Best way to beard line up?

Hello,

I'm new to straight razors. After a long time of thinking about it (probably years) I finally got myself a razor and strop. I opted for a Ralf Aust 6/8 based on some initial getting familiar with the basics and what pleased my eye.

However, I keep a beard and will mainly use the razor on cheeks and neck to line the beard up. Part of the reason for finally getting the straight razor was that I figured it would be much easier to be precise than to use a cartridge razor. But now I wonder what the best approach is with a straight razor?

What's the best razor to use for this purpose? Perhaps 6/8 while perfectly functionale for the purpose (it's worked so far), it's not optimal? Is a 5/8 or even 4/8 better for lining up the beard?

What about lathering? I haven't bought a kit yet (although it seems to be half the pleasure) as I figure the lather will make it more difficult to actually see the line you want to establish? How should you go about this? Use lather? Or gel or perhaps oil instead?

Happy to have joined and looking forward to learn more :-)

Welcome to SRP. I use many sizes of razors to edge my heard. My. Hin and upper lip havent seen the light of day in 30+ years. Or something like that. I have no issue using any one of my razors and s8ze doesnt mater at all. Now if you feel your having a hard time, maybe a shorty would help. That would be a razor with a 2 i ch long blade and not 3 inch like standard.

Enjoy your time here. Lots of good folks so be at ease as you have just picked up a lot of freinds.

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Originally Posted by Gasman

Welcome to SRP. I use many sizes of razors to edge my heard. My. Hin and upper lip havent seen the light of day in 30+ years. Or something like that. I have no issue using any one of my razors and s8ze doesnt mater at all. Now if you feel your having a hard time, maybe a shorty would help. That would be a razor with a 2 i ch long blade and not 3 inch like standard.

Enjoy your time here. Lots of good folks so be at ease as you have just picked up a lot of freinds.

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Thanks, appreciate it! So far it's going fairly well, it's the stropping part I find most challenging. I lose my concentration after a 10+ laps and nick the strap; muscle memory is not there yet.

What about the lather, do people use lather as any full shave or transparent gel? Or would just oil work as lubricant? I'm worried about investing in a nice badger brush and soap if it defeats the purpose..

I shave my cheeks and neck daily. Trimming the leftovers. Lather covers most everything including the beard. Well, most of it anyway.

Stropping take time to learn. Just go slow and it will come in time. We all stared out going slow so no need to try and save 1 or 2 minutes. I have many different brushes. Depending on how i feel that day depends on what one i use. Just get a decent brush. No need to start out with 200+ on a brush.

Hello and welcome to the wonderful world of straights!
I also maintain a beard and use a straight to keep nice tight lines. Usually what I'll do is use an electric trimmer to make the line I want to have them use the razor to keep it.
I find that starting at my beard and going away from it first is easiest, from there I sneak up on my beard. Usually my final few strokes will be up towards my beard carefully, it's easy to nip into the beard and then you can chase your tail. Alot depends on the direction of growth also how truly shave ready the blade is.
My lather technique is this, lather my neck don't worry about getting it in your beard because you will be starting close to the beard line not at it. The last little bit I use water only. Reason for water only is so I can see exactly where the beard is to get to it and not into it. Same on my cheeks, lather and shave close to the line then sneak on it with water only.
Holler if I can help or explain things a bit better. Best of luck.

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Originally Posted by Gasman

I shave my cheeks and neck daily. Trimming the leftovers. Lather covers most everything including the beard. Well, most of it anyway.

Stropping take time to learn. Just go slow and it will come in time. We all stared out going slow so no need to try and save 1 or 2 minutes. I have many different brushes. Depending on how i feel that day depends on what one i use. Just get a decent brush. No need to start out with 200+ on a brush.

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Cool. And yeah, I need to remind myself to go slow with the stropping.

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Originally Posted by ejmolitor37

Hello and welcome to the wonderful world of straights!
I also maintain a beard and use a straight to keep nice tight lines. Usually what I'll do is use an electric trimmer to make the line I want to have them use the razor to keep it.
I find that starting at my beard and going away from it first is easiest, from there I sneak up on my beard. Usually my final few strokes will be up towards my beard carefully, it's easy to nip into the beard and then you can chase your tail. Alot depends on the direction of growth also how truly shave ready the blade is.
My lather technique is this, lather my neck don't worry about getting it in your beard because you will be starting close to the beard line not at it. The last little bit I use water only. Reason for water only is so I can see exactly where the beard is to get to it and not into it. Same on my cheeks, lather and shave close to the line then sneak on it with water only.
Holler if I can help or explain things a bit better. Best of luck.

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Awesome, thanks, great explanation!

That is exactly why I started using a SR

In the words of Dave the Barber that started me down this path in 1981

"You want straight lines, use a Straight Razor"

Very few I haven't used over the years, two stand out to me as the best for MY FACE, you have to decide if they are best for yours :)

Japanese Kamisori
NY American steel extreme full hollows Little Valley brands in particular

Both of these can take and hold a stupidly wicked sharp edge that makes trimming easy


my 2 cents

ps: lather slightly wetter then normal, but the second lathering is the real line cutter and it is light and wet barely even a real lather basically a see through coating

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Originally Posted by gssixgun

That is exactly why I started using a SR

In the words of Dave the Barber that started me down this path in 1981

"You want straight lines, use a Straight Razor"

Very few I haven't used over the years, two stand out to me as the best for MY FACE, you have to decide if they are best for yours :)

Japanese Kamisori
NY American steel extreme full hollows Little Valley brands in particular

Both of these can take and hold a stupidly wicked sharp edge that makes trimming easy


my 2 cents

ps: lather slightly wetter then normal, but the second lathering is the real line cutter and it is light and wet barely even a real lather basically a see through coating

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Thanks for the tip!

Im waiting for my razor to get back from honing. Can’t wait to discard this over engineered, wasteful ugliness that is my Gillette razor.

Used the straight today for the first time since I got it back from honing.

I absolutely love it! I can't say the shave is closer than the cartridge razor, but it's as close. More importantly, the line up was perfect; the quote "You want straight lines, use a Straight Razor" definitely rings true.

As for the shave, two minor nicks. Isn't the "danger" of straights a bit exaggerated? I sometimes get minor nicks from my Gillette too. I thought I might slice up half my face with this.. I even went second pass against the grain and it worked fine. I quickly realized I had to lower the angle to get a smoother shave. Downside, I'm a bit more irritated on my neck than usual, undoubtedly from poor technique. Looking forward to every shave from now on, to improve. Definitely has some work to do, especially when it comes to stropping.

Anyways, happy holidays to everyone.

Practice strop with a dull razor shaped object like a butter knife, you will build muscle memory without damaging your strop

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Originally Posted by rodb

Practice strop with a dull razor shaped object like a butter knife, you will build muscle memory without damaging your strop

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That's a brilliant idea, thanks. Not sure I will have the patience, but I will try :-)

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Originally Posted by Xunzi

That's a brilliant idea, thanks. Not sure I will have the patience, but I will try :-)

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Anything over 50 laps and I start losing count so I start over at 1 at 50. Just do 20 laps, rest and do 20 more. It's just about reps, not doing sets of 100's, that would make me crazy as well

As I side note, I shaved half my face with shaving gel and the rest with oil only. I got visual advantage with the oil and no real disadvantages with the oil as far as I could tell. Is soap/cream/gel really necessary or is oil in fact a worthy substitute? I recognize that I'm new at this and that my initial impressions are untrustworthy.

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Originally Posted by rodb

Anything over 50 laps and I start losing count so I start over at 1 at 50. Just do 20 laps, rest and do 20 more. It's just about reps, not doing sets of 100's, that would make me crazy as well

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Cool. At my level, I should probably stop at 10, that's when I start struggling with concentration. It's a good tip, just take a break and resume.

Not sure how much real estate you need to cover but if your using a good oil like Floids to shave everything it could get costly. I do the bulk of the neck with a soap and brush, then a few drops of oil along the beard line when i clean it up. Shave Secret oil works pretty well, i use it for the neck line.. but i prefer Floids when i clean the top of the mustache since the scent is much more pleasant.

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Originally Posted by MW76

Not sure how much real estate you need to cover but if your using a good oil like Floids to shave everything it could get costly. I do the bulk of the neck with a soap and brush, then a few drops of oil along the beard line when i clean it up. Shave Secret oil works pretty well, i use it for the neck line.. but i prefer Floids when i clean the top of the mustache since the scent is much more pleasant.

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I used pure jojoba oil, same as I use to moisturize the beard. It's not that costly, it'll probably cost more to keep a cream/soap in addition to it.

Gotcha. I keep the jojoba in the den as well. Definitely not as costly as the shaving oils. I use it purely as conditioner.

Hmm.. i'm gonna try it when i trim up the line next shave.