Thread: NEED ANSWERS

I think once you have pretty much mastered the mechanics of shaving with a straight you automatically adjust very quickly to a new razor or grind or whatever. Its like driving a car. You quickly adjust from one to the other.

well, it was honed by one of the guys on srp, it is a Genco Blade and I think I fiqured out what was wrong.
I am an idiot and put to much pressure on the blade, being used to a blade a little less or a lot less sharp then I got I had not changed my angle or pressure.
I will follow up with the post in the morning to see how it goes tomorrow and If I am right.\\

Is it such a big deal that I had caps on, Really! come on

Originally Posted by brick0572

Is it such a big deal that I had caps on, Really! come on

Yes, all caps are harder to read, the letters lack ascenders and descenders making it harder for the brain to recognise the letter.

Plus, it is bad netiquette, it implies that you are shouting.

Originally Posted by brick0572

I am an idiot and put to much pressure on the blade, being used to a blade a little less or a lot less sharp than I got I had not changed my angle or pressure.

You're not an idiot. This is how we learn. Ouch, that hurt. Wont do that again.

I myself, and I'm sure many other members here, have been through exactly the same thing.

I think it's your technique, I had somewhat of a similar experience until I watched a shaving video by the jock or jockey...someone who said you shouldn't really put pressure on your face when shaving. He said something like if you feel the pressure it's too much. I find it especially true if you utilize multiple passes i.e. WTG, XTG, ATG. Now that's not to confuse blade pressure and razor gripping pressure, understand? let the razor edge do the cutting not the wieght of the razor!

I think your on the right path by adjusting to the newly honed razor. I would also like to know what your pre-shave prep is like? It took me awhile to figure out that boiling water on a hot towel and compressing it on my whisker's made my shave much easier rather than shaving after a shower. I take warm shower's not hot shower's. I also like to use quite a bit of pre-shave oils before and during my shave. Just some tips if you haven't already read up on it.

The reason for my thanks on the first post on this thread, is that I have a dovo razor that I am going to send for honing, and am not sure what to expect when it comes back. (it is a new razor that factory ground only)
I will be sending it to the invisibleedge for honing (when I get the new one I ordered from shaving shop)

Will there be big difference between the blade as it is now and when it comes back from honing?

this is from the gentleman I got it honed by and makes the most sense

I can assure you that the razors are honed well, and in fact are probably honed better and more sharply than you have used before. It is most likely that the sharpness of the blade is your problem at the moment. However, with a few adjustments, that sharpness might turn into an advantage.

A friend of mine sent me a Shavette to try. (A Shavette is a straight razor with disposable blades.) The blades were surgically sharp, and in fact sharper than any honemeister gets their blades. And, I didn't like the shave at all! I had weepers all over my face, and my face burned as you are reporting.

So, what is happening, and why did a very, very sharp blade give me a shave inferior to what I was getting with my conventional straight razor that was not as sharp?

Let's talk about the shave of the cutting edge of the blade...

A blade consists of an edge and a bevel. After honing, the bevel is in the shape of a V, with the edge at the bottom of the V. With commercially made blades, surgically sharp, the cutting edge of the V is very sharp. Much sharper, as said above, than the best V of a honemeister. In fact, if you microscopically examined the very tip of the V of both blades, the honemeister razor would be slightly rounded; still a very defined and sharp point, but somewhat more rounded than the commercial edge.

Now, let's talk about what happens at the cutting edge of the blade during a shaving stroke...

When you shave, the razor rides on your face, with the cutting edge at the skin level. As the edge contacts a whisker, it is sliced off. You knew that, or at least the part about shaving the beard.

Let's talk about your skin...

Your skin is actually composed of many layers of skin. The bottom few layers are the growing layers, and they are covered by the much thicker upper layers. The upper layers are dead and flake off being progressively replaced by the layers growing up from the bottom.

Back to the razor edge...

As the razor edge slides along your skin, shaving off the whiskers, it is also shaving off skin! Rather, it is shaving off a few of your dead layers of skin. After shaving, you have a thinner layer of dead skin, and the live lower layers are closer to the surface. If you doubt this, don't put lather on your face, take one shaving pass with your razor and examine the residue on the blade. You will be surprised how gray-brown it is... that is your skin! That is how much skin comes off with every shaving pass.

Razor burn with sharp edges...

The reason why a sharp edge oftentimes gives a less satisfying shave (more later on this) at first, and especially for the newbies, is that they shave off too much of the dead skin. And, the live skin with active nerve endings now lie very close to the surface. Burning shark skin!!

A used razor's edge...

Remember the conversation about the surgical edge and the honed edge, and that the honed edge's V is slightly more rounded? In fact, the cutting edge of both, at the very apex, might be equally sharp. But, because of the slight rounding of the V right before the cutting edge, the honed edge's cutting action is slightly less efficient. This is pure mechanics, and should be obvious.

When you strop after a shave you resharpen the edge. But, you also round the edge. The edge of the stropped blade might be returned to the same sharpness it had right after honing. But, the rounding that occurs makes the cutting action less effective. Just as the manufactured surgical edge's V is more pronounced than the honed edge, the honed edge's V is more pronounced than the stropped edge.

Putting it all together...

With a rounded edge, exaggerating only slightly to make a point, the rounded bevel slides along the skin and the cutting edge is held ABOVE the skin slightly. So, not much (relatively) dead skin is shaved. It is almost like a lawn mower's wheels that hold the blade slightly above the ground.

When you shaved before, and I suspect it was with blades now as sharp, the bevel was probably quite rounded. So, you didn't shave off as much skin, and didn't have as much irritation. But, because it was less sharp, you probably had more pulling and a less than satisfactory shave for other reasons.

The cure...

You have to shave VERY lightly! Use little more than the weight of the blade on the skin.

Typically, newbies start with less than optimally sharp blades. To get the blade with rounded bevel to shave, they have to use pressure to hold the blade down, and probably have to shave WTG, XTG and ATG. With a sharp blade, with light pressure, the WTG pass alone might be better than all three direction passes before.

More removal of skin, and more skin irritation happens during the XTG and ATG passes. So, for now, shave only WTG until you grow accustomed to the edge. Shave WTG and stop, clean your face, etc. See how your face feels. As you progress, shave one side of your face WTG, and the other side (or another section) shave WTG and XTG. Then, compare during the day.

You definitely have to adjust your procedure with a sharp blade. But, I am confident that the problem is not with the blade. But, technique.

Originally Posted by brick0572

well, it was honed by one of the guys on srp, it is a Genco Blade and I think I fiqured out what was wrong.
I am an idiot and put to much pressure on the blade, being used to a blade a little less or a lot less sharp then I got I had not changed my angle or pressure.
I will follow up with the post in the morning to see how it goes tomorrow and If I am right.\\

Is it such a big deal that I had caps on, Really! come on

I'm glad you are on your way to solving the problem. I started straight shaving with a replaceable blade razor, and I found that by the third shave on a single blade, the shave was more comfortable, but as soon as I replaced the blade, I got horrible razor burn. I suspect a lot of that had to do with the pressure I was using, but now with this information you have presented, it may have had something to do with the shape of the blades bevel too.

I am sure I will have to deal with this problem as well when I finally get a really sharp blade in my hands. The stones I have now get me sharp enough to shave, but I am afraid I am going to cut my chin off once I get a coticule.