Rough Shaving

I just had my razor honed. According to my honemeister it took on an incredible edge. I believe him.

Until Tuesday night I had a full beard. Tuesday night I shaved it down to a goatee.

This was not a fun process.

My stylist trimmed my beard (when I had one). I asked him one time where he would put the stiffness of my beard on a scale of 1 (peach fuzz) to 10 (Stiffest beard ever). He said 8.

I have not been able to get a close shave. I'm not talking about BBS. I want to look like I have shaved after I shave.

When I shave, the razor pulls. It is not comfortable.

Routine:
- initiate recommended lather procedure for soap (Col Conk Amber).
- take shower
- dry off (except face)
- make lather
- lather up
- Strop razor
- re-lather
- shave
- re-lather
- shave
- re-lather
- shave
- rinse hot (seems to get the soap off better)
- rinse cold
- alum block (stings but not too bad)
- Trumper's Lime Skinfood (I always want to eat it. It smells SO tasty!)

No real razor burn, no cuts (yet). I'm happy about that. I have fairly sensitive skin.

I find myself pushing to get cutting to happen. I know I'm not supposed to do that.

Question:

Did I decimate the edge on my razor when I mowed my beard or is this just an issue of getting my beard more hydrated? Both?

Help!

Cook

Speaking from experience, when stropping prior to the shave you may have inadvertently rolled the edge and dulled the blade. Perhaps a few laps on a barber hone are in order.

A lot of times something like what you stated could be due to bad angles.

Was this your first time with the straight razor? Did you take on the whole face at one time? You might try stropping the razor back up and just shaving from the sideburn down to the jaw until you get used to the razor. If it is still pulling, contact the person who honed the razor and they will probably not mind giving it a touch up if needed. It usually takes some practice to get the hang of making sure the angle is good when shaving, but it comes around pretty quickly.

Lynn

Also can you tell us about the razor. 4/8, 5/8, 6/8 etc?
The reason I ask is When I haven't shaved all weekend I use my bigger heavier razors however during the week I can use even a 4/8 as there is not as much to shave. I mean a well honed razor no matter what size should do the job, but I find the more beard the bigger the razor works for me.

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Speaking from experience, when stropping prior to the shave you may have inadvertently rolled the edge and dulled the blade. Perhaps a few laps on a barber hone are in order.

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That is possible but I'm inclined to doubt it. I strop lightly with a lot of tension on the strop. I am in the process of getting a pasted paddle strop from Tony. Will this take care of a rolled edge?

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A lot of times something like what you stated could be due to bad angles.

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I've been thinking about that while I'm shaving. If the angle is shallow enough so that it doesn't tug, it doesn't seem to cut. If it is steep enough to cut, it pulls and is generally uncomfortable.

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Was this your first time with the straight razor? Did you take on the whole face at one time? You might try stropping the razor back up and just shaving from the sideburn down to the jaw until you get used to the razor. If it is still pulling, contact the person who honed the razor and they will probably not mind giving it a touch up if needed. It usually takes some practice to get the hang of making sure the angle is good when shaving, but it comes around pretty quickly.

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I had been using the straight razor to trim around my beard. I've been trying to be really rational about the process. I started with trimming to get a feel for the razor. I trimmed around the neck and at the top of the cheeks. In the process I also got some good experience with making lather. Then I sent my razor off to get honed. My next step was to take the beard down to a goatee. This would give me more practice before I would need to get into shaving my chin and upper lip. (I am applying for a job where I may need to remove all facial hair). That was actually a bit of a tangent to say that this is not my first time "with" a straight razor.:)

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Also can you tell us about the razor. 4/8, 5/8, 6/8 etc?

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Not really. It is a wide razor but extremely hollow ground.

I'm thinking that I may have dulled the razor when I logged my beard.

Will the pasted paddle strop I am getting tune it up if this is what happened or if I rolled the edge?

Cook

Here are some mistakes I've made that have resulted in lousy shaves:

-- Bad stropping or honing technique or both: lifting the spine or pressing too hard.

-- Overhoning, leading to a fragile wire edge

-- Using a too-fine edge on my too-coarse beard. (I have a barbed wire beard too & I get a better shave out of a medium barber hone than the ultrafine Lithide hone).

-- Bad shaving technique. Getting the angle & scything action right takes practice.