Thread: How much should a straight razor shave hurt?

As others have stated, it should not hurt. Different blades will give different feels while shaving. Some are smoother for a particular beard type than others. I have a heavy beard, a thin hollow grind has to much flex for me. if the hurt is a tugging sensation, like the whiskers are being plucked instead of wiped off, it is probably the hone. While learning, you can get more skin irritation from a dull blade or incorrect angle. An incorrect angle will be more of a burning sensation, essentially razor burn. If that is the case, then you may want to give you face a day to rest before you shave again. If your face has a red blotchy rash like appearance, it is probably the angle.

Originally Posted by RayG

It should not hurt at all.

Assuming your razor was honed by a reliable honemeister, and your prep is sound, then it is technique - angle, pressure, skin stretching.

I.am in agreement to all of the above with the addition of poor stropping.

If it hurts, something is wrong.

Read
this thread by Lynn.

Thanks for all the comments, a lot of this info was useful especially those from some of you newer straight razor users. I think the reason it's hurting when I shave is part in due to multiple factors. I guess practice makes perfect. I will stick to it and work on my stropping and shaving technics. Do you guys recommend anyone in perticular to send my razor off to for some honing? I'm guessing a freshly honed razor will give me a good bench mark as to what a "sharp razor" should feel like. I'm from Houston, TX so someone down south would be preferred just due to shipping in and out times and what not. I tried searching the forum for any razor honers but no luck. Any recommendations? Thanks!

Originally Posted by acharles331

Thanks for all the comments, a lot of this info was useful especially those from some of you newer straight razor users. I think the reason it's hurting when I shave is part in due to multiple factors. I guess practice makes perfect. I will stick to it and work on my stropping and shaving technics. Do you guys recommend anyone in perticular to send my razor off to for some honing? I'm guessing a freshly honed razor will give me a good bench mark as to what a "sharp razor" should feel like. I'm from Houston, TX so someone down south would be preferred just due to shipping in and out times and what not. I tried searching the forum for any razor honers but no luck. Any recommendations? Thanks!

I think you should check here in the member's services section:

Member Services - Straight Razor Place Classifieds

I think you can confidently send your razor to any of the members that advertise there. Look for someone close to you if you choose. You will get back a shave ready razor and then you can assess what "sharp" is. I have personally sent my razor to two members from the classifieds for honing and was pleased with the results.

Unless you are shaving ATG it should be a very pleasant experience. Always plan on getting a new razor honed. There are some vendors that hone a razor for you and do a good job at honing it, some say they hone it but don't do a very good job. Eventually you are going to have to learn to at least do a touch-up.

Take care,
Richard

my first few shaves felt like I had lost a fight with a belt sander, but over the next couple weeks they started to have less and less irritation, my blade angle was waaaay off (they always do the "90 degree" swipe in the movies so I figured I should too lol) and by shallowing out the angle it seemed to have much less irritation

Shouldn't hurt at all. If it does, you need to sharpen your razor. I recommend you learn to hone and strop. It's almost as much fun, and satisfying, to create a fine edge as it is to shave. Buy a shave ready second razor as a sample and learn to duplicate (or improve on) the edge of your new shave ready razor. There are plenty of books, videos, etc. from which you can learn to create and maintain a fine edge on your razor. As they say, "it's not rocket science."