Thread: Finding the right angle

Originally Posted by Stuggi

I have seen some people use a slightly diagonal stroke, so that the razor edge also slice the whiskers a bit like a carving knife does. I haven't tried shaving with a straight yet (but I will do as soon as I get off work today), so I can't really give more advice, but I think the idea is to move the razor ever so slightly sideways while at the same time moving it down, just enough to get the edge to slice the whiskers, but not so much that you cut yourself. I also have the feeling that the sideways movement per whisker is less than 0,5 mm

This is an acquired skill, not suggested to go home and do it on your first straight shave! It is VERY EASY to slice yourself up doing this. It definitely has it’s place in my opinion, but not starting out!
Get the basics down first!

The slicing motion actually works for the chin for me, but the warnings are indeed valid...I've cut myself quite a few times trying that! As opposed to holding the razor parallel to the ground and moving the entire razor at an angle relative to the ground, I've also tried holding the razor at an angle to the ground, and just moved it downward. They both have the slicing effect, just a different approach I suppose. It's just a little tricky getting around the bends, as the toe will get the chin before the heel!

I used the picture from hoglahoo's post (I hope you don't mind!), and rotated the first picture to illustrate what I mean by angling the razor relative to the ground and slicing downwards. It's really fuzzy....sorry

Hope that makes sense!

Dave

How many BIC disposable razor users does it take to straight shave a person’s face?

Two. One to hold the straight razor, another to drag the shave-e diagonally across the blade.

Originally Posted by StraightRazorDave

I used the picture from hoglahoo's post (I hope you don't mind!), and rotated the first picture to illustrate what I mean by angling the razor relative to the ground and slicing downwards.

That's handy because it illustrates that angling the blade is functionally equivalent to using an angled motion.

However ... when I think of it as an angled motion, my brain seems to interpret it as moving at 90 degrees to the blade combined with a slicing motion, and as a result the direction can be inconsistent, which is risky.

If I think of it as angling the blade and moving in a straight line, everything is OK.

Lots of good advice above but to me your chin is telling you that your blade is not sharp enough.

bj

Originally Posted by Chris L

That's a common comment about the chin area stopping a razor or at least resulting in resistance.

My chin area is very different from any other area of my face. The whiskers grow in higher concentration and are visibly thicker; and on the right side of my chin, the whiskers grow so flat against the skin and toward my right ear that it amazes me they don't naturally grow into the skin. With all of those challenges, no razor, even a Feather AC with a brand new Pro Super blade wipes off my chin whiskers. For me there is always more resistance whereas my cheeks and neck have little to no resistance.

I find that I have to do four things to navigate my chin:
1) Stretch the skin very well.
2) Apply a very generous amount of lather to create a good glide bed.
3) I use very short strokes and therefore reapply the lather.
4) I actually keep the blade quite flat against my face. Remember that section on the right side of my chin where the whiskers lie flat? After an initial XTG (which is shaving straight down in that area) I go ATG with a very light touch, short strokes, a bunch of lather and the blade virtually flat against my face. This gets me close and irritation free shaving in that area.

Chris L

This is the exact same technique I use to obtain a BBS shave on my chin and upper lip. As in DE shaving, I call it a blade buffing method. It works very well for me with no nicks, cuts, or amputations.

Originally Posted by hoglahoo

the old shaving instructions that came with razors often suggested this and described this motion as leading with either the toe or the heel of the razor

this also works well for me it seems to help the blade cut with less resistance resulting in a smoother shave

Ok, so the angle goes in my shave tonight. Thanks again for all the advice everyone!