Thread: new shaver help

having a heck of a time straight razor shaving i've done it three times now i honed two different razors and had one come to me shaving sharp so the seller said and they all pull like crazy

Was the razor honed by one of the people here or a well known vendor?

Have you watched all the shaving videos especially Lynn's DVD?

What razors do you have? Where were they honed? Did you strop them?

i have a dovo and a schuchbauer wurzburg and a blue steel razor the razor i just shaved with i didnt strop the seller said it was shave ready and no i didnt watch the videos the angle i use is a 45 degree i will watch the videos and strop before my next shave

You honed them yourself? If so that is the mistake...

If not and you stropped that's probably where the razor was dulled. If you don't strop then that's why the razor is now dull.

Never hone a razor yourself until you have experience and have been using a sharp enough someone sent to you for a while.

Then your lack of experience with technique could be the issue if all other possibilities are not relevant...

45 degrees is much too great an angle. Lower it down to somewhere between 30 and 10 degrees depending on hair direction.

45 degrees will eat your face a live and scrape the hair on your face. Try using a low angle and hopefully the edge is not dulled by the extreme angle.

thanks guys i've been reading about other newbies shaving and i think its because of the angle i'll try the 20 to 30 dergee angle next time

Where did you get the razors from? Did the one that you said was shave-ready come from the SRP classifieds or one of our vendors, or was it listed that way on eBay or something?

Angle is everything along with light pressure to avoid pulling. Like others said 45 is going to just scrape your face instead of letting the blade glide over it. Stropping is huge as well you want the razor to be at it's best before shaving just make sure you go slow at first or you may roll the edge.

If you are looking for some good video's I found that Jockey has some good ones on youtube that is how I learned was watching his videos. There are many other videos on youtube dealing with stropping and shaving.

Good luck and keep with it this will only get better.

The cheapest razor you honed yourself, use that one to get the 'experience' with honing (or buy a cheaper one if that one is too good). These people that tell you, 'don't hone your razors unless you have experience', should add, 'You can't get experience unless you actually put the time into practice.'
You'll still need a professionally honed razor to have a known goal anyway.

Shave angle has already been mentioned.

Don't feel that anyone is treating you like an idiot when they give you advice, everyone here wants the new blokes to be successful in the use of the cutthroat/open/straight razor. Every new user gets the word out there and helps to bring more new people into the world of cutthroat razor shaving.


Mick