Thread: Blade wont shave!

I seriously cant tell if its my technique or the blade isnt sharp enough.

I have run the blade across my finger very lightly, and i made a cut.
Im not sure if that proves anything, but it sure as hell seems sharp to me.

I shower, then lather myself up (no homo), and as i try to take some strokes, nothing happens.
I stretch my skin and push lightly, but it still wont take off any hair.
Should i push harder?

Actually, some hair gets taken off, but its not much.

Ive tried this twice btw.

I dont know what to do

Can anyone think of any reason why?

sometimes you may have to make 2 passes with the grain like has been said before beard reduction your not going to scrape off everything in one fail swoop try adjusting your angles you may need just a tad bit more pressure when i first started i kinda had that issue a little bit just had to adjust angles some and apply a little more pressure
but then again you may have killed the edge by stroping it all wrong

If you are attached to your face and would like to remain that way, I would suggest using no pressure.

If it's not effortless, stop and figure out what's wrong. Then try again.

Good shave comes from good prep, good technique, and a good blade.

You need to make sure you go through the wiki and do the prep properly. You can practice technique (angle, stretching) with a blunt butterknife (or blunt razor, if you have extras). You also need to find out if your blade is good. How honed it? Does it pull the hair or just glide over it? Did you strop it yourself?

Read the first straight razor shave -article from the wiki, if you haven't already.

Originally Posted by nick1990

I stretch my skin and push lightly, but it still wont take off any hair.
Should i push harder?

Don't do this. Try making small short strokes with different angles and find out in which one it will shave better. If none then your razor isn't sharp.
cutting finger if you slicing your thumb on the edge most razor will do that. that is not sharpness sign.
This is another way you could find out. try cut arm air . keep blade above your skin approximately 1/8 or 2/8 level and see does it cuts hairs. hairs should fall off. if they pop up blade is not shave ready.
hope this helps.

Originally Posted by hi_bud_gl

Don't do this. Try making small short strokes with different angles and find out in which one it will shave better. If none then your razor isn't sharp.
cutting finger if you slicing your thumb on the edge most razor will do that. that is not sharpness sign.
This is another way you could find out. try cut arm air . keep blade above your skin approximately 1/8 or 2/8 level and see does it cuts hairs. hairs should fall off. if they pop up blade is not shave ready.
hope this helps.

I have to agree with Sham and Ursus..... NO PRESSURE, you will slice yourself. Do as Sham suggests, move the blade approx. 1-2 mm above skin level, if the hairs are not popping off, the blade is not sharp enough. If it does pop hairs, its either prep or technique.

Originally Posted by nick1990

I seriously cant tell if its my technique or the blade isnt sharp enough.

I have run the blade across my finger very lightly, and i made a cut.
Im not sure if that proves anything, but it sure as hell seems sharp to me.

I shower, then lather myself up (no homo), and as i try to take some strokes, nothing happens.
I stretch my skin and push lightly, but it still wont take off any hair.
Should i push harder?

Actually, some hair gets taken off, but its not much.

Ive tried this twice btw.

I dont know what to do

Can anyone think of any reason why?

Can't quite see why homo or no has anything to do with shaving, why I've heard that even women do it. Is your razor new, old, in between? Did you buy it as shave ready or did you have it honed by someone who knew what they were doing? Are you stropping it properly? There are lots of things which may be at play here.

Originally Posted by nick1990

I have run the blade across my finger very lightly, and i made a cut.
Im not sure if that proves anything, but it sure as hell seems sharp to me.

Your blade is not sharp enough . If you had run a shave ready razor , lightly across your finger , it would have given you a nice deep cut (maybe to the bone) , and it would still be bleeding .

Knowing how sharp my straights razors are, they will cut anything remotely in their way. Dull razors have cut me because I did not give the razor enough respect when handling them, yet they were not sharp enough to shave with.

If its not shaving the side burns after a good prep, then its likely not sharp enough.

Pabster

A few stupid questions. Where did you get your razor? Was it shave ready? If not, then you will need to send it out to one of our honemeisters. What about your face prep (it's extremely important)? Stropping technique?

"No pressure" isn't totally accurate. You have to maintain some pressure to keep the blade on the skin, but no more than that. Check your angles (30 degrees for WTG strokes). Don't try to get that BBS for awhile. Work on your technique first. The BBS will come in time. Face prep and proper stropping can't be emphazied enough. They are IMPORTANT!

Originally Posted by nick1990

I shower, then lather myself up (no homo)

This is why I won't even offer my experience or opinion on your issue. Search the forums and use the wiki. Good luck.