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What should a shave sound like?

OK, maybe a bizarre question so please humour me while I elaborate a little.

Reading through the forums, I see comments that the blade should glide, and that we aren't so much shaving as gently reducing the beard down to ground level. Herein lies my question.

When I first start the N-S passes, the razor has an audible rasp as it passes down my face. Sure enough, by the 3rd or 4th it is almost silent in some places (top of and middle of cheeks and jawline) but still rasping in others (on my throat either side of my Adam's apple, just under the point of my chin).

Is this sound normal, or is this an indication that my whiskers aren't soft enough and I need to work on the pre-shave? Or is the setup/technique too aggressive, or too passive?

Or simply lack of practice and just not reducing the beard evenly enough all over?

Regards,

S

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Current set-up
Merkur 38c
TOBS Sandalwood soap and pre-shave oil
Omega brush (bog-standard badger)
Derby Extra blades (new blade in tonight)
 

luvmysuper

My elbows leak
Staff member
It is very, very normal to hear the blade cutting the hairs.

If you are not getting irritation, and you are removing hair, I'd say it's probably going well.
Keep an eye on your angle, it's the hardest thing to get used to, and things should get more consistent with practice.
 
Yep, it almost sounds like very fine sanding when I shave. I like the feedback - it lets me know the progress of the shave.
 
Some razors and blades have outstanding acoustics when mowing down the whiskers --notably the 1912 SE GEM, the earlier 'lathercatcher' GEMs, and the Merkur Future. There are some soaps/cremes that soften the whiskers so well that the 'razor cutting whiskers rasping' sound diminishes to they point you don't hear it.

What you're hearing is probably normal. Some blades are quite quiet when freshly swapped into a razor and the 'rasp' sound develops after a couple of shaves. In this case, the rasping growing louder is an indication that you need to change your blade soon.

All in all, don't worry about it.

-- John Gehman
 
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hi, welcome to b&B. the other thing i may point out and if i'm pointing out the obvious, please forgive me...but no one's beard grows evenly. just like a well-manicured lawn, there still are 'clumps' of thicker growth in places, sparser growth in others.

as you 'learn' your face, you can anticipate these problem areas and do a 'touch-up' pass or two at the very end (once your beard is reduced as much as possible).

personally, no matter what i do i still have to pay special attention to the small probem patches around my face as these whiskers seem denser and more wiry.
or to put it simply: more difficult to cut. this is normal.
hope this helps.
 
Gentlemen, thank you for the thoughts and advice.

So far no major disasters with puréed face or excessive or repetitive burn - I'm trying to stay with the current setup for the first month before I make another change.

Keep an eye on your angle, it's the hardest thing to get used to, and things should get more consistent with practice.
Very true - I'd never really thought about it before B&B and starting with a DE but starting to get the hang around the curves.

as you 'learn' your face, you can anticipate these problem areas and do a 'touch-up' pass or two at the very end (once your beard is reduced as much as possible).
Sounds like I should spend a little more time between each lather to inspect the lay of the land and work out where the fairway ends and the rough begins.

I think I'll leave the last word to Brother John:
All in all, don't worry about it.
 
When I first started I couln't hear anything and thought I must be doing something wrong, and I was I was letting the water run the whole time. When the water was finally turned off, buttering toast like the man said. Welcome to B&B.
 
I'm pretty conservative - if it sounds, it vibrates and if it vibrates, it irritates or doesn't do a clean job. Sound is a trigger for me to slow down.
 
I'm spending longer applying the first lather - deliberately working it in for 2 minutes on the first run and then slowing down.

It seemed quieter last night - back down to light toast and not rasping. Will try exactly the same setup tonight and see if it repeats.

Thanks for the inputs.

Question for 52Tele:
Like a Hobbit walking along a forest trail ladened with dead leaves. crunch crunch crunch
Would that be when they're taking the hobbits to Isengard?
 
I'm spending longer applying the first lather - deliberately working it in for 2 minutes on the first run and then slowing down.

It seemed quieter last night - back down to light toast and not rasping. Will try exactly the same setup tonight and see if it repeats.

Thanks for the inputs.

Question for 52Tele:

Would that be when they're taking the hobbits to Isengard?

Somewhere near the Forest of Fangorn
 
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