Thread: "Guillotine"

Dear Straight Shavers,

I have perused the SRP Wiki quite a lot before I began shaving with a straight, and one thing that never made sense to me was the so-called "Guillotine style cutting". Based on the descriptions, it seems as if it's a nice way to slice oneself.

However, I thought I found an explanation for the meaning of the arrows in the picture associated with it, and wanted to ask for some opinions:


If you look at the arrows pointing downwards, they are at around 45 degrees from the axis of North-South shaving. If you have ever played with orthogonal projection doing 3D drawings, you will recognize instantly those lines as the sign of a move AWAY FROM FACE. In other words, you are leaving the XY plane of the face to move along the Z axis.

I have thought about this interpretation while shaving myself: after gliding North-South, at the end of the stroke, I move the razor swiftly away from my face, as if I was pulling grass.

Based on the drawing and my own practice, it makes more sense like this.

Thoughts?

No, I believe the stroke is actually just as flat on the face as a straight shaving stroke. The difference is that the point-end of the razor leads the stroke

Use the angle you're comfortable with

Originally Posted by MHV

Dear Straight Shavers,

I have perused the SRP Wiki quite a lot before I began shaving with a straight, and one thing that never made sense to me was the so-called "Guillotine style cutting". Based on the descriptions, it seems as if it's a nice way to slice oneself.
....snip...
Thoughts?

Yes it is an easy way to slice yourself.

But a bit of angle does help a razor cut whiskers.
Recall there is a fine line between cutting whiskers
and cutting your face.

Another consideration includes the way the razor was
honed. Modern wide fine grain hones leave an
edge that is smoother with less diagonal striations
and is less ``toothy'' than older honing technique.

The angel of the stroke while shaving and the angle
of the striations produced by an X honing stroke can
compliment each other. Modern large hones not
so much.

Mantic has some DE shaving videos that show
a number of "advanced" strokes that show this
and more.

The picture above looks like a 30 degree angle.
Dial back to five degrees with a smooth well honed edge
and a difficult set of whiskers will almost wipe away.

I know there is a diagram of how to use a straight razor from MANY years ago..I believe early 1900's..and..found out after gentlemen who replied to me about this said..this diagram works for less than 5% of straight razor users..no 2 faces r alike and neither is anything else to try to compare

pcdad