Straight, not Square! Beatnik's Journal (oh yes!)

[Beatnik]

This morning was my second straight razor shave!

Intro

So, I took the plunge ...I knew that I would be pursuing shaving with a straight razor around the beginning of the year. At that time, I thought that I would hold off until this summer with the idea of having 1 year of DE shaving under my belt. But I found my self drifting over to the straight razor forum here more and more as well as checking out the various YouTube vids, etc. What gave me the final push was reading the Journal entries of various "class of 2012" posters here in this forum. I have found these journals (esp. noahpictures, Grips, GW Shaveleo, cameraflier, & many more) very instructional and quite inspiring!

So, in my rational mind, I thought that I would start out by getting the "sight unseen" deal from Larry @ Whipped Dog. However, I spent too much time on e-bay looking at straights and lo-and-behold, I now have 4 straight razors, two of which are shave ready! I also grabbed a 3" strop from Star Shaving as well as their CrOx balsa, and yes, I have nicked my beautiful strop (it's not a bad nick, though)!

The Shave(s)

#1:

My first shave was on Monday morning. I had a two day beard and had planned to make my first pass WTG with a DE followed by WTG pass with the straight. Well, so much for plans! I was just too curious and wanted to see how this newly honed and stropped razor would perform. With this two day growth before me, I grabbed the straight and started under my right side burn. I started the first stroke with some momentum and gently added a little sideways motion(!) to help with not tugging on the dense beard growth. It was a long pass, and it worked well, no tugs and fairly close, much closer than I would have thought to achieve so soon. The razor felt comfortable in my hand and the next thing that I knew, I was finished with my cheek and was on to my chin. There I stopped. I just couldn't figure out the angle and just let it go for another time. I did shave the mustache area and a fair amount of my neck, which was much more than I thought I would accomplish for my first shave. Then, it was time to do the left side of may face. I switched over to holding the razor with my left hand, stretched the skin under the side-burn and I was off. I expected some awkwardness holding the razor in my non-dominate hand and I did, but it was manageable. I finished shaving my left cheek, mustache & a bit under my jaw line and called it good. Considering that I was shaving a two day growth, I felt very good about how it went. I think I was able to get an idea of what a shave ready razor feels like and was surprised how comfortable I felt shaving with a straight, all things considered. A very positive experience to build on! Then, it was a routine DE shave to finish it off near BBS.

#2

I can be a bit long winded so I will just summarize this mornings shave. Had just normal stubble on my face this morning having shaved BBS 20 hours earlier. The straight razor felt comfortable in my hands and on my face, so I went to work with little pause. I tried to be aware of the spine of the razor through out the shave to help keep a ~20deg angle or flatter if I felt uncomfortable or had some grabbing. Also paid attention to stretching the skin where I was shaving. Long story short, I was able to shave the entire right side of my face and neck (and chin!) with all of the left side of my face and just about all of the neck -I was very pleased. The shave left quite a bit of stubble with more on the left side than the right, but I'm OK with that as I did reduce some beard! I finished up with a DE and had a DFS+ with a bit of burn from the straight, but really nothing to complain about.

So, my impressions for the first two shaves with a straight: 1) I did not cut myself -nice!. 2) Was surprised on how comfortable I felt using the straight (at least WTG). Last, 3) how much fun I had shaving with a straight! So, I'm off on another shaving adventure, -hold on 'cause here we go!

[cleanshaved]

Good stuff Robert. sounds like you are off to a good start.
welcome to the class of 2012.

[Obiwan]

Nice post Robert. Stay with it and take your time. The results will only get better. And you're right, this is fun.

[Grips]

Great start. Glad to see you join the class of 2012. Hope you keep up the journal.

[Beatnik]

Good stuff Robert. sounds like you are off to a good start.
welcome to the class of 2012.

Nice post Robert. Stay with it and take your time. The results will only get better. And you're right, this is fun.

Great start. Glad to see you join the class of 2012. Hope you keep up the journal.

Thanks guys! I am going to try to keep up the journal, time permitting!

[Beatnik]

Shave #3

Pre-Shave: hot shower, moisturizing conditioner on beard, followed by hot water soaked towel for a few minutes. This has been my standard pre-shave for quite some time now.

Razor: C.V. Heljestrand 11/16, 3/4 hollow ground, honed last week.

I gave the razor 40-50 laps on the leather strop before the shave and ~20 after. I don't have that much confidence in my stropping at the moment ...I worry about rounding an edge or nicking the strop. Some one in the forum suggested mentally counting the number of passes as you strop in order to keep the attention focused. I tried this today and it seemed to help. I'm not sure that my stropping has any positive effect right now, but I feel that it's important at least try and incorporate it in to the shave routine from the get go.

The shave:

I performed a 2 pass, WTG shave> I used my dominate right hand for the right side of the face and used the left for the left side. The use of the left hand feels OK, not too awkward. I was able to shave my entire face during both passes. I tried to keep a shallow angle with the blade and I think I did ok with this. I think that the tendency is to allow the blade angle to open up as you shave as this is what happened to me when I wasn't paying attention. Also tried to keep a good stretch on the skin either by using the non razor hand or tilting my head and making faces. At the end of the 2 pass shave, I still had a lot of stubble, more on the left than on the right side of my face. I also had a solid amount of razor burn, more so than I recall having when I was starting out with a DE. I know that I;m using too much pressure. It will take some experience for this to get sorted out.

The plus side of the shave is that I feel really comfortable using a little slicing motion with my razor pass. This seems to really help with any tugging. I also used a little scything motion on the hard to reach places, which really helped. These things plus being able to shave my entire face in each of the two passes I am taking as a success. I really thought that I would take me longer to work out the angles to shave my neck and chin, but that seemed to work out.
On the negative side, I'm a bit disappointing in how little beard I reduced in the two passes. While i was shaving, I thought that I was removing much more than I actually had. I know through reading the other journals that this is a common occurrence, so I'm not too disappointed. Of course the razor burn is not too fun, but here too, not very surprising.

Bottom line though is that shaving with a straight is fun!

[Beatnik]

Today would have been shave #4 but I just didn't have the time for it this morning. However, it didn't prevent me from thinking about shaving with a straight. I was a little disturbed by the lack of beard reduced and to a lesser extent, the razor burn that I had after yesterday's shave. To be sure, technique played a great deal toward my dissatisfaction, but I also started to doubt the keenness of my razors edge. I had some time in the afternoon to pull out the razor and give the edge a quick check. First I checked it by cutting hair on my arm and found that it just brushed over the hair except for an occasional pop from the heel of the razor. I then tried a HHT test several times and found that the hair just slid over the blade silently. Not good! With great hope, I broke out the balsa w/CrOx paste and gave the razor ~25 laps followed by 20 laps on wool felt and 40 laps on leather. It popped arm hair this time but only on the middle and the heal of the blade. I then gave the razor another 20 laps on the CrOx followed by 20/40, felt/leather. Much better on popping arm hair along the entire edge of the blade. I then tried the HHT and was able to sever the hair on most of the blade except the toe. I don't know what value to assign to the HHT test results, so I'll just go by how it shaves, which hopefully, will be in the morning.

[paco664]

pay attention to how the hair reacts in the test then how the razor shaves afterwards..... then with time you will be able to judge shave from test....

altho there are occasions that a razor won't HHT worth a damn but will shave extremely well....

[Beatnik]

pay attention to how the hair reacts in the test then how the razor shaves afterwards..... then with time you will be able to judge shave from test....

altho there are occasions that a razor won't HHT worth a damn but will shave extremely well....

Yes, excellent point. I am looking at the HHT as a relative test, not an absolute. I the end it's the shave that tells the tale.

[Beatnik]

Shave #4

Razor: my CV Heljestrand 5/8's. Gave it 40 laps on the CrOx balsa strop last night followed by 20 on wool felt and 40 on leather. HHT: pops hair as it cuts it in half. Stropped 20 on felt, 40 on leather this morning prior to shave.

The shave: 2 pass WTG followed by a DE clean up.

I decided to focus on one thing during the shave today and that was pressure. My last shave resulted in a fair amount of razor burn, so focusing on pressure made sense. Also, I had the idea of "letting the razor do the work", which leads to not only more comfortable but better shaves.

1st pass:
Started on the right side under the side burn and used a guillotine/slicing pass on the 24hr beard growth. Tried to keep a good stretch on the skin and kept the pressure at a minimum. Not much tugging or pulling. When I started to feel any tugging, I would flatten the blade a bit more and either use a scything motion or a guillotine motion and that would do the trick. Was able to shave the right side of my face and neck with little pause other than to wash off the lather on the razor. The left side was much the same. I'm still thrilled that I can shave my entire face with a straight using either hand to hold the razor. The resulting stubble was fairly high, however.

2nd pass:
It was much like the first, other than I nicked a mole on my cheek that bled an obnoxious amount ...had to break out the styptic pencil to get the bleeding stopped. The result of this pass still left a lot of stubble, much more than a single WTG pass with my DE would leave. I'm beginning to doubt the edge on my razor. I don't think that its making it down to the skin level when its cutting beard. I know that this feeling is a common newbie experience, so I'm taking this into account. If I have a chance later today, I'll take the razor out and give it a HHT and try to see where its at. At the end of the shave, I dried the razor with tissue and stropped it 20 times on leather before putting it away.
I forgot to add that I was able to use much less pressure during the shave and the result was a burn and irritation free shave ...woohoo!
Well, tomorrow I have to get up and be out the door very early, so I won't be able to shave with the straight, alas!

[Beatnik]

Shave #5

This past weekend was crazy schedule wise, up and out the door early and no time for a shave w/ a straight. I only had time for a "get 'er done" 2 pass DE shave to be presentable.

OK, the edge on the CVH is starting to go. I can see some micro chips on the blade through a low powered loupe. I gave the blade another 20 laps on the CrOx balsa strop followed by 20 on wool and 50 on leather. Was able to get a weak (HHT3?) popping hair cut on the heel end of the blade, nothing on the rest of the blade. No matter though, the shave must go on!

The Shave

This morning: one pass WTG with the straight, followed by a DE clean up.

Lathered up some Cella on the wet side and went to work. To help with the lather drying out too soon, I only applied it to the side of the face that I was to shave. With razor in the right hand, I made my first pass on a 24 hour beard growth. Used a guillotine stroke to avoid grabbing and pulling and that worked great. I forgot haw much I love Cella, its a really nice soap ...slick, especially this wet. I could hear the blade cutting and see stubble rinsing off the blade, but the shave didn't feel close. I was able to navigate and shave all of my face comfortably. When I was using my left hand to shave the left side of my face, I did notice that I was holding the blade really tight and had to relax my grip. I noticed this twice and had to re-adjust. I was able to shave my entire face and neck. There was a fair amount of stubble that remained, much more than I would have had with a DE on a WTG pass. ONe notable exception, though. On my lower neck, the hair grows pointing up towards my scalp and against the skin. So my WTG (N-S) pass is really an ATG pass on this area. With the straight, I was able to shave this area clean, which is rather difficult for me even with a DE. I did have the spine of the blade touching my skin or nearly so while shaving this area in order for the edge not to dive down onto the skin and cut ...pretty cool!
Well, I have two razors on there way back from being honed and should get them in the mail mid week. I will be interesting to see what difference a razor that's fresh off to the hone will feel like and perform. I also ordered a coti from Jarrod at TSS ...yet another journey started as I learn how to hone. Until then, I will use the CHV that I have. I really don't know how I dulled the blade so much but I wouldn't be surprised if it's simply newbie shaving technique and perhaps rolling the blade on the strop. Anyhow, all for now.

[Grips]

Good progress. Great read.

[Beatnik]

It has been several day since I shaved with a straight. The reasons were various, but mostly because the edge on my CVH died and had no way to re-hone it. However, yesterday's postal delivery was very generous in the wet shaving department as I received my two newly honed razors, Lapping Film, a coti from Jarrod @ TSS, and a beautifully restored vintage French razor from Joe Edson. Yeah, I really ready to rock and roll with straights now. Needles to say, I was really excited for this mornings shave!

Shave #6

Razor: CV Haljestrand 5/8's nearly full hollow (3/4?) ground
Honed: last weekend, first use of this edge this morning

3 pass shave: WTG, WTG, & XTG

I had some time to think about this shave over the last few days. I was also able to look at some youtube videos (Chimensch 30th, Geofatboy, our own Cleanshaved (Chris)). Viewing these, I was really was paying attention to several things: blade angle, skin stretching and blade approach. I concluded that I was probably using too shallow of a blade angle on my WTG passes and was determined to experiment with this on my next shave. Also, I wanted to make sure that I did not shave on un-stretched skin. Last, I had some ideas on different approaches on more challenging area on my face.

1st pass:
Nice sharp blade, good stretch, and my best guess at a 30 degree blade angle, and away we go. Short strokes and great whisker removal. The right side of my face went quickly. Had to remind my self to stretch the skin, however. Completed all of face and neck, on to the left side with the left hand. The left hand (non-dominate) felt a tad awkward, but not too bad, -it will come in time. Simular issues that I had with the right: remembering to stretch, blade angle, pressure. I have a tendency for the left hand to gradually tighten its grip, so I had to check that several times. Shaved all of face and neck, done. A quick splash of water and a re-lather. Noticed better whisker removal than I achieved before with a straight, not bad!
2nd Pass:
Another WTG pass. Very much like the first, but felt like I was settling in to it (feeling more comfortable). Used guillotine strokes on tugging areas and some scything. Also had some success in pulling the jawline skin up on to the face where it lays flat and used a combo of a wtg and xtg motion to get pretty close here. I was feeling pretty good about the shave when I completed this pass and decided to go for a XTG, which I had not done before.
3rd Pass, XTG:

This is where the video watching that I had done over the last two days really helped, as I now had a plan of attack. I started on the right side of my face using my left hand to shave while pulling on my right ear to stretch the skin. Started out with a steep blade angle. This went well and I was able to do my entire face XTG. Several things really helped starting with blowing some air in my cheeks so I was not shaving in a sunk in area. The other was stretching the skin, much more critical on this pass than the WTG pass, I think. I couldn't do my neck XTG, but that's OK, as I really didn't expect to. Rinsed off the lather and was surprised how close the shave was, a good SAS. I had my Gillette Red Tip Super Speed loaded with a feather ready to go, but decided that the shave from the straight would be fine ...yes! This is a milestone for me on the Straight Road ...not having to use a DE to finish a shave. Yes, I have patched of stubble, mostly on my neck. Next shave I will try ATG just under my chin. I thought about doing it this morning but had run out of time. Speaking of time, this shave took me 40 minutes! That's a little too long for me in the morning, so I think I will start shaving in the evening and see how that goes.

I feel good to finally have a hone and some lapping film! I can now start to maintaining my own razors. I'm hoping to keep ahead of my edges reaching the point of re-honing for as long as possible by some laps on the coti or the film and using CrOx paste followed by good stropping. Yet another learning curve to climb, but that's OK.

[cameraflier]

try this one.

http://www.rasurpur.de/media/rasurpu...rpurshave.html

[Beatnik]

try this one.

http://www.rasurpur.de/media/rasurpu...rpurshave.html

Absolutely! This is one of the most instructional videos. I was able to download it on to my laptop ...makes it a bit faster to view! I love the intensity of Martin's concentration when he's shaving!

[Beatnik]

Shave #7

Shave #3 on the freshly honed edge on the CVH 5/8's...

3 pass shave: WTG, XTG, & ATG

I only used one WTG pass on this mornings shave. I felt like I removed enough beard to move on to the XTG pass. This worked out fairly well, as it turned out. The XTG pass really got the areas on my face surprisingly smooth, especially along the jaw line. The trick for me on shaving the jawline is to lift the skin, tilt my head down a bit and drop my jaw (open my mouth all the way). This allows for nearly all of the jawline beard to now be on the flat surface on the face where I can get at it. The results I get here are the same as I get with a DE ...very close. On the XTG pass, I still go WTG (N>S) on my neck. The ATG pass was only on my neck, just a strip from under my chin to my adam's apple. It was my first attempt with a ATG pass. I proceeded cautiously and was able to get through it. This pass still needs a lot of work as I didn't remove as much stubble as I thought I would (to my DE standards), but still I'm pleased with what I accomplished with it.

Here's a few thoughts that I had from this mornings shave:

-I found it helpful to think "flatten" rather than "stretch" when pulling the skin. Someone had mentioned this in another thread.

-If the blade gets stuck, STOP. Pause for a moment, analyze. If dry lather, refresh. If not, adjust the blade approach a bit or use a scything motion to start the pass.

-For us newbies, it usually takes less pressure against the skin than you think. I you are wondering if your using too much pressure, you probably are. this is an area I'm really trying to focus on.

-Last, If the razor its not removing as much beard as you think it should, your angle is probably too shallow ...experiment with this.

This is my second shave where I used a Straight for the entire shave, no DE touch up ...a great feeling! It's a CCS, and there are some stubble patches on the neck and around the chin, but I have no problem rolling with it.

I'm hooked on shaving with a Straight!

[Beatnik]

Shave #8

3 pass Shave: WTG, XTG, & ATG
Razor: J.R. Torrey, shoulder-less, full hollow, 11/16. 1st shave on a newly honed edge.

Gave the razor 20 laps on felt & ~50 on leather before shave.

1st Pass: WTG (n>s)

My first shave with this razor. It was far noisier (being a full hollow) than what I've used to date, had that buttering toast sound. Still a big difference in the closeness of shaves between the left side and the right side, with the left having a little more stubble. There are several places on my chin and on the left side of my neck that are challenging to find a good approach to get equal beard reduction with the rest of my face. I will have to spend some non shaving time to figure this out.

2nd pass: WTG (ear to nose)

Puffing the cheek really helps in shaving the face with this pass. Pulling the skin along the jawline on to the face really makes a difference in shaving this area close ...and for me the difference between a good shave and a great shave as I have a dense beard growth in this area. On the neck, I gave a cross hand technique a go with mixed results. It felt awkward, but in some areas, this technique provides a better angle for shaving. I'll have to continue experimenting with this. Great bread reduction with this pass, If I had stopped here, I would have had a nice CCS.

3rd pass, ATG (s>n)

Was able to shave my entire face and neck with an ATG pass, which is a first. It really made a huge difference in removing additional stubble to put the shave in the DFS category, also a first for me with a straight. there is only one spot where i;m still having troube shaving and its located right under the jawline directly underneath the side burn. With a DE, I have to "bullfrog" my neck to raise this area enough to cut it with a good angle. I'll have to do similar with at straight, but it will be more challenging.

Another shave under my belt ...good or bad, I'm really enjoying shaving with a straight razor!

[Beatnik]

Shave #9

This morning's shave wasn't so great. I was preoccupied with some problems that had just come up in several different venues in my life so my focus was off. Next, I was trying a new razor for the first time and it was just a bit bigger (a 6/8) and heavier than what I'm used to such that it through me off. Last, I decided to go with MWF for this mornings shave, the first time I have lathered it up in about 5 weeks or so and I missed the ratio and made a weak lather that I tried to correct without much success. So with these things going on, I started my WTG pass on a 24 hour beard and I really felt off. First, the lather sucked and didn't have much glide. Next, the razor had a very smooth, velvety edge that was incredibly sharp, such that it felt like a contradiction and this "spooked" me! So, I nicked my self a couple of times and decided to ditch the lather as it felt sticky. I then lathered up some Cella, which for me is straight forward and simple. Long story short, I was able to get through the 1st pass but decided to go with a DE for the rest of the shave. I was feeling frustrated, scattered, and pressed for time which is a poor state of mind to be shaving with, especially with a straight. Anyhow, I'll have another go at it in the morning, hopefully in a better frame of mind!

[Beatnik]

Shave #10 & #11

Just a quick outline of these two shaves...

Both are 3 pass, WTG, XTG(ear>nose), & ATG.

Razor for #10: J.R. Torrey 11/16 full hollow. Edge is on its second shave since being honed.

Razor for #11: C.V. Heljestrand 5/8 hollow ground. Edge is on its third shave since being honed, but I gave it ~20 passes on the CrOx balsa strop.

Both of these shaves yielded results that were good enough to go with out finishing up with a DE. What was really valuable about these two shaves was just having that much more experience shaving with a straight razor. Competence is gradually increased as a result. I still have a long way to go, however:). One thing that I'm trying to improve is getting better razor "glide". I see guys in the youtube videos who's razors seem to be just gliding through their whiskers like there's no resistance. I feel more like I'm having to overcome a great deal of resistance and have to employ either some sort of guillotine or scything stroke to keep the blade from bogging down, especially along the jaw line and on my neck, where my beard is thickest. This results in my spending a lot of time shaving these areas. One of the things that I'm trying to do to help with this is to make sure I'm using the slickest lather that I can make, and keep it fresh on my face. I still need improvement in this area, however. I'm also trying to stay ahead of the edge on my razors with better maintenance. I've increased the number of laps on both the felt and leather strops so now I'm using 30/60 for pre-shave. Also, I'm giving each razor about 20+ laps on the CrOx balsa strop every other shave. The other part of the "glide" equation is technique, but that is a matter of putting in the time and paying attention. All for now...

[Beatnik]

Shave #12

3 pass; WTG, XTG (Ear>Nose), & (ATG), no DE clean up.

Razor: Gilbert Raffin 6/8 full hollow. Shave #2 on a freshly honed edge.
Stroping: pre shave: 20/50 felt/leather, 20 on leather, post.

Worked on better "glide". Bowl lathered some QCS Cayman Cream to a nice yogurt-like consistency. I only lathered the areas on my face that I was to shave, such as right cheek-chin-mustache, then on to the right side of the neck, etc. This worked out well as I was shaving on fresh, slick lather. I find that trying to recharge dried out lather not to work so well, as it would dry my face too much. Anyhow, just trying to keep the skin moist.

I felt much more comfortable with the Gilbert Raffin today. During the actual shaving, I tried to hold the razor with a soft grip. This helps a lot as I have a tenancy to tighten my grip as I'm shaving. At the end of the 2nd pass, the XTG, I found that I still really had quite a bit of stubble and would have made a SAS shave, but clearly wanting. The ATG pass is the one that really makes the difference in terms of getting clean. That said, I would really love to get to the point of eliminating it some day as it is not a very comfortable pass. Last, this morning shave took nearly 1 hour ...that's a long time, though I couldn't tell when I was actually shaving. It is this that would cause me the most trouble of being able to shave with a straight on a regular basis. That said, I find that shaving with a straight razor to be hands down, the most enjoyable form of shaving. Until next time!