Thread: Shaving against the grain - ouch

I had this same issue. The razor is not sharp enough. I recently got my SRP razor honed by Lynn, and it worked like a charm against the grain. The razor has to be sharp, sharp, sharp, to work against the grain...

So, this morning i woke up and decided today was going to be the day. Since I last tried, I dropped by xman's place and he helped me hone my blade, as well as improve my stropping technique.

Following a hot shower and a waiting period after I had lathered up my shaving cream, I completed a with-the-grain and cross-grain pass with no problem whatsoever. I tried wetting my face thoroughly and stretching the skin, and gingerly laying the blade against my chinline to shave up; as soon as i tried to draw the blade up, I ecountered extreme friction, as if all the tiny downward-facing hair stumps were trapping the blade against my face.

"Fuck it", I figured it was time to see what a complete shave was like. I only started taking hair out after I changed my mentality.. this was a completely different kind of shaving. I started at 90 degrees ad scraped a bit, then started narrowing the angle of attack. No matter what I tried the incredible friction remained; I tried re-stropping several times and it didn't change much. After much work, I managed to do both cheeks and my lower jaw. I didn't dare go for the neck :P

So I'm sitting here at work 40 minutes later and my face is starting to feel a bit less like a thousand tiny serrated daggers are being plunged into it.

maybe my coarse beard and my sensitive skin are conspiring against me

I don't go against the grain very often. I find one pass with, followed by another with at a steeper blade angle, and finishing with a somewhat aggressive across the grain pass gets me plenty smooth. My skin just won't take against the grain. It does get it a bit closer, but it irritates the hell out of my skin. Not just a str8 either, any type of razor does that to me. Not worth the irritation for me, sort of defeats the purpose of my going to a str8 in the first place.

Jeff

Originally Posted by gegtik

maybe my coarse beard and my sensitive skin are conspiring against me

Probably, but you could try getting the stubble a lot shorter before you try the countergrain pass. Long whiskers draw the blade into the skin. THe undersurface of the whiskers is like a ramp. The harder you push to cut the more the force that applied to the skin. Something has to give- usually your face.

You're doing what I call aggressive shaving. It matters more how aggressive your passes are than how many you do. Think gentle, and don't try to cut down to skin until the stubble is really fine.

Originally Posted by Joe Lerch

Probably, but you could try getting the stubble a lot shorter before you try the countergrain pass. Long whiskers draw the blade into the skin. THe undersurface of the whiskers is like a ramp. The harder you push to cut the more the force that applied to the skin. Something has to give- usually your face.

You're doing what I call aggressive shaving. It matters more how aggressive your passes are than how many you do. Think gentle, and don't try to cut down to skin until the stubble is really fine.

thanks for the suggestion joe.. next time I'm feeling brave (read: masochistic) I'll just try doing several more cross grain passes before taking on the toughest of the tough

Originally Posted by gegtik

thanks for the suggestion joe.. next time I'm feeling brave (read: masochistic) I'll just try doing several more cross grain passes before taking on the toughest of the tough

Or you could try it with the grain gently.

Originally Posted by Joe Lerch

Or you could try it with the grain gently.

Gegtik,

I agree with Joe. I'd only done one cross-grain attempt since starting with a DE; it didn't go well. Joe suggested 2 light with-grain passes before trying the cross-grain and it was great! Also, take a day or two off before trying again.

I do one pass with and then one against. As long as my razor is sharp I have no problem with this.

There are probably as many ways of doing this as there are shavers, but I agree that you probably want to try to go with the grain of the hair first. Many people (though by no means all, as you've seen), including myself, shave with the grain, then across, then (possibly) against. In each case, using a very sharp razor, and a very light touch, will get you the furthest.

If your beard is very coarse, you might also consider restropping between passes to make sure it's as keen as possible. Lather, strop, shave, re-lather, re-strop, etc. If you lather and let it sit on your face for a little while, that tends to soften the hairs as well.

Good luck!