Thread: Shaving Cuts

I have about 10 shaves under my belt with a straight.

Today I tried shaving with the straight again and I ended up with about 10 good bleeding slices with just an ok shave. I cant go back and touch it up with a disposable due to the fresh wounds. So I am stuck until these slices heal .. which will be another week or so.

Is it just me or does everyone that tries straight shaving end up with alot of horrid battle wound scars?

I have been shaving for about 20 years now and I've had more cuts and such during today's shave that I ever had in my entire life with a disposable and DE combined. I dont think this level of ritualistic bloodletting is common, thats why I am asking this question.

I wouldnt mind so much if the cuts werent on my face, ya know?

Personally, I am starting to think I will trade off a little razor burn for scar tissue.

First off, I love the simplicity and appropriate nature of your signature.

Personally, I have had a pretty decent amount of success at not doing more than inflicting a nick here and there, which is no worse than my hurried cartridge razor days. There are a thousand things that could be going wrong for you. Was your razor honed by a honemeister? How's your pre-shave beard treatment and lather application? At what angle to your face are you holding your razor? Are you stretching the skin? How much pressure are you using? Are you rushing it?

In conjunction, the two underlined seem to spell "recipe for disaster," but all of them could play an important role. Go back to basics once your face heals and definitely don't rush it. Many resources here, including Lynn's DVD and the general consensus of several thread, advocate shaving sections at a time, then finishing with your DE or cartridge. Personally, I shave my whole face, but I take a LOOONNG time to do it carefully. Both approaches focus on development of fundamentals. And I would not recommend trying to jump into full face straight shaving if it's on a pre-work time constraint. See the link below:

http://straightrazorpalace.com/showthread.php?t=21636

Keep at it. Hopefully some more experienced members will post to this thread to help you sort out which of the above might be causing your problems. Good luck and keep the alum handy...

Adam

I have been at this about 5 months now. I went through a period a couple of month ago were I was cutting myself . It totally got to me.
I started stretching skin and lightening up on the blade. I could only lighten up on the blade because I have a really sharp razor. If you put to much pressure on the blade you will catch a fold in the skin that you are creating because you are pushing down to hard. You have to look at where you are cutting yourself and find the reason. Like me, I have a place just before my chin where there is a crease that I have to stick my chin out to make sure that the razor doesn't catch on it or I will cut it. Are you using techniques that are a little to advanced for your present motor coordination? Like getting your cutting hand into contorted positions trying for some impossible spot? Like trying the old moving and slicing action, sything I think it is called? When you approach your face is the razor laying almost flat so that you do not hit your face on the cutting edge, there is no depth perception in the mirror. Are you using a round point razor, if not go to one and use a larger style blade like a 9/16. I have a 5/8 and I love shaving with it but it is more difficult for me to use and takes more skill. Go back to north-south 1 or 2 passes for a while till you can get really comfortable with the blade because it will give you your confidence back. Remember when you think of a new method to get that special spot that you are after, you might create another problem. I would say the number one thing for me was the light touch approach. I cut myself sometimes but now it is very little penetration because I have such a light "touch".

Sorry to be so long winded but I have made every mistake in the book but hate the idea that I have to learn by "mistakes".


Hope this helps,

Richard

I would say that what you are describing is not normal. A few nicks here and there - like you might get with any other blade/set up, is. Like Adam said, its tough to say what the problem could be without more specifics.

Jordan

I do
- s t r e t c h the skin
- go slow
- honemeister
- shave sections


I wrote off the fact that I will get a cut on my neck & jawline area. It's been a few weeks and alot of research .. and I still havent figured out how to shave that area without getting a cut. To me, cuts in this area dont count to towards the overall shave cut total. I do shave there, but mainly for pratice. I shave my chops/cheeks and the moustache area.Thats about it. I think it will take me about 10 years of daily cuts to shave my chin area properly and without a cut. Forget the upper lip. I just cannot get a good shave on the upperlip There is always stubble left along with a few slices.

When I use a light touch with the razor, I dont get a good shave regardless of how many passes I make or how taught I make the skin. So, I figure I would make more light passes, right ? After about 5 passes, I still have stubble as if I didnt shave in the first place and now my face is scratched completely raw. This comes from a blade honed by a honemeister.

Forget the lather ... I have yet to make a lather thats remotely close to something to shave with. To get this, it would take me all day to whip the stuffing out of this bowl of suds only to have them reduce to nothing as I am putting it on my face or last long enough for me to put the bown down and reach for the razor.

If, for some chance the suds last long enough for one side of the face ... by the time I get to the other side of the face, I have to re apply. Not so bad, but now I have to whip like a pastry chef to make more suds to plop on my face so I can get one sudsy pass. I am looking at almost an hour of doing nothing mopre than just whipping the suds. I timed it today., It took me 15 minutes of constant whipping to make a soap cream that lasted exactly 30 seconds on my face. It lasted literally long enough to put the bowl down, rinse and dry hands and grab the razor. Sounds like too much water, right ? When I use less water, I get barely enough lather to cover me face and it doesnt last. More water, and I get something that just looks completely wrong.

Maybe it's my brush, I really dont know. It's an el cheapo. I use a Col.Conk soap .. lime I think. Also, I bit the bullet and bought from the Art of Shaving a tube of cream. I thought I would have better luck, but no dice. Same results.

Many many years ago I stopped using lather all together. Back then I was having trouble seeing what I was doing under the lather and I would get a cut. So, I stopped using the canned lather .. Ping ! no more cuts. Been shaving without lather like this for years with disposables and DE's. When I shave in this manner, I get a minor amount of irritation in the neck area that usually subsides within a few minutes aftet the shave. No biggie.

I was hoping to not get this irritation with a straight razor. Thats why I am trying the straight shaving. Plus the disposable blades become dull after a time .. blah blah blah.

Others have given great advice that I agree with.

I've certainly nicked myself on occasion. I stumbled on something that has DRAMATICALLY reduced the potential for nick and I would almost say has even increased the potential for virtually eliminating them:..........pre shave oil.

Someone suggested Pacific Shaving Oil. I looked at the ingredients and noticed the first ingredient from what I recall was Sunflower Oil.

I couldn't find the PSO and didn't want to order it online; so.....I bought some organic Sunflower Oil (I can use it for cooking too was my justification). I put a very small amount in a small dish and add a drop of lime essential oil. After my shower I re-wet my face and rub in the oil on the shaving areas. I then lather and brush the lather right on over the shaving oil.

I'm telling you all of this for this main reason: An added advantage I've found that I wasn't even going for is that the oil amazingly acts as kind of a forcefield preventing nicks!! It's almost as though I can feel the electric shock of what would have otherwise been a nick for sure, but with the shave oil....no nick!. I don't know exactly why this works for me.

Originally I was concerned that the oil would make my skin too oily to continue to take the fingers on my non-shaving hand to stretch my skin, but that has not been the case. Making the 1st pass down my cheek for example leaves the shaved skin non-greasy and easy to stretch.

Also, it leaves my skin post shave soft, hydrated and not completely dried out like it used to be. I tend to have oily skin in some areas of my face, but it has not resulted in break outs (On The Shave Den's website they have a list of oils and whether they are comedogenic (pore clogging). Sunflower is supposed to be very low on the comedogenic list).

Long post, I know, but you may want to try this. The oil is like armor against nicks bleeding. Does the oil soften my beard like many oils are supposed to do? Nope.

I'm working my way through a tub of TOBS "Shaving Shop" cream and I'm actually almost done with it. It's not a cream that provides a ton of cushion so the oil really helps in the actual shave quality as well. As an aside, I would only rate the TOBS Shaving Shop as average and although I didn't hate it, I wouldn't buy it again.

Chris L

Try taking your AOS cream and put a little dab directly on the brush. Now, go right to your wet face and build your lather there. No need for a bowl. Add a little water to the brush tips if you need it. If that fails, I think your water may be truly hard. I couldn't imagine shaving regularly without lather or at least some kind of lube.

Are these cuts "slices"? Or are they the kind you get from "placing" the razor on your skin without moving it? Does your edge have any small chips? I've read that can lead to cuts.

Jordan

Originally Posted by jnich67

Try taking your AOS cream and put a little dab directly on the brush. Now, go right to your wet face and build your lather there. No need for a bowl. Add a little water to the brush tips if you need it. If that fails, I think your water may be truly hard. I couldn't imagine shaving regularly without lather or at least some kind of lube.

Are these cuts "slices"? Or are they the kind you get from "placing" the razor on your skin without moving it? Does your edge have any small chips? I've read that can lead to cuts.

Jordan

I've tried the face lather method, It works pretty good for me, but the agitation of the brush tears up the skin. I thought of hard water. I tried this with bottled water and got the same results. So, I am back to the bowl.

As for the cuts, I think it is a little of both although the edge doesnt seem to have any chips .. at least from what I can detect from the naked eye.

I still get the odd nick or weeper but not any more than I did with a M3 or DE. When I was learning I'd get a little nick or two almost every shave but things quickly improved. I've only cut myself really badly once and that was my own fault for not paying attention.

Originally Posted by Whiskers

I have about 10 shaves under my belt with a straight.

Today I tried shaving with the straight again and I ended up with about 10 good bleeding slices with just an ok shave.

It is at about this level of experience that newbies start getting overconfident and get themselves into some sort of trouble. Probably your razor is getting a bit dull and you don't have the experience to recognize the signals it's been sending you the last few shaves. You should have switched razors after the first nick but you didn't realize how abnormal nicks should be, or just decided that having started with it you'd go ahead and finish the shave with that razor so you toughed it out and suffered the results. Or something like that, it varies a bit bit lots of guys have gone through it, and learned from it.

But no, this sort of thing is definitely not normal. I got a nick the other day when I switched to a longer-bladed razor, and my previous nick had been back before Christmas and that one was due to a surprise sneeze that turned out to be the leading edge of a nasty bout of flu.