first time with feather ac ss. questions!

i've been wet shaving for 2 years and absolutely love it! i decided to try moving towards straights and i have a feather ac ss in the mail. i have a few questions and would love any advice.

what is the shaving angle compared to a de?
i watched a video on shave nation and geofatboy did two passes but both were wtg. i'm used to doing 3 passes - wtg, atg, xtg. should i just do wtg a couple of times?
how many shaves can i expect from these blades compared to a de blade? i usually change my de blades after 3-4 shaves.
any other advice would be great.
many thanks!

You want about a spine's width of angle, so almost flat to you face. I saw what may be the same video and he had way too steep an angle to my eye. He had to be scraping vs. shaving. Super light pressure. It is pretty unforgiving of poor technique. Start reading through some of the shave journals and consider starting one of your own.

As stated above, keep it close to your face. Also, you aren't going to want to try and jump right into a full three pass shave or you may spring a leak somewhere. Straights of any kind deliver great shaves and are a joy to use once learned and respected, but they are quite rude at pointing out flaws in your shaving technique.
Start slow, start with the grain, and start on easy areas. Its not cheating if you finish with a DE, it's mostly expected.
Start slow and gentle, and enjoy.

ou want about a spine's width of angle


​what is a spine's width?

Keep the angle as flat as possible while still allowing it to cut. Also, the lighter the touch the better. Seriously - no pressure.

All the advice given here thus far to the original poster is sage and spot on. Go slow, don't try to be adventurous, minimal angle, no pressure, and be prepared to do only cheeks or easy areas then finish with another razor. The Feather will shave like the dickens, but it is utterly without mercy. Even a conventional straight razor will sometimes give a barely perceptible hint that it's about to bite. With the Feather, your first idea that you've made an error will be a blood trail.

Be careful

Those Feather blades are sharp!!!!

The spine will be the top of the metal blade holder, or blade on a regular straight. Looking straight down onto it, you can gage the width of the spine. That's how far off your face, approximately, you want the spine, as you shave, with the edge in contact.

I'd also say, do a bunch of dry runs, wiping lather off without a blade installed, to get a handle on the mechanics of holding the razor.

the slight bulbing just above the blade forces you to come out a little bit to make contact with the skin. Still only a few mm between the spine and your cheek.
Go very slow and steady. The blades are extremely sharp and will bite at the slightest show of fear


plus what they all said.

what kind of blades are you using?

Also, no-pressure means no-pressure. Try to lift the lather off you face instead of cutting your whiskers. Feather blades will give you 8-10 shaves unless you have a particularly tough beard. They are notorious for nicks until you shave a few times and the blade calms down. From my experience, your success will be directly proportional to your light touch. Lots of good face prep and no pressure= sweet shave.

No pressure!

Definitely pay attention to angle and pressure! I've used that razor before and although it is awesome it seems to joy in causing one to bleed.

I used it for almost 2 years and found the most difficult the XTG pass. It is so so easy to increase the angle if you're not paying close attention. The WTG and ATG angles are easier to control, IMO. It's a great shaver, though that will easily surpass most DE.

Everything you've been told so far is good advice. I've been using my AC SS for well over a month now, about 40 shaves with it so far. Once I started to get comfortable using it and settled into a steady routine for each shave, I've been able to get 10-12 shaves with the Pro-Guard blades. Right now, I'm trying the Feather Pro blades for the first time and haven't found out how many comfortable shaves I can expect per blade.

markg said:

I used it for almost 2 years and found the most difficult the XTG pass. It is so so easy to increase the angle if you're not paying close attention. The WTG and ATG angles are easier to control, IMO. It's a great shaver, though that will easily surpass most DE.

Click to expand...

Figuring out the hand/blade positioning for XTG passes have been the hardest to sort out for me as well. That pass remains a work in progress for now.

I don't bother with ATG at all, just WTG and XTG. I used a CJB first and found that I didn't like the SS style head. of course it could also have been due to the fact that I prefer the kamisori fixed handle over the folder AC SS I got. I will try a KAI Excelia or AC DX next.

I prefer a wetter, thinner lather, as sometimes when I make thick uber lathers, my shavettes both like to stick.

Every bit of advice on this thread, including slicker lather, is spot on. Two additional peices of advice I haven't seen. For the record, I'm someone who's 60 shaves in and is NOT a master.
1. No presure means no pressure on every single stroke. Seems obvious, but for me I still have to concentrate. I do great on the first pass and then cut tired, lazy, or cocky. I really have to remind myself everysingle time I lift the blade to my face.
2. If you are not using the pro-guard, consider corking the blade. Yes, you'll loose a bit of smoothness, but those blades are just so sharp out of the package for beginers. Even after corking, I get a good 8 shaves with a very rough beard.