Shaving with a smile

I am a newbie, I have been shaving with a straight since just before the crash. The blade I have been using I honed myself . well I recently finished honing a second razor this one has a slight smile. Now I don't even pretend to be a honemeister, but I think it is as sharp as the other razor I honed. Problem is it is hard to shave with. Due to the curve less blade contacts my face at one time, and both the toe and the heal seem to be above the skin. Then if I am trying to use the toe to get at a small place I have to hold the blade at a different angle. Then to top it all off The shave was not as close as I have been getting, and caused more irritation.

Does any one have any tips fore shaving with a smile besides just keep trying?

One of the main advantages of having the smile is that only one portion of the blade will be touching your face as you described. I find that this gives me more control, as my face is not flat either. If the razor is giving you more irritation than your razors then the edge is not as good, I don't see how the shape of the blade can negatively effect shaving comfort. For me, the heal on smiling razors was the most difficult portion of the blade to learn to get sharp and if you use this portion a lot then the dullness could be your problem.

I must agree with David here, some of my best shaves have come from my swayback smilers...
One thing I would ask???? was the blade made as a smiler or was it honed incorrectly into one.. I could be wrong here, but the only way I know of telling this is does the spine curve match the edge curve...Anyway if the blade was honed incorrectly in the past this could lead to a less than desirable edge.
And as David already pointed out a smiling edge is slightly different / more difficult to hone...
They take what I could only describe as a swooping motion while honing...
Maybe David or perhaps Josh could describe it better...

As long as the edge is sharp it doesn't matter weather or not it cam in the smile shape from the factory.

When I shave with any of my smiles I tend to concentrate on the toe. I keep the area just behind the toe on my face and shave naturally from there. I'm more of a toe shaver anyway but this seems to be even more important if I'm to cut a nice clean edge around my beard with a smiling blade. My smiles give me the very best shaves of any razors in my rotation. They don't seem to pull as much and they allow for more control of the blades contact with my face.

Thanks for all the input:

If the razor is giving you more irritation than your razors then the edge is not as good,

I think that the irritation is more from the technique that I am using then from the blade sharpness. I am making more passes with the smile then I did with my other blade.

One thing I would ask???? was the blade made as a smiler or was it honed incorrectly into one.. I could be wrong here, but the only way I know of telling this is does the spine curve match the edge curve..

The spine does have some curve to it, but the smile of the blade seems to be exaggerated, and the toe certainly has a wider "bevel" then the rest of the blade. So I think it was designed as a smile but now is smiling more then it use to.

They take what I could only describe as a swooping motion while honing

Any more info on properly honing a smile would be appreciated, but I have seen several threads dedicated to that subject. I know i need more practice, but I think intellectually I understand how to hone a smile.


I am very happy to hear that I was correct in only using a small portion of the blade at a time. I will keep trying to perfect my shaving technique, and also take the blade back to the hone. If I still don't get satisfaction maybe I will send the blade to a honemeister.

Chander,
I had/have the same issue and got some good advice here.
In the end I decided to get a pasted paddle as I thought it would be easier to cover the curve on a thin strip of leather than trying to perfect a rolling x-pattern on the first attempt. I would have been gutted to stuff a new blade have no-one in the southern hemisphere to re-hone it properly! Given that you have no trouble honing a straight blade, this may not be a problem for you....
Andrew

I find that in general when I shave with a blade with a strong smile I get a much better shave on my neck. I have a deeply contoured neck and with that smile I just seem to be able to get that blade up close and personal with my beard.