Thread: Q about leg shaving

I couldn't find a thread about this, looking. Most of the threads seem to be about men shaving their wives legs, which is chill and all, but not helpful if I want to shave my legs on my own!

Anyways. How the heck do you shave your legs with a straight razor? With what angle? Against the grain, or with it? If you haven't shaved your legs in a while(like all winter... ) can you still shave using a straight razor, or do you have to cut it down with a regular razor first?

This might sound awkward, but how the heck do you manage to shave the backs of your legs? I guess shaving with a straight razor generally requires a specific angle, and it's tricky enough with a regular razor!

How long does the foam from a cup soap last normally? Will it last if you lather your legs up all at once, or should you lather as you go?

Do you have to wash your razor inbetween strops(I guess it can be needed leg to leg.), and dry it, or can you strop it as needed?

Also, if your leg hair(or armpit hair as well) grows in a bunch of directions, do you have to shave in all those directions like you do with a regular razor, or can you shave in just one direction and have it be fine?

What razors do you suggest for legs and armpits? Where can they normally be found? What is the price range they run in?

OK, let's see if I can help you out here. There are tips and pointers, but they are kinda strewn all over the threads. I guess I never noticed that. I may have to fix that little issue

Originally Posted by Gislebertus

Anyways. How the heck do you shave your legs with a straight razor? With what angle? Against the grain, or with it? If you haven't shaved your legs in a while(like all winter... ) can you still shave using a straight razor, or do you have to cut it down with a regular razor first?

Using a straight razor requires a couple of different skills.

The first and most important is skin prep. It's pretty easy for us girls in some ways as you want to get the hair softened up and ready to be cut. Easiest way for this is just your normal shower or bath, Just wash as usual and your prep is pretty much done for you.

The second thing is the lathering. Some people like to use bowls or scuttles to build their lather in. I do this if I am shaving out of the shower or bath. I usually lather right on my legs by loading the brush with the cream or soap and then just working it until if forms a nice dense lather.

I shave against the grain only most of the time, but you can go with the grain and then against the grain if you want to reduce the hair down to a more manageable length before you go for a smooth finish. I do it this way if I haven't shaved in a few weeks. I am pretty lazy about shaving my legs during the winter.

As for the angle, I use a pretty shallow angle probably around 15 to 20 degrees, a shallower angle works the best when you are going against the grain.

Originally Posted by Gislebertus

This might sound awkward, but how the heck do you manage to shave the backs of your legs? I guess shaving with a straight razor generally requires a specific angle, and it's tricky enough with a regular razor!

This pretty much comes from practice, It seems awkward at first because you can't really see what you are doing well. I used a DE to do the back of my legs for a while before I figured it out.

Originally Posted by Gislebertus

How long does the foam from a cup soap last normally? Will it last if you lather your legs up all at once, or should you lather as you go?

Do you have to wash your razor inbetween strops(I guess it can be needed leg to leg.), and dry it, or can you strop it as needed?

The lather in the cup may start to dry out or deflate, if it does just dampen your brush up a bit, or add a couple of drops of water to the bowl and whip it up again. No big deal there. I lather in sections when I shave so the soap doesn't dry on my skin. If needed I just rinse the next area with water or I use a warm damp towel to keep the area I will be working on next moist.

I rinse my blade off in the bath or the shower as the lather builds up on the blade. If I am shaving outside the shower/bath I have a damp washcloth I wipe the blade on. You have to be really careful not to catch the edge when doing this though so you don't damage the cutting edge.

I only strop before I shave, If you feel your razor is losing it's edge you can strop anytime you think you need to. Just make sure your hands and the razor are reasonably dry. You don't want the razor to slip out of your hands.

When I am completely done you rinse off the razor with hot water, wipe it down with a towel and I leave mine open somewhere to air dry for a couple of hours before I put it away.

Originally Posted by Gislebertus

Also, if your leg hair(or armpit hair as well) grows in a bunch of directions, do you have to shave in all those directions like you do with a regular razor, or can you shave in just one direction and have it be fine?

What razors do you suggest for legs and armpits? Where can they normally be found? What is the price range they run in?

I have not found that I have a problem with going in pretty much one direction to get all of the hair, You can alter your direction to whatever one works the best for the most part.

For razors, I would suggest a 5/8 round point one. You can get new Dovo's from several places. Check out the Vendor section. Or you can purchase a vintage one from our Classified section. If you purchase one from a Vendor or on the classifieds make sure it is identified as shave ready. You can get them from $40 to the moon, there is a wide range of prices depending on how fancy the razor is. I personally have 2 Dovo's and a few vintage ones that I use. I actually like my vintage ones better but the Dovo's are really nice.