My First Straight Shave....

[FootAJ]

So, I'll start this off with a little backstory. A few weeks ago I decided to look for a razor at the local antique stores, and I found a perfect, unused Torre razor. I took it to the shop to get honed, and got it back today. I picked up a strop and used it and was ready.

I used several hot towels, and properly made my lather. I lathered up and proceeded to shave using the methods described in Joel's guide, aswell as some other things I read. It took me several passes, I had a lot of patchy spots...and well....it was the worst shave of my life!

Now, I know it was me, but I'm wondering what I did wrong? Right now, about 20 minutes after the shave, I'm sitting here with razor burn ALLLL over my face. I cut myself 4 times and have redness everywhere.

Any tips for next time? Any tips for making me not look terrible tommorow ?

And no, I don't blame the straight. I still plan on learning how to use it. I know it's ME that the problem was with, but I want to know how to fix it. I need help, shaving gurus

 

[TromboneGuy]

You took it "to the shop" to be honed? What kind of shop? Does the guy who honed it use a straight regularly? If he tried to hone it like a pocket knife you might get a better shave with some cardboard.

Other than that, start with fewer passes. Just one or two passes with the grain, watch your blade angle, and use NO PRESSURE.

 

[iron maiden]

I was going to ask the same thing.....who honed it?

I'm new to str8t shaving, but I've never had that bad of a str8t shave like you described...

Hope you're okay....it'll get better.

 

[FootAJ]

Ok, so it's the morning and I don't look as bad as I did last night. That's a good thing!

Anyways, about the honing:

They're a local knife shop, but sell straights and the guys who work there shave with straights. The guy who honed mine talked to me to make sure I knew how to hold it, had an idea of what I was doing (I thought I did! , and just general talking about strops and stropping the razor. He most certainly shaved with a straight. They're pretty well known in the area and I really believe it had to do with my technique versus the honing.

Also, I'm thinking when I try shaving with a straight again, I might try it right after the shower as opposed to doing just hot towels. Maybe that'll give better results.

Thanks for the advice, guys!

 

[professorchaos]

A good test for me is how easily does the razor shave hair off of my arm? Should pop them off with the greatest of ease.

I agree with the above posters: one pass, no pressure. It takes a while to to get a good straight shave. Read Joel's guide, it contains an abundance of useful information which can help accelerate your progress. But a large part of the fun is figuring out what works for you.

 

[Thebigspendur]

Assuming your razor is properly honed you have to realize using a straight takes time. Your shaves should improve over time but for the first couple of weeks I wouldn't expect much. If you are still having these problems after a month then there's a problem here. And, back to the honing, I don't know how many times we have heard from people who have taken straights into knife shops that supposedly know straights for honing and the edges were terrible. I would have asked them exactly how they honed it and what they used. That would have given you a clue. Personally, I have been in local well known knife shops that sell straights and insist they know how to hone them and they really didn't have a clue.

 

[FootAJ]

Just an update since I shaved with it again today...

I figured that I wouldn't shave yesterday so I could give my face and neck a break. As I mentioned, I figured a lot of the issue was with my prep, so I decided to shave after showering. And let me say, this made ALL the difference!

I lathered up with a superlather combo of AoS Triple Milled Soap and Kiss My Face Unscented Cream, and it was nice and slick. I stretched my skin alot more than last time, and this also helped alot.

I had absolutely no razor burn, and had only one cut on my lower neck due to horizontal movement because of 'slipping' which to me, was no big deal compared to the 4-5 bigger ones I got last time!

I did 1 pass along my face and neck, and then did an Across The Grain pass and Against The Grain pass on my mustache area. Something I noticed was I got those 'weepers' some people mentioned. I got about 8-10 little 'dots' of blood in the area, but there weren't any noticable cuts, but they were definitly there since I used my Alum

Any suggesstions on how to prevent these 'weepers' ? Also, thanks to all of you in this thread and to all those in the chat during the night of my first straight shave! The advice helped, and so did the relieving of the pain !

 

[loueedacat]

don't laugh but bag balm helps calm the face after hacking it up, at least for me. basically lanolin and petroleum jelly.

light light light touch - really really really no pressure.

I'm learning too and am alternating between pretty darn good shaves and shaves where I get lots of little slices. At least the slices are so precise that they heal pretty quick. My wife thinks I've gone and cracked this time.

I think this just takes a while.

 

[riooso]

I had the same problem just last month when I started. The angle of attack was way to high and I was scraping my skin. A well honed sharp razor will cut nicely at hardly any angle at all. It is sometimes hard when starting to figure out what 30 degrees is. 30 degrees is only a ballpark. I shave at 20 or below and get great shaves. Another thing shave WTG at first to get the coordination and technique down and if you razor is sharp you can go very light with the touch. I am new but just pay attention and you will be doing great in no time. If it was easy everyone could do it, and they can't!,,do it!

Richard