Thread: New shaver- somewhat discouraged

Originally Posted by str8rzrshvr

the good things in life are not always free! Contrary to what women say...LOL

Every penny I've spent on this obsession has been worth it.

Jeff

it is really to bad you group ALL women into ONE category. I think you might want to revamp that quote...

I hereby amend my quote to read "....Contrary to what SOME women say...LOL"

I certainly didn't intend to offend any women who are straight razor shavers.

Here are a couple tips from a guy (me) whose noob-dom is more recent:

1. I agree with everyone who said your razor isn't sharp enough.
2. Stretching the skin is vital to get a close shave.
3. Don't try to get it all in one pass. After the N->S pass, I look like I just shaved with a cheap disposable. I need to do a S->N pass to get it really close. Whether you need to do this seems to depend on the peculiarities of your beard hair. Lynn says he doesn't do a S->N pass, but I have to do it.

Well, my first str8 shave felt like I used a kitchen grater instead of a razor. Major razor burn. The blade was not sharp enough. After honing it to a much sharper state I got a very close and razor burn free shave.

I stretch the skin well and do two passes, both N->S. The shave is really close. You can hardly feel any stubble when going against the grain. I use the same approach with my DE (M. Vision) and did not get as close a shave.

I tried doing a S->N with a DE and the next day I broke out. My facial hair does not bother looking for the skin pore. It just takes the shortest path to the outside. If skin is in the way then it punches through it. S->N gives a much closer shave so tends to submerge the hair too far under the skin.

One thing to keep in mind when getting advice is that most people fail to mention their beard type when they talk about their honing or shaving. This is critical. A fine beard does not shave the same way as a tough beard. So you may want to mention your beard type and ask advisers for theirs. Just to make sure that your experiences have a common ground.

True. My beard is like barbed wire--heavy, tough, fast-growing, & does a great deal of damage to razor edges. I find myself stropping daily on newspaper over plate glass, then leather. If I don't do the newspaper every day, by day 2 the quality of the shave is already significantly degraded.