Thread: ANGLE!

OK, a reminder for newbies, and for folks who may have been doing this for a while (like me...).

Keep the razor at a very shallow angle to your face while shaving. Like really almost flat against your face!

I just had a fantastic shave. I always get a BBS shave, long lasting, very nice, blah, blah...but when it comes time for the alum it more often then not feels like 20,000 volts running across my face!

So, tonight, as I was shaving and musing on the various things I've read on the forums (am I the only one who does this???), I thought to myself, "OK, this time, when I go ATG I'm going to keep the razor reeeal flat against my face..." (I usually go WTG, ATG, then 3rd pass cleanup also ATG).

Violla! The alum slid across my face smooth and easy....a slight tingle here and there, but no zaps of alum vengence!

I've been screwing around with trying different soaps, pre-shave oil, no pre shave oil, this that, and the other thing to get a more comfy shave (as far as the alum goes anyhow...), but the answer was there all along----just keep the razor low, and go!

I beg to differ slightly. When Bart put this outstanding post into the Wiki, I gave the cutting angles suggested therein a try. And, lo! it has been working wonders: Advanced shaving techniques for the straight razor - Straight Razor Place Wiki. To wit, an WTG pass at a shallow angle will simply cause my blades to remove the lather, rather than the whiskers.

Different strokes for different folks . Peoples beards are different , what works well for one may not work for another . I shave with a low angle , which works well for me . My advice for newbs is to start low , and work up to the angle that works best for you . Different areas of your beard my also require slight variations in your angle of attack . Closeness with comfort is what we want to achive . Each individual has to find the way that works for them .

I actually have just discovered this too. I know about it from past posts, but I just couldn't get the blade to cut through the hair without pulling. So I just used a more aggressive angle, and it worked. A few days ago I stropped more than usual (40/90) and I was doing ATG passes on my neck and chin without any resistance. Like a knife cutting through butter. I then did a ATG touch up with olive oil and no lather (!) and the blade glided even easier.

+1 for low angle ATG. It really helps. I think stropping is key if it doesn't work well for anyone.

Some parts of my face require different angles, some steeper than others, but I am mainly referring to ATG on my neck and chin.

Originally Posted by BeBerlin

I beg to differ slightly. When Bart put this outstanding post into the Wiki, I gave the cutting angles suggested therein a try. And, lo! it has been working wonders: Advanced shaving techniques for the straight razor - Straight Razor Place Wiki. To wit, an WTG pass at a shallow angle will simply cause my blades to remove the lather, rather than the whiskers.

Yes, I agree, WTG you can go a fair bit steeper without ill effects. ATG is a different story, especially if you have whiskers that like to lie particularly flat against the face...

I have to agree with BeBerlin.
But there's also a correlation with the sharpness of the razor.
We sharpen a razor, laying flat on the hones. So theoretically, it should cut the whiskers in the same fashion. The only reason why we can (and should) lift it to an angle, is because it is not infinitely sharp.
The sharper the razor, the shallower we should shave with it. All the more ATG, when the direction of the whiskers actually guides the razor into the skin, as opposed to WTG, where this does not happen.

I think it's safe to assume that Seraphim uses extremely sharp razors, reading his lapping film methods and looking at his magnified edges. Hence the need for almost no angle ATG.

Bart.

I remembered this post when I shaved with a newly honed medium hollow Sheffield this morning, and the shallow ATG angle worked great.

Yesterday, I did it with a newly honed wedge going ear to chin, and the side of the blade stuck to my skin and left me with a gash on my jaw.

Originally Posted by RayG

I remembered this post when I shaved with a newly honed medium hollow Sheffield this morning, and the shallow ATG angle worked great.

Yesterday, I did it with a newly honed wedge going ear to chin, and the side of the blade stuck to my skin and left me with a gash on my jaw.

I had one case of "face suck", but it was on the last pass, so no damage occured. I was using the 1/4 grind LeGrelot.
Actually, it was a post (here, or at SMF, or some forum or other) that talked about a newbie having the razor sticking to his face that got him to ask the question about the angle to use. And that got me thinking about pushing the envelope for shallow angle without getting face suck. I realized that particularly under my chin I had been using way too steep of an angle, as I was able to lower it quite a bit from my normal.

I'm going to have to revisit my full hollows to see how this technique works with them.

Originally Posted by Seraphim

I had one case of "face suck", but it was on the last pass, so no damage occured. I was using the 1/4 grind LeGrelot.
Actually, it was a post (here, or at SMF, or some forum or other) that talked about a newbie having the razor sticking to his face that got him to ask the question about the angle to use. And that got me thinking about pushing the envelope for shallow angle without getting face suck. I realized that particularly under my chin I had been using way too steep of an angle, as I was able to lower it quite a bit from my normal.

I'm going to have to revisit my full hollows to see how this technique works with them.

I think that was SMF...

Anyway, THANK YOU for this thread. This reminder, plus a little touch up on a barber hone, gave me my best straight shave yet. Awesome!

Let's just post that fantastic pic right here in the thread:



That's some durn fine graphic work!! That pic, combined with the blade sticking to the face post from the other forum combined into a shave improvement epiphany for me!


And the next part of your excellent Wiki article is somthing that I'll be trying out next shave:


I have been pondering this issue. I skin stretch from the top when going WTG, but stretch from below when going ATG. My thinking was that it perhaps helped keep the skin more taut, by stretching opposite to the direction of blade motion...but your excellent graphic shows that what I'm doing may very well be making my flat lying whiskers lie even flatter! I hadn't taken that into full account.....excellent! New stuff to try!!!!