1st straight razor shave, couple problems

I just got a shave-ready 7/8" straight and tried my first shave. No cuts, surprisingly enough, but no shave either, except under the nose, which as never been closer.

Two problems, as far as I can tell:

Some of the whiskers lie very flat, and almost have some skin over them, kind of like semi-ingrown hairs. I may need to go whole hog and get the hot towels, which I didn't bother with this time.

I think the beard is coarse, and first time out I was too reluctant to apply pressure.

Any thoughts? I'm pretty certain the razor is sharp enough, it came honed and stropped from a SRP member and passes the hanging hair test.

Just curious did you use a brush and soap? The brush and soap gets the whiskers to stand up and hence easier to cut. The other thing if you did use a brush might be your angle of attack. You want to use about 30 degree. Thats all I can think of. :?

Yep, I have a silvir tip badger Velfux brush and Taylor old bond street cream. I actually dislike the cream a little lately because it is cold in the cabinet, and putting the wet brush in there the accumulated cream cools it off. It's not as hot as it might be, just warm.

The brush may be a little too gentle. It doesn't feel like it's moving the whiskers around at all...

Angle of attack is tough. I tried a monkey-see-monkey-do based on Lynn's video.

Have you tried proraso preshave or cremo cream (can be used as preshave). This stuff will make the whiskers softer and easier to cut. It couldn't hurt.

You can also apply a little coniditioner (the stuff we're supposed to use after shampoo every once in a while) to your beard while you're in the shower. That will help soften it up as well.

So far as angle, try to have the spine away from the face by about two spine widths, which is really close to the magical 30 degrees. With a sharp razor, you don't really need to use any pressure while cutting. Make sure you're stretching the skin night & tight.

Just do the shave again, and let the whiskers realy soak the lather. Relather, than shave, dont go too slow, and keep the 30 degree angle.

Just some suggestions,

1. Shower first and get plenty of very warm water on your face. This will help with softening the whiskers. At the end of the shower you can try the conditioner trick.

2. Apply the lather immediately after the shower. Then strop your razor gently and slowly. Clean off the lather and reapply it. Then shave.

3. The angle should be approx 30 degrees. About two spine width's away from the face.
11 O'Clock or 1 O'Clock .

4. Do you have a hone? What kind?

let us know how it goes, :)

No hone or strop yet (in the mail).

On my 3rd attempt today, I applied a shaving oil before lathering, and that pretty much eliminated any dragging/scraping sensation. Here's the order.

Shower.
Add hot water to face immediatly before applying shave oil
Apply shave cream with brush.
Wait ~90 secs.

Tried a first pass with the razor with skin pulled taut (I find this difficult for some reason) & razor @ 30 degree angle . Some shaving, but lots of razor-running-over-face-not-shaving-most-whiskers. Did the whole face anyway as Lynn does in the video, though the job was pretty ineffective.

On a positive note, I relathered and used my Mach 3, and got the best shave I've ever gotten out of it. So the prep is an improvement. Hopefully I'll get this straight razor down and get an even better shave.

I'll need to wait for my strop before another attempt. Hopefully the tough/dark beard with soft/fair skin won't make the learning curve too tough. I also may swing by Trueffit & Hill for a shave and beard-specific advice at some point, but haven't decided on that.

If we assume the razor is textbook keen, your prep is good, the angle adequate, about the only variable left is razor-to-skin-pressure. Don't be afraid to put a little more pressure on the blade as you stroke it againt the beard. A safety razor with minimal pressure is pretty ineffective. So is the straight razor.

When your strop arrives be sure to use it on the razor before you shave. Use the strop for approx 35 laps before each and every shave. You will notice a difference.

Have you seen a video showing the proper stropping motion? Which one?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by randydance062449

Have you seen a video showing the proper stropping motion?

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No. Can you post a link?

Look at the avatar that I use. It shows the motion used on a hone. It is an X pattern and has the edge leading. When using a strop the only thing to change is to have the edge trailing,

Here is the contents of an email from the Yahoo SRP post that you may find helpful.
================================================== ===============
For a more "controlled" stropping example, the first two videos on
this site was helpful for me:

http://www.nassrasur.com/norbert/norbert7.html

Granted the above videos show stropping on a pasted stretched leather
paddle strop - but the motions are slow and can easily be repeated on
a taught hanging strop.
================================================== =====================

Remember that you can always use the smooth side of a belt as a substitute for a strop.

Hope this helps,