Thread: 2 razors per shave

Originally Posted by Frankenstein

A while ago when I was practising/learning how to hone I'd use two razors to shave. The one I sharpened first, to make sure it was sharp enough, then another which had been honed by someone who knew what they were doing. ..........have been better because the first razor would do all the dirty work, and the second would just clean up - which meant the edge wouldn't get as much use and thus stay a little sharper for the final pass.

Been there.... Done that!!! Yes I actually did that for a while with a blade honed by Hi_Bud_GL above. When I started getting better shaves with my honing job, I put his away until it got re-honed I like comparing blades and feeling the differences. I think you will learn a lot by doing that.

You are correct, I think the first pass for some reason seems to be the hardest on the blade. For a while, I tried taking the first pass with a DE and then finished with a straight. That worked well and I still use a DE under my jawline if I am in a hurry or if it just isn't working for me.

I also have found that some blades just fade quicker than others. I had a Sheffield steel actually feel different on the second side than it had on the first side. Guess I just got it too sharp and it couldn't handle it...... They tend to be more "comfortable" than "keen" anyways.

Originally Posted by sapito318

You shouldnt have to strop during a shave. Some do, but it is more of a "thing" than it is something that is necessary. I only use 1 razor, for 2-3 passes and my edges do not need stropping until the next shave. As was said, chances are your razor(s) were not honed properly.

Same here.

Originally Posted by bjanzen

I also have found that some blades just fade quicker than others. I had a Sheffield steel actually feel different on the second side than it had on the first side. Guess I just got it too sharp and it couldn't handle it...... They tend to be more "comfortable" than "keen" anyways.

It is also possible that one side of your razor was better honed than the other side - I've had that happen to me before. It's most likely with wedgie razors, because it's hard for much of a difference to develop on full hollows given the small bevel width.

It's been a long time since I shaved with just one razor, because I am always test shaving blades. Sometimes it's fun to shave with multiple blades in one go; each gives a different feel due to size, weight, grind, steel, etc, and I can compare sharpness among a batch very easily. But the downside is that I need to change my technique just a bit with each razor because of those differences, so I can't really get into a groove.

Anyway, when shaving with a single razor, I can't recall a blade's edge deteriorating over the course of one shave. Then again, I've never played with stropping between passes or going multiple shaves without stropping, so I don't know how changing my stropping either way (more frequent or less frequent) would change things and I'm not really sure what deterioration would feel like. Going against the grain always feels different than going with, so maybe part of the difference I feel is edge deterioration, but maybe it's just because it's a different pass.

Someone above asked about why it has to be 2-3 passes and not 2-3 shaves - my answer is do some experimentation and see what you find. The best way to learn is to play.

My favorite blade is a wedge and in general I have a hard time keeping it in tip-top shape(which would be 1 pass very close but not perfect bbs) so if i want super clean shave i'll reach for another.

For a short time i tried to see what my stropping would do so I would shave all the way to my mustache and check a little at the lip-then re-strop. Almost always I would find improvement. (often I would need that improvement to get slicked.)

I would much rather not do that so I kept working and practicing all the phases until I no longer needed to(even the razor mentioned above will do a day in day out "gooder than non straight shavers do" shave)

I was asking if it's possible that we are bogged down on some middle road. I think an Only on Sunday stropping ritual would be quite nice. I am not trying to say, again; that even a rigorous regime is a great bother or that it ain't at times a real pleasure. Nor can i resist finishing a shave without 2 or 3 laps to clean the edge.

Eventually I'd like to settle down into a confident routine with as little to do as possible-that's my vision of mastery-ease and worry free

This is just all part of the long slow conversation that talks me into a custom stainless

I used to feel the need to strop during the shave, or to touch up the edge every few shaves on a barber's hone, etc. What I do differently now is to shave at a much lower angle (spine nearly flat on my face, especially ATG) and scythe a lot more, as Sham recommends.

For what it's worth, shaving at a higher angle (spine farther from the skin) degrades an edge much, MUCH faster than shaving at a lower angle. I've experimented a little with this, and while getting a decent, irritation-free shave is possible even at a very high angle by using tiny scraping strokes (absolutely zero pressure is key), it's absolutely hell on an edge.

Along those lines, I stopped doing a coup de maitre (however it's spelled), because the first part of it consists of scraping the blade at a high angle along my toughest whiskers, which I felt was degrading the edge. Instead, I now use the tip of the blade and go middle-to-out (and kind of down) under each nostril on my first pass.

Overall, like Sham said, scything is key to getting the edge to last (and so is a lower angle, which scything makes possible).