Thread: Shaved with my DE this morning...

My straight was in need of a touch-up before using again, as it was pulling like a madman the last shave.

Soooo...I pulled out the trusty old Merkur Futur that had beeen gathering dust the last 3 weeks since I recieved my straight. It had a Feather blade loaded with about 3 shaves already on it, and that mutha shaved me so damn smooth I don't know what to think!?

#1- I need to work on getting my straight sharper. I have gotten very close and comfortable shaves with my straight, BBS is no problem, but the razor does seem to pull a lot more than the DE. Is that just part and parcel for straight shaving? Or if properly tuned, will I get similar gliding smoothness as I experienced with the Feather/DE combo?

#2- That Futur used to scare me. "Oh no, it's so big and heavy! Look out!". After shaving with a 7/8 Henckles for three weeks, I wipped that DE around my face like child's play.

#3- Shaving with the DE was completed in 1/2 the time,and the shave was nice and comfortable and close. But I must say it was lacking a certain gratification I get when using the straight. I'm not going back (but neither will I be selling off my Futur... )

I too come from the Futur.....and I am going straight....

What the heck am I saying?....note to self.......stop playing with words before coffee....

Nah, I have gotten to the point where I cannot understand the DE guys comments about the Futur. I can get absolutely smooth comfortable controlled shaves with it ( I use a Derby blade). I however have not reached shaving nirvana with the straight yet. In fact I was in a conversation just last night. Where I voiced my desire to have a straight as sharp as my DE. I was promptly reminded that the two blades are vastly different and that a straight as sharp as a DE would NOT make me happy. So, Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more, for it is shaving time........

I think that your straight shouldn't pull that much more
than a DE. It is a little bit of a different sensation, but
for me I get a much better and more comfortable shave
with a straight.

I would advise to keep going on the straight, it may take
a while for your shaves to get there, but they will in time!

P.S. make sure that you have a sharp razor

- Scott

Sounds like a bit of a combination between your blade not being sharp enough and your technique isn't quite 100% just yet.

I absolutely love my straight, and now when I even think about switching back to a DE, the thought makes me cringe. My shaves really are that much better from a straight. But hey, if a DE works just as well for you, then all the better!

Once you've been using the straight for a while you won't be able to go back to the DE. The last time I used my DE, I was on vacation and didn't want the bother of the accessories for a straight, I got burn. Bad burn. The shave felt good, and it was close enough, but the burn damn that never used to happen when I was a DE shaver.

I order to get the same effortless shave that Merkur chunk of lead give you there are a lot more parts that have to come together in the straight shave. You have to have a well honed blade, you have to strop it well, and your shaving technique has to be spot on. It takes some skill to get there but it is worth it. You will also find that as these things come together your shave will get faster too, to the point where you wil wonder how you ever thought straight shaving was slower than using your DE.

Well, that's what I'm getting at: I am loving shaving with the str8t, and can get comfortable, close shaves with it (some days not so great...) So I'm wondering what the key is. I imagine sharpness is perhaps #1?
I need to get a new strop, as my last one beat up my blade something fierce. I've been shaving off of a 0.5um or 1.0um finish as of late (actually the 1.0um felt a bit more comfortable, but he 0.5um definitely cut the whiskers better).

I was simply blown away by how smooth and sharp the DE with Feather was. I never had a shave like that back when I was using it all the time. Using the straight has certainly honed my shaving skills. I guess I have to now work on honing my honing skills

Originally Posted by Wildtim

You will also find that as these things come together your shave will get faster too, to the point where you wil wonder how you ever thought straight shaving was slower than using your DE.

I can attest to this with a personal account just last week. I have been using my straight for wet shaving exclusively since last year. On very very rare occasion when I'm in a hurry I'll reluctantly grind down my whiskers with my crappy electric I've held on to; this is usually on a weekend when I can walk around with the crappy looking electric shadow. Anyway, I was in a hurry and needed to look more clean shaven than that electric would ever allow........I decided to pull out the vintage Gillette DE, slapped in a brand new blade and figured it would go a bit quicker than a straight shave:
1) It's hilarious, but that DE actually made me MORE nervous to start the shave with that my straights which I'm very comfortable with!
2) I also was very very cautious since I didn't want that little DE giving me any burn or ingrowns that DE's have at times in the past and that my straights don't give.
3) After WTG and XTG passes (that's all I ever do with my straights), the shave closeness was noticeably inferior to my straights; and, in the end......it took me just as long as it does with my straights!!!!!

Jeesh........will I ever use a DE again?

I digressed a bit there, but here's advice I'd like to offer regarding your struggle with straights vs. DE:

A DE pass across skin is typically "head on" rather than angled or skewed like a proper straight razor pass. Even with a very sharp properly tuned straight and using a proper angle, I personally can't draw the blade head on into the whiskers in most cases, there's pull. The scythe/skewed motion is therefore recommended for straights. This is a morbid analogy, but think of a guillotine blade. It's angled. I doubt, and don't want to think much more about it than that, but if a guillotine blade was straight across and came down "head on", I would assume it would not be able to accomplish its task; too much resistance and not enough slice. You need to slice your whiskers rather than chop the whiskers.

I hope this helps.

Chris L

Ah-so!

I'll try that as well. Thanks for the tip, that's what I'm looking for.

Funny you mentioned this. This morning I was in a rush and shaved with my DE, too, for the first time in more than a month. I used a new Derby in my Merkur Barber Pole. I used the same skin stretching techniques as for straight shaving on the problem areas in my neck, and whoa, I got the cleanest (perfectly BBS, actually) DE shave ever, with absolutely no burn or weeping!

I suppose straight shaving helps you learn how to shave properly, no matter what instrument you use.

As posted by me elswhere on the forum:

I found out that I was using too steep an angle on the straight relative to my face. I gave it a go using a much shallower angle, and that was a big step towards Featherish smoothness!