Thread: Am I being unrealistic?

It's not a Solingen blade. Wolfertz are American blades from Allentown PA.

I'll try stropping it less. I get a little obsessive about it so I'll force myself to back off and see if that helps. I wasn't aware you could overstrop. I use very little pressure and I lead with the spine when I strop, and while I get a bum stroke every once in a while, I've learned how to strop it out.

I know this is why I should have more than one razor. But I don't think I'll be getting another until my birthday, which is in February.

The smoking gun here is obvious. Being a former electric razor user eons ago. With a foil razor if you are destroying foils like that it has nothing to do with your beard you are using way way too much pressure. I suspect the issue with the straight is the same, your technique needs to be adjusted.

Really once you pass 60 strokes on plain leather you don't gain anything really and on the cloth maybe 20 or so strokes.

The bottom line is a properly honed razor will last so something is wrong with the picture. Possibly the razor is not sharp enough to begin with is another scenario. You have to explore everything you are doing.

Ok. I'll bring the stropping down a notch. I feel like I've been doing well with the pressure, but obviously I need to improve that some more.

I feel like my beard requires a little more pressure to get through. It's so thick and coarse it gets stuck in the fibers of my shirt collars and actually starts to pull threads and pill the fabric after a while. I've had to throw away dress shirts because my stubble wore out the neck. The individual hairs on my face are larger in circumference to the naked eye than the ones on my head. But, I've got a nice, sharpened and stropped blade waiting for me at home, and we'll see how it goes with a concerted effort at less pressure. Well, even less that I've been using.

Originally Posted by U2Bono269

Am I being unrealistic in my expectations of blade-sharpness? I've asked about it here many times in the past 3 months, so it's been on my mind. After years of destroying electric razor foils and mach 3 cartridges at an extreme rate, I wonder if I'm just oversensitive.

I'm also wondering if it's realistically possible to use a pasted strop with every shave? Would it destroy my blade or otherwise cause damage?

Try to find someone in your neighborhood who is willing to send you a sharp razor to try out? If you get the same results then you are using incorrect stropping or shaving technique (to much pressure?). It is possible to use a pasted strop before every shave, a friend of mine has been shaving with the same razor for over 10 years and all he does is strop a few times before every shave on a pasted loom strop.

btw stropping after shaving is not really needed, (you can do a few to dry the edge)

Well, I shaved. I did my best to use as little pressure as possible and it was a complete disaster. It simply didn't cut. I tried to use the weight of my arm to glide the razor through my beard and the blade got stuck in the hairs and cut me. It skipped all over my face and pulled like nothing I've ever felt before. And the razor burn! My neck is on fire!!! When I stretched my skin, the pain, pulling and skipping got worse. I adjusted the angles and shave direction hoping to hit that right spot, but I never found it. I might as well have shaved with a butter knife. It's just not holding the edge anymore.

I started to shave with more pressure on the other side of my face and had a significantly better go at it. But by that point the damage was done, both to my face and presumably the blade too. I had to stop. I finished my face with a DE (a superspeed, very mild so it could get the rest of the significant stubble and not add to the damage).

I think the razor needs to be rehoned. Unfortunately, this means I have to set it aside for a couple of months until I can afford to have it honed and thoroughly cleaned/pinned. I will give it one more try but I think the outcome is inevitable. At the very least I can rule that part of it out.

My other possibility is to wait until my birthday rolls around...I'm expecting to have a Boker from SRD head my way via the 'rents. I'd definitely have a Lynn-approved shave-ready razor then. In the meantime I'll have to hit up Walgreens for some GEM blades.

I'm willing to check out the edge and hone it for you, then send you a PM with my findings. I have enough experience to diagnose your blade, edge, and stropping, if you'd like. Just shoot me a PM if you'd like help.

The razor is dull, if you're using light pressure and it will not cut something is wrong with the edge. I assume you're stretching the skin to make the hairs stand up? I have a heavy beard too, I get the homer simpson shadow right after I shave even if my face feels smooth to the touch. I've been shaving since 7th grade...

When you strop, are you using pressure? If so is the strop tight and straight or a little bit loose/less than very tight? If you're stropping heavy handed and the strop isn't super tight the bowing from the slightly loose strop will round the edge dull.

When you using a barbers hone and the shave is only good for one shave than you're either stropping wrong or the blade is over honed from the barbers hone causing the edge to break down.

Pm sent.

I've also got one of Larry's blades. I've used it for three months, and it's never even been in the same room as a barbers hone. My guess is a little combination of you ruining your honed edge accidentally by using a barbers hone when it was unnecessary with an unskilled hand, not spending enough time on beard prep, and too much pressure at the wrong angle for shaving. I'm not sure if it got mentioned before, but, especially with thick facial hair, you gotta let the hair soak and soften. In my limited experience, when something isn't happening right with my blade, it's never been the blades fault. JMHO.

I haven't had success with softening my beard. My shaves are typically more comfortable without pre-shave oils or conditioner. I also can't shave right after a shower. Post-shower or beard-prepped shaves give me ingrown hairs, pimples and razor burn. Does that mean something?

I don't use any oils or conditioners. I was under the impression that the oils are to help the razor glide better, but I've never had that issue. I think there's a little debate on using oil at all actually. Hairs are already covered in natural oils, which makes them somewhat waterproof. Not a good thing when trying to soften the beard IMO. My routine is plain soap then rinse with as hot of water as I can stand, then rinse, apply lather(Mitchell's wool fat), rub it in with fingers, let sit 3 minutes, More hot water to face, lather again, brush teeth, shave. If I feel even the slightest tug, I add more water to my face, and the lather. It takes some time, but the shaves I'm getting are giving zero razor burn and zero irritation. I still have some acne, but that's genetics, not straights.

Regardless, you said beard prepped shaves give you problems? So does this mean you're trying to shave your beard when it's dry? Cause, umm, yeah that's gonna be a problem.