New Razor Question

[LowCountryBarber]

Hi All,

Some may remember me. I am the Barber who has started shaving myself with a straight razor.

I started with a shavette and got pretty good rather quickly and I just purchased a Dovo 6/8 and 5/8 inch blade.

My question is, I started shaving the right side of my face with my new dovo and it went fine until i got around my chin. Then it became real uncomfortable and started pulling but still cutting (sort of). I also started getting nicks, not cuts, nicks. Then I went across the grain over the right side of my face that i had already shaved that went well and i felt the pulling there as well.

Is this a stropping error? Do I need to take time during a shave and strop again?

Ideas please. I am real close in areas and hurting in others.

[mbwhoosh]

If you are getting smooth results in one area and pulling in others it is usually your angle.

When start on difficult areas it can be hard to see or keep you arm the same so you can change your angle without noticing. When you feel it start to pull stop double check your angle and then continue.

The nicks are too much pressure on the blade, did you try to force the blade through were it pulled? Remember light touch if it doesn't go and your angle is correct then yeah it might need a good strop.

Once you feel comftorable with an area you can try the scything motion this helps cut the whiskers easier but in return is easier to cut yourself.

Man it feels weird to give advice to a barber I hope I didn't offend

[JimmyHAD]

The chin is the toughest area for many guys... me being one of them. Did you go through that area easily with your shavette ? I've not shaved with one of those but I assume the technique would be the same.

I'm reluctant to suggest prep to a barber but I will say that I wash my face vigorously twice with special attention to the chin, jawline and neck. I take short strokes at the chin area and I never try to get bbs in one pass. Gradual stubble removal.

Nothing wrong with stropping between passes if you feel you need it or even touching up on a barber hone if you have one.... chrome ox on balsa is good too. Read my sig line below to avoid nicks.

[SiRed8]

Welcome aboard! IIRC you responded in "Any barbers out there" thread.

Check this out:

Shaving passes - Straight Razor Place Wiki



I don't know what your shaving style is but I find that short strokes and scything motions help. At least that worked for me. I haven't tried Guillotine or Slicing.

[dannywonderful]

Remember to narrow the angle when you go XTG and ATG. That was something I didn't pay enough attention to when I first moved on from WTG only.

[ben.mid]

Hi,
Are the blades shave ready? You may have just got lucky with factory blades & they are very nearly shave ready, but not quite there yet.

It could be stropping. It very easy to set the edge back a notch or two when you start & muscle memory hasn't developed yet, though this seems less likely as the shave started ok. The areas you shaved first usually have slightly softer stubble though, & this is highlighted when you get to the tougher spots.

Try massaging some hair conditioner over while you make your lather. Wash it off well before you lather up though. It makes a surprising difference.

[LowCountryBarber]

Thanks to all for your input.

No worries about giving advice to a barber. I would never ask if i did not want it plus I don't have to take it right?

In addition i am inquiring about myself and shaving yourself is quite different. The concept and ideas are the same but the muscle memory and positioning is quite different so I take no offense to what anyone has said. If fact I thank you all for even reading my post.

It seems to me the I just need to work on my stropping. When I shave in the shop or have been shaving myself i have been using a shavette and i never had problems (except for the first shave i ever did but that was addressed here as well) like this. That is what leads me to believe it is my stropping i need to work on. Plus, i was a little aggressive in areas because I desperately wanted to shave with my new razor.

Stropping is totally new to me, I have never done that before. It looks way easier than it is and when you say to use no pressure when stropping mentally that does not compute. It seems almost pointless and that it is not really doing anything.

In fact i now have a few nicks in my strop as well. Maybe I ruined my strop and it is not working. Could this be possible?

[mbwhoosh]

No worries about giving advice to a barber. I would never ask if i did not want it plus I don't have to take it right?

It seems to me the I just need to work on my stropping. When I shave in the shop or have been shaving myself i have been using a shavette and i never had problems.

Stropping is totally new to me, I have never done that before. It looks way easier than it is and when you say to use no pressure when stropping mentally that does not compute. It seems almost pointless and that it is not really doing anything.

In fact i now have a few nicks in my strop as well. Maybe I ruined my strop and it is not working. Could this be possible?

Well that helps a little if you could get a nice shave with the shavette (which most people say is even less forgiving) then it might be your razors edge is being dulled alittle by inproper stropping.

I am trying to remember "the race car" analogy that was used for stropping but can't remember word for word someone will remember and post it.

nicks are common when first learning to strop I am guessing that the majority on the ends were flip the razor over? these are mostly superficial and won't effect the strops use, if you happen to put a nice slice in it these can usually be repaired by gluing it down or sanding.

The nicks mean you are probably going too fast and also might be lifting the razor or turning the strop slightly. If you have access to a camera and are willing to post a stropping video the experts here could help you even more. Alot can be told of your technique just from the sound a strop makes when you strop. Is it high pitched at times? That indicates that part of razor isn't making contact and you need to adjust so the razor lays flat. You want a nice low rasping sound there are MP3 files on here of good and bad strop sounds I'll have to find them and make a link.

basically the advice stays the same slow down you don't need to go fast while stropping and listen closley to the sound to make sure you razor is fully contacting the strop through the whole stroke.

Lynn is of course right about not moving on to other parts of the face till you master the cheeks but it is so hard to contain the excitement that we all understand wanting to try the whole face

[LowCountryBarber]

Hi,
Are the blades shave ready? You may have just got lucky with factory blades & they are very nearly shave ready, but not quite there yet.

It could be stropping. It very easy to set the edge back a notch or two when you start & muscle memory hasn't developed yet, though this seems less likely as the shave started ok. The areas you shaved first usually have slightly softer stubble though, & this is highlighted when you get to the tougher spots.

Try massaging some hair conditioner over while you make your lather. Wash it off well before you lather up though. It makes a surprising difference.

The blades are shave ready. I bought them from Straight razor designs.com

[Lynn]

The chin is always the first area where you open up the angle of the blade and most times don't realize it causing a scraping of whisker vs. shaving. XTG ad ATG is where you want the angle to be even less.

It is really recommended that you learn the angles of shaving over a few days of shaving starting with the sideburn to jaw area and then moving over. I think the biggest problems we have are when someone who has not shaved with a straight razor before takes on the entire face first time. It is still different shaving your face vs. a customers.......lol.

Have fun,

Lynn