Thread: Having Trouble Shaving and Need Some HELP!

First things first; I am new at shaving with a staight razor but I am having some trouble. I watched the informative video and I have honed and stropped my razor to where it will cut (pop) the hair on my leg before it even touches my skin but when I shave my face WTG or ATG it doesnt seem to cut the hair at all. I am using canned shaving cream and hot water. Does any body have any pointers?

Thanks,

Ryan

I guss you can always go back to your mach 5 little easyer to understand lol
J/k make use you use a 30* angle

This is why it is good to start with a pro honed shave ready razor. It eliminates one possibility. namely that the razor isn't sharp enough. You've honed it to the point where it will pop leg hair which is one indication that it should shave but you haven't been honing for long I take it ?

It may be sharp enough and the problem may be one of shaving technique. Aside from good prep skin stretching and blade angle are very important. With proper blade angle and a sharp razor pressure is not called for. Hard to say what the problem is exactly. If you've got a quality pro honed razor to compare to that would help sort things out.

at first welcome to SRP.
Please always try get your first blade honed by Pro's. this will help you a lot in long run.
you can see how properly honed razor should act and learn from it.
Popping hairs is not sign of the shave ready blade. OPPOSITE it is sign that your blade is not shave ready yet.
After getting shave ready razor you are eliminating most common problem. then you can figure out angle, soap, pressure, stropping mistakes.
hope this helps.
gl

I'd start with prep. Make sure your bead is nice and wet, and SOFTEN it with a hot shower or a hot towel. Then, you might consider a good brush and cream instead of your foam...but if that's out of the question, try a slick shave gel.

Welcome to SRP from another newb, Ryan,
Starting out with a razor that is honed shave ready by an experienced honemeister is excellent advice. It gives you a known baseline to evaluate your budding technique & prep. Learning how to hone and learning how to shave (with the same razor) at the same time makes it difficult for you to evaluate either skill.

I bought my first three razors shave ready from SRP members selling them in the Classifieds. If you don't want to do that, then I would suggest sending your current razor to one of the homemeisters in the "Member Services" section of the Classifieds.

Good luck to you!
Namaste,
Morty -_-

Hello, Ryan:

Welcome to Straight Razor Place.

As everyone suggests, please send your new razor to a professional for proper sharpening. Once that is taken care of, then comes the concentration on preparation. Find a good boar bristle or a "pure" badger shave brush, (about $25, give or take), and a good soap (Mama Bear, about $10).

On your shave, the general blade angle is somewhere around 30 degrees. That's a general figure. I keep mine about 20 degrees, as much as I can determine. That angle, however, changes while shaving different parts of your face.

Keep the pressure light; the razor itself offers the necessary pressure. Shave slowly, methodically and, obviously, carefully (pardon my adverb parade). Also, experiment and improvise.

But it all starts with a well honed razor. For a newcomer, a razor honed by a professional. After that, comes everything else. Stick with it. You will get there.

Regards,
Obie

Ryan,

+++1 on the previous advice, especially that of Obie. First, send your razor out to be professionally honed. Second, forget about the canned stuff and purchase some decent shaving soap or cream and a brush. Neither need be expensive, but those two items--along with the refinement of your shaving technique--will do wonders to improve your str8 razor shaving experience.

Take care--and smooth shaving.

also keep in mind that the hairs on your arm or leg are alot thinner than the hairs on your face. so they will cut alot easier. and the skin on your arm and leg is stretched tighter which helps,thus the stretch technique someone mentioned. and remember just cause it will cut hair on your arm doesnt mean its shave ready. so if its cutting hair on your leg but not your face well then you should hone some more on higher grit and finisher hones. and as that 20 and 30 degree angle someone mentioned,that prob doesnt apply here cause as you stated you watched a few shaving vids and im sure you picked up and there blade angle,if not then yeah,angle of the blade helps alot. and another thing that might help, also when testing on your leg or arm hair, make sure you test the heel (the back end of the blade) and the toe (the tip) because you might just have the center of the bevel shave ready and the heel and toe is not. you want the whole blade able to pop hairs. so if you ever do a hanging hair test,(search it on youtube)do three one at the heel, toe, and middle. then you should be good to go

RBF,

Congratulations on honing your first razor! Hey you are the bomb! I have been at this only 6 months now and I just honed my first razor this week! So.. you are much further along than I am when it comes to honing.. and brave to take it on to boot.. What kind of honing equipment are you using to get your edge? I have Naniwa hones... 1000 for the bevel setting then a 5000, 8000, 12000, balsa strop with cro2paste and then the leather strop of course...

I started however with a professionally sharpened (honed) and stropped razor... so that on my first shave... I didn't even get the chance to ruin the edge with the strop... I got a great first shave and I new what a sharp razor was supposed to feel like... then I carefully and i mean carefully kept the edge sharp with careful stroping which I practiced a lot on an old flea market razor I bought... before I touched my razor sharp new straight to the strop myself... the edge can be ruined and not shave ready in a few seconds of improper strop technique...

So.. you've gotten lots of great advice... only thing to add is my congrats to you for taking on the honing in the first place... I think it's great and the only thing better would have been if you could have written us that you got a first class shave too!! You will... and you can either find someone to help you hone to the correct sharpness... or send it out for a pro to get it there so you know what to copy... but one way or the other you need to know for sure that your problem isn't that your razor isn't sharp enough which is obviously the most common problem..

Then with a sharp razor at the sink... shower.. best pre shave possible... then I like a preshave oil.....while the oil is soaking into you beard ...strop your razor if it needs it ( may not if you get it from honemiester)... make some lather... apply and shave... bet you get a great shave after that... if not its technique which mostly means your angle is not quite right...

You'll figure it out! Just start knocking off the variables one at a time .. Razor first!!

Have a great weekend... I lilke it that you took on honing... much braver than I was!!

Maq