Thread: Newbie Problems

I've been shaving semi-regularly with a straight razor for 2-3 weeks now, with mixed results. I get a decent shave on my cheeks, and lately have been doing ok with the neck as well. I have 2 problems though:

1. My skin gets fairly irritated, especially on the neck.

2. I'm completely unable to shave my chin. The razor just stops dead as soon as it hits those thicker hairs. If I use very short strokes I can scrape it away a little at a time, but it's very uncomfortable and would take all morning to do the whole chin this way.

This is my shaving routine:
1.Wipe face with a hot wash cloth (I don't shower beforehand).
2. Apply lather
3. Let the lather sit while I strop the razor
4. Apply some more lather, and make one pass with the grain
5. Wipe off with the wash cloth, lather again, and make another pass against the grain.
6. Dab on a little rubbing alcohol in lieu of aftershave.
7. Shave troublesome spots with an electric razor.

I'm getting a decent shave -- comparable to the electric, maybe a little bit better, which is good enough for me. I'm not that picky.

I don't shower before shaving because I ride my bike to work and shower when I get there.

My razor was bought off ebay, but sharpened at a local knife shop by a guy who uses a straight razor himself, so I assume it was honed at least reasonably well. He did mention that the razor might be a bit small for shaving a heavy beard, though.

I strop on the leather side of a DOVO paddle strop. I suspect my stropping technique may be at fault, but I'm not sure how to tell if I'm doing it right.

Any suggestions?

I find a bigger razor works better on tough beards. I have a few razors sized from 3/8 up to 7/8. I find a sharp 7/8 just makes the hair fly off. The smaller blades are ok for a touchup. I also might recommend either Prorasso cream or Cremo Cream on your face before putting on the lather makes it a smoother shave.

If I skip the shower, I will do a couple of hot towels. Hot water is your friend, and the more the better. You can also microwave a damp towel for about 20-30 seconds to warm them up nice. It will take a little experimenting to find just how long. Towels will get very hot this way so be careful.

I usually strop about 25 round trips prior to each shave.

This is how it goes: Straight razor needs using to. At the beginning, until you learn to control the blade on the skin, you will get lousy shaves... but that's about to change when you realize that you are shaving with open blade, and there is nothing to cotrol your pressure to the skin. You must do that yourself. I can shave with Max3 in less than a minute. Heck, less than 30 seconds.

1 thing: Wash your face with soap and hot water before doing anything else. Than procede with your hot towel procedure. Washing your face with soap will degrease the whiskers and allow lather and wather to saturate the hairs more easily.

2 thing. Lay off the pressure. Aplying too much pressure will iritate the skin. You don't need more pressure, but sharper blade. Try to go by this saying

3 learn to strop. This takes time, and cannot be rushed. Without stropping you cannot get decent shave. You have advantage over many beginers, by having someone to show you the stroping moves. Go and ask your friend who is already using straight razor to show you the propper way to strop.

That's it. It really isn't rocket science, but than again, maybe it is Specialy the honing part...


Best of luck,
Nenad

I'd recommend sending the razor to me or one of the other guys to be honed and then report back to us. You can try to flatten out the angle of the razor as you shave, but it sounds like it's not quite sharp enough. Lynn

I think your problem is that your expectations are a bit too high for your level of experience. I've said this many times to many people that experience is the most important factor in successful straight shaving. I believe the old manuals talk about a minimum of 6 months to a year of regular shaving to become really proficient at this and my own experience bears this out.

You need to just start slowly and as your ability to control the razor improves your confidence increases and you will just find that the areas that seem hard now become very easy. Likewise all the irritation will get less and less

As far a razor size goes I find that if I skip a day I'll use a 7/8s or 8/8s and the wiskers seem to just glide off. Its not to say a 5/8s won't give just as close a shave but the extra weight of the blade really helps on the heavier beard in the comfort department.

You say your blade was sharpened at a knife shop, that sends up warning flags rite quick since most knife shops don't have a clue when it comes to straight razors. You might do the usual sharpening tests to ensure its really shave ready.

Welcome to the group. All the problems you are experiencing now are the things that will really make you appreciate straight razor shaving down the road a bit. Very few people get the hang of this right off the bat. I love the fact that my shaving routine is a hard won aquired skill. I have had fatal doses of razor burn, cuts so deep I thought I could see bone, and so many nicks in one day that my friends begged me to stop.

There is nothing so colorful and entertaining as the day you proudly hold up your Ebay special and say to your friends " Yup, this is the one that got my earlobe!".

Aside from all that banter, I had the same problem as you. I had a crappy stropping technique wasn't getting my blade sharp enough. I bought a tube of that white diamond paste they sell on Classic Shaving and put a little of that on the linen side of my strop. 4 or five laps on the linen, 25 on the rough side of the strop and 25 on the finished side. Instant success.

Also, the chin area is the hardest to learn. I have tried about ten different approaches before I found a way that works for me.

When my face is tender I use Musgo Real shave creme and maybe some pre shave oil underneath. Us new guys tend to go over the same area too many times and get wicked razor burn. Pre shave oil and Musgo really protect your face nicely.

Good Luck!

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

You might do the usual sharpening tests to ensure its really shave ready.

What are the "usual sharpening tests"?

Take a trip over to ClassicShaving.com. Look under the "How To & Why" tab. Look under the "Honing & Stropping" article.

The other test is called the hanging hair test, which basically consists of holding a hair vertically, then touching the razor to it at a 90 degree angle. The hair should pop in half at the slightest movement of the razor. Only problem with this method is you are only testing a very, very small section of the blade at a time.

Just forget about the testing the blade sharpness, since you are not doing the honing yourself. And if the guy in the knife shop is using one of these babies on himself, I think he wouldn't destroy the edge. But, just in case, take Lynn's offer, and you will have one hell of an sharp edge. Or two, in my case (thanx Lynn) Than, only thing that's left is your prep technique and, as Lynn mentioned, the attack angle.

And if you are begginer, I strongly recomend reading all you can find about straight razor technique, posts here, all files in help section, and all files in how to and why section on classicshaving.com

EXAM TOMORROW!!!