Thread: Good Shaves Gone Bad

For a little bit now, I've been having great straight shaves. For some reason, they've now gone horrible. The downward stroke goes great, but as soon as I switch to against the grain it's quite painful. It's definitely not my razor, as I bought a new shave ready one from SRD, so I'm not quite sure what the issue is.

Any thoughts/suggestions?

It could still be the razor, that its dulling. Also, you could be needing to strop a little more/more carefully. I do 60 laps before shaving. If you've stropped very badly you may have dulled the edge that way.

Originally Posted by xman

It could still be the razor, that its dulling. Also, you could be needing to strop a little more/more carefully. I do 60 laps before shaving. If you've stropped very badly you may have dulled the edge that way.

Definitely not the razor. Like I said, I bought a brand new one from SRD, and unless they did a bad job honing (which I doubt) it's definitely some other issue.

I would suggest decreasing the angle of your blade to about 2-3 spinewidths elevated off of your face. Also, try making more of an across the grain stroke (where you can) as opposed to a true against the grain pass.

Thanks Bill, I'll give that a shot.

Originally Posted by Emkerz

Definitely not the razor. Like I said, I bought a brand new one from SRD, and unless they did a bad job honing (which I doubt) it's definitely some other issue.

Ok..so it was shave ready when you bought it...but how long have you been using it? Is it only ATG thats the problem?

Couple question Emkerz is the SRD razor the same one you have been using for awhile? If so how long have you been using it? If not is the other razor the same size as the SRD razor?

Originally Posted by Castel33

Couple question Emkerz is the SRD razor the same one you have been using for awhile? If so how long have you been using it? If not is the other razor the same size as the SRD razor?

No, I was using this one: DOVO Straight Razors then bought the other Dovo. The first time I used it I had that issue.

Ok, so its a brand new razor, first time using. It is a larger blade so it may be a matter of your angle..me personally, when I do ATG i pretty much lay the spine on my face...very low angle of attack. Thats what works for me..might be worth a try.

Ok you changed sizes of your blades and that is most likely your problem. Different sizes need different angles of attack if you follow bills advice you should be good. I start shaving with a 4/8 myself and when I switched to a 5/8 I had to less my angle of attack alot.