackle?

If you're cutting yourself with a safety razor, it'll be worse with a straight razor.

When _I_ cut myself, the usual cause is that I let the skin "bunch up", just a little bit, in front of the blade. And that changes the blade-to-skin angle, and the blade digs in. With any pressure on the blade, the problem gets worse:

a) the blade is more likely to "un-stretch" the skin in front of it, and

b) it's more likely to cut, when the angle changes.

Since the chin is so curved, it's hard to keep the blade-to-skin angle correct, as the razor moves. You have to follow the curves carefully, keeping the razor head following the surface of the skin as it curves around.

So stretch the skin carefully, _in front of the blade_, as everyone advises.

. Charles

Alright. Thanks for the advice guys.

Yeah, the comment about a straight cutting you worse than a safety is true. I came to straights after using a DE also, but my DE technique was such that I never cut myself. I may have had some irritations or abrasions, but no cuts. I'd get my DE shaving fully developed before tackling a straight, if I were you. I don't know what kind of razor you're using, but if your chin is constantly bleeding, something is amiss. Using a straight on the chin and mustache area is one of the trickiest feats in the shave world. It is far easier to use a DE in this area, so think twice about using a straight until the DE technique is dialed in. Watch the shave videos of guys like GeoFatboy and Mantic59. Those guys rarely draw blood when they shave. I think that is where your skills should be before straight shaving. All that being said, it is doable, just take your time and have fun.

It's not constant. It's just the only place I get cut. It's not a regular thing. I was just if there was a specific technique that I wasn't using or something. It definitely isn't constant however. Just looking to get better.

I don't know man but I tend to cut myself more with a DE than straights . Sounds counter intuitive right? Why maybe cause with a DE I cant really know what the the blade is doing its more by feel. Also I don't pay attention with DE 's and I tend to just go through a shave without thinking about it. But hey its a safety razor and no matter how much you get nicked or cut it wont do much harm. So for straights even after a bit of use your mind is on the task and if not you may get it, so it commands respect, which for the most part gets me through 99.99% of shaves unscathed. Now those DEs are dangerous haha because they give a false sense of security. Go with the straight my friend you will be glad you did and in the end more fun.

I have to say there has been some excellent advice given already here and I can't add much more. I have since switched to straights and love it, but it is a very different technique.

Two things I would say about your problem, 1) Don't use any pressure other than the weight of the razor (if you can even reduce that a little). 2) Is your DE razor and aggressive one? If so try a milder razor or perhaps an adjustable set on a low setting.

Keep at it you will get there, but I have to say when I first started out with straights I wasn't cutting myself much at all, but I wasn't getting particularly close shaves, so I did two passes with the straight and then a final one with a DE just to be sure I was socially acceptable (although that isn't hard these days as everyone has stubble). It was always the final pass with my DE that I got any nicks on, like Razorfaust said, false sense of security I guess.

The only advice I would give on buying a straight is make sure that what you are buying is shave ready, that is much more important than how much it costs.

The cost might be higher on a sight where the razor comes shave ready because they have honed it for you, honing can cost anything up to $30-$40 but the difference in price of razors is usually much less so you might be paying a little more, but in fact you will be getting a much better deal and a razor that you can actually shave with to boot.