Thread: The angle....

OK I have to get something off my chest. Every time I see someone shaving on YouTube I notice the wide angle of the blade against the skin. The blade is closer to perpendicular to the skin than parallel with it. Let's call it a >45* angle.

When I shave my blade rarely breaks 45*, if ever. Frankly I'm usually less than 30*.

Am I doing this wrong? If so it has been yielding good results for 10 years or so...

Originally Posted by apamburn

OK I have to get something off my chest. Every time I see someone shaving on YouTube I notice the wide angle of the blade against the skin. The blade is closer to perpendicular to the skin than parallel with it. Let's call it a >45* angle.

When I shave my blade rarely breaks 45*, if ever. Frankly I'm usually less than 30*.

Am I doing this wrong? If so it has been yielding good results for 10 years or so...

I don't think you're doing anything wrong. In fact, I've noticed the same and had the same doubt for a while. IMHO the best shaving angle should be the one that gives you the smoothest shave with less passes, and that happens the more closer the blade to the skin is, in my personal experience.


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No, I don't think you are doing anything wrong. I generally have about 1 or 2 spine widths gap between skin and razor's spine.

Bob

Don't worry about it. With 10 years of good shaves under your belt, I'll bet you've been at it longer than some of those guys in the shaving videos.

I watched a Youtube video of a "pro" honer dragging a straight across his face with the blade nearly perpendicular to his face. A lot of expert advice videos are made by amateurs.

Originally Posted by yaguarete79

I don't think you're doing anything wrong. In fact, I've noticed the same and had the same doubt for a while. IMHO the best shaving angle should be the one that gives you the smoothest shave with less passes, and that happens the more closer the blade to the skin is, in my personal experience.


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I forgot to comment that, when going against the grain, the video you watched is even more untrue, at least in my personal experience, as going against the grain almost perpendicular to the skin seems suicidal to me. In that case y rest the whole blade against my skin, making sure first there is enough soap lather between the skin and the blade so that it runs smoothly. That's why I consider James Bond's movie scene in which the girl shaves his jaw against the grain with the blade perpendicular to the skin, faker than it's already supposed to be for being just a scene in a movie.

So you are saying this is the wrong angle?

Originally Posted by Benz

Don't worry about it. With 10 years of good shaves under your belt, I'll bet you've been at it longer than some of those guys in the shaving videos.

Thats my opinion too. Shave on.

IMHO that's the wrong angle. I've watched videos in which they analyze the razor's edge under a microscope and if you think about it, in a magnified or zoomed scenario it would be similar to a mowlawner: the more vertical the blade, the less it will be able to cut. Besides, a perpendicular blade in your skin is risky as hell. A wrong move and you'll be needing stitches. In fact any shaving implies risks, but the sole image of a perpendicular blade gives me the creeps. But I'm not claiming to be an authority myself on this. I've been straight shaving for 1 year and a half now, so I still have a lot to learn. But in my experience I keep the things that work for me. That doesn't mean it wouldn't work for other people.

Somewhere on the forum is a thread that contains some diagrams of proper blade angles when using a straight razor. I do not remember the exact angles, but is is something like 30 degrees on the 1st pass WTG, 20 degrees on the 2nd pass XTG, and then about 10 degrees on the 3rd pass ATG. Thus, the thought is that as the beard is progressively reduced, you lessen the blade angle.

Since every beard differs in length and coarseness and every face differs in shape and sensitivity, each shaver use whatever angles work for them. The angle might also differ slightly with the angle of the bevel of the razor you are using. If you are getting a close, comfortable shave, your technique is right for you, no matter what anyone else does, writes or shows in a video.