Thread: Shaving Cuts

Originally Posted by LilithParker

Regarding lather: try Mama Bear's shaving soap. I can go from suds to a super-smooth lather with my cheap boar bristle brush in under two minutes. It makes enough lather in one go for both of my legs, and it doesn't "melt" away.

Am I the only one who read this and lost their train of thought ..

lol


hoglahoo, thats interesting you would suggest posting pics. I actually thought of doing this. Now most of the cuts are healing. I dont know if it would be the same. Some of them are getting kinda tough to see .. which is a good thing. I also thought of the gore factor ( not like it was horror movie bad, or anything) might be discerning for some. Might be interesting to develop a pictorial essay of when shaving techniques go wrong.

Next time I give it a go and I get some cuts, I will post them... in the bst forum .. lol.

Originally Posted by Whiskers

Next time I give it a go and I get some cuts, I will post them... in the bst forum .. lol.

I don't want to see gore! It wouldn't help anyway unless it was already cleaned up. If the cut's so bad that it can't be cleaned up for a photo, then the diagnosis for the problem is- oh wow! I just found a really old banana in my desk drawer at work. It's a good thing we leave the A/C on..

Anyway, bad cuts ought to be indications of carelessness or physical interruptions (external carelessness) more than anything else

I am learning this .. the hard way.lol.

Actually, I was inspired enough by your cut-pic post .. I decided to give it another go.

For this run, I just used olive oil only; no shaving soap.

Guess what ..? no cuts this time... and a decent shave to boot !


Thanks for the input guys (and gals) !!!!

That angle is very important. In woodturning we call it "riding the bevel". If you lay your blade against your face with the bevel flat against the skin, it is almost impossible to cut yourself. Of course if something causes the skin to step in front of the edge, like excessive pressure, a bump or zit, change in angle, etc you will likely cut through it. Then you will see that lovely red ooze which can add so much to your shaving experience.

Originally Posted by icedog

That angle is very important. In woodturning we call it "riding the bevel". If you lay your blade against your face with the bevel flat against the skin, it is almost impossible to cut yourself. Of course if something causes the skin to step in front of the edge, like excessive pressure, a bump or zit, change in angle, etc you will likely cut through it. Then you will see that lovely red ooze which can add so much to your shaving experience.

True, true.

I posted about using Woolite to break down the oil around the beard hair. It worked quite well for the 1st couple of shaves, but I started cutting myself all over the place. I stopped the degreasing before every shave and went back to Cornhusker's lotion before the shave and had a much better shave, Some may be due to paying closer attention to pressure and angle. But I wonder if the oil in our skin is part of "cut resistance" and if aggressively removing oil predisposed me to cuts.

I also stayed away from my Dudley Do-right chin.

Well, this is my first post and felt this topic was right up my alley. I am about five shaves into this and have one sweet slash on my chin. I broke a rule and paid for it in blood. Overall I have had good luck and feel fairly confident in my shaving, mostly due to the fact I am very slow and try to enjoy the "new" experience. I have lurked on this and other sites for about three weeks before jumping into my first shave. Thanks for all the great advise, input and ideas.

Originally Posted by blut-blade

Well, this is my first post and felt this topic was right up my alley. I am about five shaves into this and have one sweet slash on my chin. I broke a rule and paid for it in blood. Overall I have had good luck and feel fairly confident in my shaving, mostly due to the fact I am very slow and try to enjoy the "new" experience. I have lurked on this and other sites for about three weeks before jumping into my first shave. Thanks for all the great advise, input and ideas.

Welcome and attaboy!

Hogahloo, old bananas make awesome banana bread - the blacker they are the sweeter, so I hear. Or just throw it away and leave the banana bread making to the pros... that's my approach.

Way to keep at it, whiskers


Adam

Originally Posted by CDpyroNme

Hogahloo, old bananas make awesome banana bread - the blacker they are the sweeter, so I hear. Or just throw it away and leave the banana bread making to the pros... that's my approach.

It's true, but I don't think it makes enough difference to warrant stinking up the workspace and attracting arthropods. But if you have a spare oven, I'll bake you some

I'm pretty sure I had a relevant post in this thread a short time ago, so I'm assuming that it was either deleted accidentally, or by someone who doesn't know what they're doing.

If I can remember correctly, I said something to the effect that shaving against the grain really isn't that big a deal. It's just another bit of muscle memory to train your hands on. I also said that a lot of people talk of shaving against the grain like it's some sort of sorcery and that it's not to be attempted, since you can get a close shave by going with and across the grain. You basically have to go against the grain to attain the smoothest possible shave with a straight razor, though. Going across the grain gets it close, absolutely; but going against the grain gets it closer.

I can't remember if it was in this thread or another one where I gave my opinion about finishing straight shaves with the DE, and how you'd might as well just shave with a DE only if that's being done on every shave. I can understand that this opinion might be met with some disagreement, but to delete it out from under me because it's not your point of view? Not acceptable.

We first pick up the straight razor in the hopes that we will one day become experts at manipulating it. If you're new to shaving and you can't quite finish your straight shaves too well, there's no sense in going to work with furry patches on your face. You clean 'em up with the DE. But if months or years later you're still using it as a crutch, my point is that you're not really progressing. It's my opinion that attaining a flawless shave with nothing more than an open edged razor you've sharpened on a rock by yourself is a feeling you cannot take a shortcut to. I believe this is the ultimate goal and that if you constantly skip steps to get that smooth shave, it's not exactly authentic. It's authentic in the sense that all your facial hair has been removed and you have a smooth face -- but not in a "the best straight razor shaves are a quasi-religious experience" sense.