Originally Posted by
AFDavis11
For me, sometimes it feels perfectly smooth, almost like a hot knife through butter, but very, very rarely. For me there is always a sensation that I am cutting whiskers. Just a tad of a pull.
Funny thing though, and this is probably important. I can push the razor into my face and scrape it across my face with big pulling or I can gently lightly shave with no pulling or shaving sensation with the same razor.
For me, its all about using a light touch, thinking about just how deep I need to stroke into my face to actually only cut the whisker. I don't need to ADD drag by stroking the blade against my skin. A straight razor shouldn't be treated like a regular razor (coated in teflon or whatever). The actual contact with the skin should be light and gentle. Its almost as if you gently move the blade to the base of the whisker and with perfect precision shave only the hair off. Ofcourse your stroke has to come in along your skin line or you'll cut yourself.
The best analogy I can give you would be like an airplane swooping in for strafing run. It doesn't bang into the ground (you just lightly touch the skin) and then it rises back upward.
I think you could almost teach someone by telling the student "shave this guy without touching his skin" and you'd be close to the way I shave. I make contact with the skin but its very, very light.
Its almost like I'm shaving my face without touching it. Once you get there you'll know it because its an incredibly close shave and irritation free.
All it requires is skill and a true concentration on each stroke.