Thread: Razor seems dull after 9 shaves

Appreciate the feedback and suggestions... I was a little discouraged. Would be awesome to actually shave with someone that knows how to do this. My surviving grandfather is 94 and hasn't used a straight in several decades. Seems like it is probably everything. I should mention that I am shaving my head, lining my beard and shaving my neck. I'll increase the stropping, see if I can get the razor sharper. I'll also keep close watch on the angle and give a little extra time to prep. I just got a badger hair brush, first use this morning - HUGE difference over the ever-ready boar's hair brush that belonged to my great-grandfather. See where this gets me...

Originally Posted by ARP

Appreciate the feedback and suggestions... I was a little discouraged. Would be awesome to actually shave with someone that knows how to do this. My surviving grandfather is 94 and hasn't used a straight in several decades. Seems like it is probably everything. I should mention that I am shaving my head, lining my beard and shaving my neck. I'll increase the stropping, see if I can get the razor sharper. I'll also keep close watch on the angle and give a little extra time to prep. I just got a badger hair brush, first use this morning - HUGE difference over the ever-ready boar's hair brush that belonged to my great-grandfather. See where this gets me...

That's a lot of surface area. I use to shave my head but not with a straight - I used a DE. DE blades on my beard lasted 3-5 shaves. On my head they lasted 2-3 shaves. The fact that you're shaving your head makes a big difference on the life of your razor.

Adam

One thing that did help me on my stropping was to set the strop down on a flat hard surface to help keep the angle right. And it helps technique and saves your stop from as many nicks. The balsa strop with chromium oxide on one side and iron oxide on the other help to revive a lightly dulled edge. For me at least. The shaving technique varies from beard to beard. Mine took about two and a half months to come around, so don't get discouraged and enjoy having all the parts come together for you.

I agree with everyone so far, I struggle still with proper beard prep, and my very thick coarse beard lets my edge know. I would watch like every stropping video you can find and really focus on developing proper technique. It take 100 strokes to learn proper technique and 10,000 to undo improper technique.