Thread: A desperate call for help

Hello chaps,
I've been shaving with a straight razor for three years, so I'm not a newbie. But something has gone terribly wrong somewhere down the line. I got magnificent shaves when I started out. Over recent months, I've devolved into having a five o clock shadow immediately post shave.

I've researched and tried altering:
Strop method
Face prep method
Lather method
Razor angle
Stroke length
Stroke directions
Honing method

I'm only asking to not look like a hobo at work and get back the smooth face my wife loves. What else needs fixing? Are there any experts for hire for a consultation?

Is it all with just one razor? How does the shave feel after? Is it age and thickening of beard? The thickening has been my issue over the last 2 years or so. Requires me to do 3 passes when 1.5 would suffice.

edit: your location in your profile would help too,, if anyone is close to give you a hand.

Well it sounds to me like your edges are off. I would suggest sending a blade or two out to someone else to have them honed and compare. The very foundation of very great edge is a perfect and even apex bevel form tip to heel. A loupe is your best friend.

No razor burn I presume if you are leaving whiskers behind? One, or a few razors in rotation as asked. And if you have more than one, a professional honing is advised for sure to eliminate that very large variable.

If you were getting good shaves and now you are not, your blade must be dull. That's not because of the strop since you have been stropping for 3 years.

It's got to be honing.

Originally Posted by RezDog

Well it sounds to me like your edges are off. I would suggest sending a blade or two out to someone else to have them honed and compare. The very foundation of very great edge is a perfect and even apex bevel form tip to heel. A loupe is your best friend.

My thoughts exactly.
You have easy control over most of the other aspects you mentioned in your post and any change would be obvious.

Have your blade(s) given a new edge by someone who is known to be skilled in this field and take it from there.

If the wait should be too long, you could also buy another (new or pre-used) expertly honed razor and see how you get along with that one.
In the worst case, a pre-used one can usually be sold without loosing too much money.


Good luck.



B.



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I agree with all of the above. I find that with one razor in my rotation I have the same trouble as you are describing here. I just haven't got round to doing anything about it yet. It still shaves and causes me no other ill effects. I am thinking of either sending it away or dropping it out of rotation until I can get round to taking it to a stone.

I think that it is most likely razor edge especially as it seems that you haven't changed anything else in your routine. Beard thickening could be an issue, but at my age I think mine is as thick as it's going to be. If it is happening with all of your razors (assuming you have more than one) unless you got them all at the same time it seems unlikely that the edges will have all dulled at the same time too. So it could be your honing. As others have said a professional honing of one as a comparison would be a good idea.

Also welcome to the forum.

Like others posted it sounds like the blades edge is dull now. Besides stropping do you or have you ever just performed a touch up on the hones to get a edge back to that buttery feel? I say about every 12 shaves if you are stropping correctly a slight touch up on a 10k or better hone to be a must to just put that edge back. Now you will get different opinions on this but given your stropping is fine and not a rolled edge and you have never touched up the edge or at least in a reasonable amount of shaves.....I say that may be the culprit.

And to add to my above post I had a PRC that was shaving excellent until recent all of a sudden. No rolled edge or otherwise. I tried a touch up on the Thury and Naniwa and no dice!!!! Still tugged a bit. I took it back to a 1K for a few stroked then 4k to 6K then to the Thury and voila......smooth again. I think sometimes a edge can get dull quickly for varying unknown reasons and you need to take it back even further a few stone grits to brink it back to par. Rare cases but happens sometimes.

Really appreciate all the responses so quickly. Here are some more details to help us, ahem, hone in on the answer.

I have only ever had the one blade. It's been professionally honed twice and personally honed four or five times.

Beard could be thickening. When does that happen? I'm 32.

I do get a little razor burn.

Sounds like honing most likely. Everything I've read says you don't need that very often,though and I just did it a week ago. If it's my method, then I don't know what to say. I followed Lynn Abrams' instructions exactly, using a three stone pyramid. Just confused. And a bit ticked if I spent money on those stones and ruined my blade.