Leading with the heel?

Hi Gents!

As always, all of your feedback is greatly appreciated!

I have read alot of talk of scything, slicing, etc. type motions used during shaving with a straight, and some old school baber shop manuals that talk about leading with the toe. I find that as I get a little more confident in my strokes, a slight slicing action is definitely helping me to cut a little easier. However, I seem to be tending to slice leading with the heel of the blade rather than the toe. This motions seems more natural to me, especially in WTG strokes, as my beard grows at an angle in the direction of ear-to-chin (instead of ear-to-nose or N-S).

E.g. I shave my right cheek with my right hand (the bade is oriented such that the heel is towards the nose, toe towards the ear). As I make the stroke, I'll add a slight slicing motion with the heel leading, in a sort of "gillette slide" kind of motion.

Any one else tried this? Is leading with the toe preferred? (I find it harder to control). Or does it matter?

Thanks,

Jason

If i am understanding you correctly, then i would say it doesn't matter.

In theory, the micro-serrations of the edge might be more amenable to a toe leading scything motion if the blade was honed with the standard X-stroke. (This is in the same manner as many hand saws cutting better in one direction than the other.) In practice, I don't think it makes a bit of difference. I'd say you should do whatever feels more comfortable for you..

jrowen said:

Any one else tried this? Is leading with the toe preferred? (I find it harder to control).

Click to expand...

Yes, leading with the toe is preferred. The reason has nothing to do with sawlike micro-serrations (which don't exist under high magnification anyway).

The reason leading with the toe is preferred (and should be *strongly* preferred IMO) is that leading with the heel is more likely to get you hurt. The skin is pretty resistant to push-cutting but very vulnerable to slice-cutting. If you lead with the heel and the blade catches on some tough patch of whiskers, then the tip of the blade will tend to pivot backwards into a slicing orientation. If you lead with the toe and this sort of snag happens then the blade will tend to rotate to a push-cutting orientation where it's more difficult to cut the skin.

For me it was the same; heel leading seemed easier. Barbers strictly lead with the toe, but they are working from above so that would help. I've been making an effort to convert. After three years this is still a work in progress.