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hey guys xecompany here. i recently received a robeson shuredge razor from holli4pirating. It seems sharp to me. it does pass HHT and doesnt cut hair off my arm without touching my skin but if i put it down on my skin it certainly cuts hair. when i went to shave with it i prepped my beard correctly and shaved at a 30 degree angle but it simply pulled and didnt cut hair. i have very thick whiskers but how did people in the 1800 and back shave if they had thick whiskers! please helP!
Greetings I have been useing a straight for just about six months. I have six razors and all are vintage. I tried to hone mayself but am just learning that art. I got a shave ready form e-bay it was a night and day differents with the edge. Then I sent off three of them to a friend form this site to be honed and now know how a sharpe razor should shave your face. Do your self a favor and sned it out to be honed. Have you been stropping this you could have rolled the edge. Again sned out to be honed. Raymond has a ad in the classifed on this site and is quick and good. Lynn is a hone Master and started the site both of them will do a good job for you.
:)
Would you care to elaborate on the following?
- How did you strop your razor? Passes, pressure, hand movement.
- How did you prepare your face? Method, lather, products.
- How exactly did you shave? Face mapping, pressure, strokes.
Regards,
Robin
hi there. i did not strop the razor because it was honed by holli4pirating and he stropped it before sending it out. in terms of preparing my beard. i took a shower then put some shaving soap on then put a towl with boiling water on my face then relatherd. i only tried about 3 strokes. i started from my sideburn down to my jawline with the grain at about a 30 degree angle. after that didnt work i tried different angles and i tried also down on my neck. no place worked. it did not cut the hair.
Interesting. Did you stretch your skin properly? Without that, every razor will pull.
i did stretch my skin properly
If it was bought shave ready, Holli wouldn't have sent it out to you unless he was happy with it. What is shave ready to one man, may not be the same for the next though.
It could be that you have very coarse stubble. In that case, you'll have to concentrate on the prep more, though it does seem that that aspect should be fine.
30 degrees can be very hard to judge as you manoeuvre round the face, so aim for the spine to be around two spines width from the face.
As Robin has mentioned, stretching properly is vital. There's a little helpful info here.
Sorry, my typing's not the fastest, & i now see you've replied regarding the stretching.
+1 on what Ben said about the angle. I found thirty degrees to be much shallower than I thought. Two or less spine widths were right for me.
Hi there, welcome to SRP!
Please take these comments only as attempts to help, not as criticism.
First, your razor would have been as sharp as any razor needs to be... he wouldn't have ever knowingly sent out a sub-par blade. So the sharpness element should be taken out of the equation, unless he just made an honest mistake.
That does leave a few things such as beard prep and technique. It may be that you need more beard prep than most, so you may try spending more time there.
The most likely suspect IMHO is technique...
Now, you have said that you prepped properly, and that you were using the right angles, and that you stretched the skin properly but it is probably beyond your experience at this time to make such evaluations. Even with the right angles (which you may or may not be getting in reality), the wrong pressure and stroke can make for a poor shaving experience. It's like the other guys have said, you may find that the things you thought you were doing correctly may need some tweaks.
(BTW, have you spoken with the previous owner about this before posting? It would be a good courtesy to do so before writing this post about a razor that won't shave)
of course i did.
I have very coarse whiskers, and I notice a huge difference when I let the pressure or angle vary the smallest amount. Sometimes, I'll think an edge is going when in reality my technique has just fallen off a bit. I usually notice it, because I have a number of razors in rotation, and they are all honed at different intervals. When three in a row seem off, I usually figure out that I've been doing something a bit differently.
Not to say that this is necessarily what is going on in your situtaion, but if I were teaching someone to use a straight, I would start them off trying to shave their cheeks between the mouth and sideburn. On my face, the whiskers under my sideburns tend to be more coarse and grow at odd angles. Add to that the proximity to the jawbone, and you've got an area that is a more difficult to shave. The cheeks, on the other hand, are easy to access, have lighter whiskers on my face, grow in a more uniform pattern. Also, the skin there is generally tighter to begin with.
I'd recommend trying to shave those easy areas first and work your way to the more difficult ones as your technique comes along. There is a learning curve to all this. And just so you know, when I bought my first shave ready razor, I was convinced that I had been had. I thought that there was no way it was sharp enough. It pulled like crazy and caused horrible razor burn. I bought another that I thought caused me less problems and learned to shave with it. The first one set in the case for a couple months. When I finally pulled it out to try it again, I realized that it shaved just fine.
Other than that, I'd recommend some additions to your shave prep. I wash my face in the shower then put hair conditioner on it. I let that set the entire time I'm showering. I rinse just before getting out of the shower. I do a hot towel to the face for about 2 minutes then apply Proraso preshave that sits about four or five minutes while I strop and gather my stuff. I whip my soap/cream in a bowl, but finish it on my face to massage it a bit. I usually let that set up for several minutes before I begin to shave. PITA, I know, but my face is like sandpaper and this really works for me. Best of luck.
quite helpful thankyou very much ill let you know how my shave goes
I hope the additional pre-shave prep helps out. As I said in our previous emails,
I don't do the HHT - my final test is a shave test. I shave test every blade before I list it, so I know I got a good shave with that razor. If you're not satisfied with the edge, you can send it back and I will reinspect and rehone if necessary. Other than that, all I can really suggest is reading through the newbies section and the wiki.
Let me know what I can do to help.
Dylan
Having purchased one of Holli's razors before and from experience purchasing many razors online, I can say his edge is very good and smooth. I on the other hand am a fanatic about my edge, so I rehone everything I get, even if to comes shave ready, why? Well I have a beard like Frankenstein, it's coarse and thick, and too boot I have sensitive skin, yay me.
One of my favorite blades came from Holli its an old W&B with patina, but I love it. Anyways, I can offer this advice as well. Try pre shave oil, it's hit or miss. I use it when I feel the hot shower and towl didnt quite cut down the coarseness of my whiskers. I don't use it everytime but I do when I'm testing a blade or need that extra cushion.
Also, in the beginning nearly every blade you will use will pull, why? well the reason is technique, learning your technique to fit your face is the biggest key, moreso then the blade your using.
I mean I can buy Rodger Fedderer's racquet, but it doesn't make me a pro, not saying your amateur, but give it some time.
Also, use a shave cream or soap with high glycerin, and if it doesnt have it buy pur glycerin from a pharmacy ( around 6 bucks) and it can turn a crappy soap in a stellar product.
Ok good luck
Happy shaving
David
Your first few shaves are gonna suck, plain and simple. Go through and read all the "First shave" posts and you will see almost all if not all of them complaining their razor is not sharp enough.
Keep with it for a week, and if doesn't improve THEN take action. Saying a razor isn't sharp enough on your first shave is like saying a car is broken because you don't know how to put it in gear.
Hello and Welcome. You did mention that you tried different angles but you didn't specify what they were. After the initial passes with the grain, did you go agaist the grain or across the grain? The WTG pass really does very little as far as cutting goes. If you haven't watched Lynn's video, I recommend it. You might also talk to your barber about technique. I find that they love to talk about this stuff, at least the younger ones. The older barbers I've met think we're crazy for using straights. One fiinal thought. If your beard really is the problem, try using hair conditioner on it when you shower. I've found this to make a difference. Good luck.
B,
Before deciding to go straight, what did you use for shaving? A double edge perhaps? If so, the straight should work just fine once you and it get to know one another. If other types of blades didn't work so swell, well now you know why all the guys way back when seemed to grow beards. Disregard flippancy.
I wore a beard for over 30 years before I returned to shaving, from where I had left when shaving with a straight. It took me more than several weeks to get back into stride and the first of those weeks almost convinced me to return to my hirsute ways.
:gl: