Thread: Uncomfortable first shave

Tobias,

A sharp straight razor will slide with the grain and remove the stubble easily. It's no different to using a throwaway razor. Sharp is the same cutting feel as a throwaway razor. That's a benchmark for you. It will cut with no soap or water. However with good preparation, it will slide through the stubble with ease, even better than a throwaway.

Against the grain, "the technique thing" becomes more critical. There is a point when you hit the hair were you instinctively know if the blade is sharp enough and if you push a bit, all will be alright. The thing with a straight, is if the angle isn't less than 30 degrees, the blade will cut you. With the throwaway, the angle has to be correct or the blade just misses your stubble altogether. For this reason, people shave with more confidence with a throwaway.

But from what you said, the blade you had was not sharp enough. It should not skip over stubble if you were running the blade on your skin.

If you ran your finger across the blade or did anything to check the sharpness, maybe you are to blame. It is so easy to take the sharpness off the edge of a straight razor that until you understand the process, it's hard to believe.

If all you did was prepare, open the razor and shave then the razor was not sharp.

Only you can answer the question, but I know from when I started, I often would blame anybody but myself for playing with a blade that is anything but a toy and has to treated so carefully that learning to do this is in itself an art.

Once you understand all this edge stuff, it's easy because you know what to do if the blade needs a quick strop or touch up hone. Both exceptionally gentle techniques to put right a razor that has usually been treated roughly.

Whatever, stick at it, it's worth it in the long run. Honest.

Hey, I actually did run my thumb across the blade to see how sharp it was! So maybe I ruined it. Would stropping sharpen it back to shape or would I need even a new honing?

There's only one way to know for sure. Strop it well and carefully and give it the shave test. if it fails, it's back to the hone, but only lightly.

X

Yeah, stropping it definitely did it – much better. Not like the laser cutting I hear of though, but that's probably in my stropping technique.

Did one pass with the grain. Felt like a Gilette shave (which in my world is an ok shave, but not as good as you want it to be).

Thanks for all the help.

Originally Posted by Tobias

My routine is
1) shower
2) shaving soap applied with brush
3) shave
4) alcoholfree after shave balm

My absolutely first shave was directly after I got the razor. I found it uncomfortable and had been reading that most new razors aren't really shave ready, therefore I sent it for honing to know what sharp is. Now when I got i back, I can't say there's much difference.

I've ordered a strop, but the honemeister also stropped it so it should have been shave ready this time. It wasn't done by anyone from the forum. I sent to a barber shop here in Sweden.

Anyway, thanks for all the answers. I'll most definitely continue trying until I get it right. It's pretty fun even if it's uncomfortable.

You cannot usually shave without stropping the razor even if it has been honed well by a honemeister. Stropping does take a bit of technique but nothing that you cannot accomplish. You need to keep the strop taunt and only use the weight of the razor while stropping. Any more pressure and you may roll the edge of the razor and ruin the edge. OK, it is not really ruined, it just needs to be rehoned to re-establish the bevel.
So, bottom line, get a strop and strop at least 60 passes before each shave.

Hi Tobias!

Did you send the razor to the guys at gents.se?
If you did your razor is not shave ready,did the same thing a while back,it came back sharp but not shave ready,atleast not for my beard.I bought the Norton combo stone a couple of weeks ago and with my crappy honing my blades are sharper then the blade I let them sharp..

Pop in to the social group SRP:Nordic for some swedish talk..



//Victor

Yeah, I sent it to Gents. Interesting. Is the honemeister over there not good enough?

I don't want to point finger,but my blade was'nt sharp enough for my beard..Maybe it's sharp enough for the guys at Gents..??

Knife sharp and razor sharp are two different things. Are they a knife shop? If so they likely sharpened it to knife sharpness (which I consider to be similar to factory honed- thats what razors are like when they come new from the factory ie. not shave ready).

They are a online shop for shave stuff,mostly disposables,moisturizers for men and so on.They have a straight razor sharpening service,they told me they used oil stones but I did'nt ask for specifics.I shaved with the blade,WTG was doable with irritation(had to use alot of pressure to get it smooth),ATG irritation and blood..

I'm a pretty fresh straight user but i tried all kinds of angles and stopped according to all the guidelines and was very carefull not to roll the edge,but just could'nt get a decent shave from it. Maybe others would find the sharpness good,but not with my beard..

I bought a norton combo stone a couple of weeks ago and my blade is now way sharper..

//Victor