Thread: Newbie Problems

A couple of days ago I stopped into a Braber shop and talked with the owner. He has a very heavy beard and has been shaving since the age of 13. His comment was that there are three key elements to a good shave. A sharp razor, not knife sharp but razor sharp, stretching the skin, and hot towels. He uses 5! towels on himself and his customers.

Since you are not showering before your shave then you really need to focus on getting your whiskers saturated with water. There is no shortcut for this.

Next, get the razor checked out by one of the members here. If someone has not already sent you there address then let me know and I will help you.

The hanging hair test is shown below. The razor is held steady, only the hair is moved downward over the blade, root end out about 1/2 inch. It should cut the hair with no problem at all.

I use 35-50 roundtrip laps on the linen first then the same on the plain leather strop.

Hope this helps,

This morning I stropped about 30 round trips on the leather side of my paddle strop (more than I've done in the past), then tried some of the standard sharpness tests. My razor failed them all (hanging hair, fingernail, and thumb) pretty miserably.

I decided to shave anyway, to try out some of the prep suggestions I got and see if all that stropping helped. I washed my face first and appled a hot wash cloth a few times, and tried to use light pressure when shaving. The result was not as close as I've gotten in the past, but there was a lot less irritation.

Clearly I need a sharper razor. The only question is: should I send off my current razor for sharpening, or (as the guy at the knife shop suggested) should I get a heavier razor? My beard is pretty heavy and I usually have to shave every day. I measured the razor and it appears to be a little over 6/8 inch from spine to edge, and a little less than 3 inches from heel to point.

If you feel (1) your pre-shave preparation is textbook correct, and (2) fiddling with blade angles doesn't fix things, and (3) you're making all the requisite facial contortions to stretch your skin .... I think its time to eliminate the possibility the razor is just short of keen and USPS Priority mail it to Lynn .... or myself. You'd have it back in a week probably and know for sure ....

If you don't have one, it may be time to think about getting a Swaty-style barbers' hone for a quick touch-up when the strop in no longer enough.

Originally Posted by elbows

Clearly I need a sharper razor. The only question is: should I send off my current razor for sharpening, or (as the guy at the knife shop suggested) should I get a heavier razor? My beard is pretty heavy and I usually have to shave every day. I measured the razor and it appears to be a little over 6/8 inch from spine to edge, and a little less than 3 inches from heel to point.

A 6/8 should be adequate, unless you're one of those guys with bardbed wire for a beard. Take David up on his offer. Your face gets a week to rest, and you'll have a whole new appreciation for "razor sharp" when he's finished with it. David is one of the guru honemeisters here.