Thread: straight is catching

My new straight is doing pretty well. i shave tested it and it worked.Ive used it twice for full shaves. (I have shavette experience but this is my first straight.)

I'm using a wedge that i got from whipped dog. I think it is a bowden It doesn't say it on the razor but it does on the box, and its a wedge, which from what i can tell is their trademark.

Im getting some razor burn but i think that is just me learning angles. my question is when i get to my jaw/lower cheek the razor seems to dig slightly and then jump away from the hair. i can clean it up with a second pass but it contributes to the burn.

would you think this is stropping related or angle related ( as a test i shaved some arm hairit came off clean and with no irritation so i dont think its the strop,)

my set up has been vdh soap, warm lather with wd pure badger, strop, hot towel, heat Razor relather wtg, lather xtg. the razor still catches some resistance xtg but still glides.

post shave is applecider vinegar mixed with water and Olive oil and Nivea aftershave lotion. razor burn is gone in twenty.

If you are confident that the razor is indeed shave ready I'd say it's a technique issue, both shaving and stropping. I'm not sure what else to suggest at this point other than keep practicing both. Make sure you're stropping deliberately: for a wedge try stropping 40 material and at least 60 leather.

I I would say it is your angle. A Wedge type razor, from What I have read, is TOTALLY different angle for shaving then a shavette.

I'm going with two spine widths for angle wtg and one across, my shavette is easily 40 degrees.

I've been stropping 30 to 40 on leather and don't have a fabric. I'll bump up to 60.

feeling my face i realized today that i might have to bring the angle in for that part of my face because my jaw juts out.

the good news is i haven't cut my face off yet and stubble comes off on the razor so i must be doing something right

I am going to guess that you may be using too much pressure with possibly a slightly wrong angle. there is also the issue of stretching the skin too. To stretch the skin on my cheeks I puff them up and angle mu head up and away from the side I am shaving. I keep about one spine width gap between the razor's spine and my skin going with alight touch. It almost sounds like the blade is plowing up the skin ahead of the blade edge as you get to the solid jaw line. Then again I could be completely wrong but it gives you something to think about in the mean time.

Bob

Both of the razors I have gotten honed by Whipped Dog needed 10 x-strokes on my barbers hone before they were shaving exactly like I wanted... That may be your issue as well. Pick up a $15 barbers hone from Larry and try it. Well worth the purchase, IMO. Don't get me wrong, he did a great job, but they just weren't shaving perfectly until I did the strokes on my hone, which gave them the perfect sharpness I desired. Now I can just continue maintaining their sharpness on the cheap hone I have and I should be set.

IME if my razor isn't really "there" in the sharpness department it will do the cheeks alright but the area around the chin and under the jawline will be the proof of the pudding. So it may be technique but if it is cutting other areas well I'd say it is not shave ready. Just IMHO.

+1 on its probably a little bit of both angle and pressure. Adjust your angle to where you can use the absolute lightest touch while removing hair, especially with a wedge. A well honed wedge seems to mow through anything in its path. I got a few severe cases of razor burn from my first wedge after using only a full hollow prior to that. Once I got the angle right and lightened up to no pressure it was a comfortable shaver.

Cheers,

JC

Well I made a mistake tonight apparently. I ran 60 strokes and it helped tremendously. after cleaning up after a thinning pass, a WTG pass and an XTG pass I tried to clean up my cheeks a bit with just water and a touch up. turns out that wasn't stubble it was skin that had been irritated so now I have razor burn.

But yeah my cheeks are dbbs (Im not running atg yet) and my neck and jaw just arent quite. also if my skin is looking like stubble this would lead me to believe that the razor may in fact not be quite sharp enough.

I would prefer to get it professionally honed before I go messing with it that way I have a reference.

Originally Posted by gunsandbibles

I would prefer to get it professionally honed before I go messing with it that way I have a reference.

That is your best bet.