Back to the straight

**damooshki** · 01-31-2011, 10:02 AM

I bought a straight awhile ago from Larry Andro and used it for about a month with decent results. I was getting better with it but then one day I decided to use a DE again and was amazed at how easy it was to get a great shave. That was probably about 4-5 months ago. Last week after watching a video of a guy shave with his straight razor I was inspired to get back to my straights.

I am getting good shaves with only a few minor nicks each time I shave. I can get my cheeks BBS w/o any nicks (unless I'm being careless with the razor). My neck is slightly more challenging but with good technique and concentration I usually do fine there too. The most difficult areas are right where a goatee would be if I were to grow one. I have a very defined chin and jaw line (the jaw line is much easier because I can stretch the skin there better to move the stubble off the ridge and the hair isn't as tough) but the stubble on my chin is much tougher and there's more of it. I usually will nick myself while going against the grain on my chin, around my mouth, and my upper lip.

Have any of you had issues with these areas and what did you do to get better results? I'm sure a lot of it just comes with time and personal experience, so I'll keep at it. But advice is always appreciated.

Thanks.

**InvictusManeo** · 01-31-2011, 11:19 AM

I have always had a hard time where my lower lip turns into my chin. There is always a little valley there that I had the hardest time with for the first couple of months.

I don't know that I have done anything really different, I just think I've gotten better and it just suddenly started getting smooth.

When I am shaving my chin/soulpatch area I think it is important to have the skin tight if you want the area to get smooth. Since there is not really a lot of area to get a good grip with my other hand, I really mostly on odd facial contortions there to stretch the skin. Where I can I also stick my tounge into my bottom lip to get the skin tight.

I think mostly it just takes time, experementing and practice.

good luck

**Slartibartfast** · 01-31-2011, 11:30 AM

A couple things.

1) Skin stretching. You need to figure out the best way to stretch the skin in that area.

2) Pressure. It is really easy to start using too much pressure when you are trying to get those tough areas. Light pressure everywhere.

3) Blade angle. ATG I use an almost flat angle against my skin. If I get a little crazy I end up with weepers

**grump** · 01-31-2011, 01:51 PM

Pulling skin taut, making faces, blade angle and practice.

Eventually, everything just comes together.

Have fun and enjoy your shaves.

**georgekaplan1** · 01-31-2011, 02:04 PM

Originally Posted by Slartibartfast

3) Blade angle. ATG I use an almost flat angle against my skin. If I get a little crazy I end up with weepers

I am about to make the plunge into straight shaving and in my research I saw a photo where it says that WTG passes should be 30 degrees, XTG something less than that (I forgot how much), and ATG should be at 5 degrees. I had never heard this before as I had always tried to maintain 30 degrees in my DE shaving. But, now Slartibartfast has provided some empirical evidence to support the decreasing angle concept. Interesting. Is this just a phenomenon of straight shaving, or can it be applied to DE as well?

**georgekaplan1** · 01-31-2011, 02:08 PM

Originally Posted by damooshki

I bought a straight awhile ago from Larry Andro and used it for about a month with decent results. I was getting better with it but then one day I decided to use a DE again and was amazed at how easy it was to get a great shave...Last week after watching a video of a guy shave with his straight razor I was inspired to get back to my straights.

I am making the jump too, and I hope that I can stick with it and not fall back to my DE. I was also inspired by a video of a guy shaving with his straight to consider the idea myself in the first place. Quite the influential thing, YouTube.