First Time Straight Problems

CHurst5841 · Nov 3, 2014

Hi!

I've been shaving with a DE since the beginning of this year and love it. During that time I've kept straights in the back of my mind. Well, I received this: http://www.straightrazor.com/shave-ready-gold-dollar-straight-razor-with-premium-shave-kit/ as a gift and finally gave it a go. I shaved for the first time with it last Friday and had a relatively long beard. Lots of tugging, pain and two to three nicks. Ended up finishing with my DE. Second shave was tonight. While better, still a lot of tugging. Also noticed that the razor didn't seem to be cutting the hair very well (there was still lots of uncut stubble left behind). I know a lot of this is probably technique but any thoughts?

Thanks!

Avenolpey · Nov 3, 2014

Sounds like the razor might not be optimally honed. Does anyone have experience with that source. You might need to send it out to have it properly honed. If so send it to One of our Honemeisters.

Cachorro · Nov 3, 2014

+1
Never used a GD, but I've read that they definitely don't come shave ready, send it to a member to be honed. And I would suggest you stop using it until you do or it may ruin your straight experience.

Lmarkow · Nov 4, 2014

If you can carefully try to "treetop" arm hair just above your arm, the razor is likely sharp enough to shave.

HappyOne · Nov 4, 2014

+1 for having it honed properly. Get them to strop it to be shave ready too so when you start to use it, you will have a frame of reference for how it should feel. You will take a bit to get your stopping technique down so knowing the feeling you are after will help you gauge your progress. I also found that following Lynn Abram's advice helped me make the transition without major incident. Start with the one side of your face you are most comfortable with and only go from the sideburn down to the jaw line. Finish the rest of the shave with your DE. Do that for a few days until it starts to feel more comfortable. Then enlarge the area on your cheek that you cover. Remember the angle you are after is about two blade widths at the spine off your face or roughly 30 degrees. Too shallow you will skip off your face and too steep you will scrape. You will start to develop the feel for the correct angle and that will help you when you move to areas and strokes that require a different angle to shave properly, (more shallow ATG under the chin or steeper under the nose if you 'scoop').

I found that at first, it was a very unusual motion and I was a bit nervous of cutting my face up. Taking the time to get accustomed to what it feels like and building the muscle memory is very important. The process doesn't have to take that long. Mine was about two weeks until I was doing a complete shave but I expect the pace will vary with the person. Also don't expect BBS for a while. The right skin stretching, angle and pressure for your face will take time to learn but once you do, you will be able to surpass the shave you can get with a DE - or at least that has been my experience.

Remember that slow is fast and fast is slow. Build the skills slowly and in a measured way and you will actually progress faster than trying to do it all learning poor technique and injuring yourself and your equipment.

CHurst5841 · Nov 4, 2014

Thanks for the replies everyone. I truly appreciate them. lmarkow - when you say "tree top," if you mean with no contact on the skin, I've tried this and was not able to cut any hairs. When I place the razor on the skin and use heavy pressure (at least what I would consider as heavy with a DE) it does cut somewhat (there is still some short stubble and a few uncut hairs left behind). If this is sharpness problem does anyone have any recommendations as to where/who to send it to?

Thanks!!

CHurst5841 · Nov 4, 2014

HappyOne said:
+1 for having it honed properly. Get them to strop it to be shave ready too so when you start to use it, you will have a frame of reference for how it should feel. You will take a bit to get your stopping technique down so knowing the feeling you are after will help you gauge your progress. I also found that following Lynn Abram's advice helped me make the transition without major incident. Start with the one side of your face you are most comfortable with and only go from the sideburn down to the jaw line. Finish the rest of the shave with your DE. Do that for a few days until it starts to feel more comfortable. Then enlarge the area on your cheek that you cover. Remember the angle you are after is about two blade widths at the spine off your face or roughly 30 degrees. Too shallow you will skip off your face and too steep you will scrape. You will start to develop the feel for the correct angle and that will help you when you move to areas and strokes that require a different angle to shave properly, (more shallow ATG under the chin or steeper under the nose if you 'scoop').

I found that at first, it was a very unusual motion and I was a bit nervous of cutting my face up. Taking the time to get accustomed to what it feels like and building the muscle memory is very important. The process doesn't have to take that long. Mine was about two weeks until I was doing a complete shave but I expect the pace will vary with the person. Also don't expect BBS for a while. The right skin stretching, angle and pressure for your face will take time to learn but once you do, you will be able to surpass the shave you can get with a DE - or at least that has been my experience.

Remember that slow is fast and fast is slow. Build the skills slowly and in a measured way and you will actually progress faster than trying to do it all learning poor technique and injuring yourself and your equipment.

Thanks for posting this video. I actually watched it and thought it was great. However, I think he must have used 1,000 gallons of water to shave!

Doc226 · Nov 4, 2014

CHurst5841 said:
Thanks for the replies everyone. I truly appreciate them. lmarkow - when you say "tree top," if you mean with no contact on the skin, I've tried this and was not able to cut any hairs. When I place the razor on the skin and use heavy pressure (at least what I would consider as heavy with a DE) it does cut somewhat (there is still some short stubble and a few uncut hairs left behind). If this is sharpness problem does anyone have any recommendations as to where/who to send it to?

Thanks!!

IT really should ping the hairs above the skin, if you need pressure at the base of the skin then it needs to be honed

Avenolpey · Nov 4, 2014

Doc226 said:
IT really should ping the hairs above the skin, if you need pressure at the base of the skin then it needs to be honed

Just send it to Doc226. What he sends back will amaze you.

CHurst5841 · Nov 4, 2014

Avenolpey said:
Just send it to Doc226. What he sends back will amaze you.

Doc226, is this something you can do?

Shave_Rat · Nov 5, 2014

If he missed the post, send him a PM and you can work out things from there. The real big question is how much the GD needs modding/work before honing, or if that vendor you got it from did that part well enough already.

kn4wd · Nov 5, 2014

one thing no one here mentioned is ANGLE! to a seasoned shaver it wouldn't be important to a newbie it would. if it is scraping instead of cutting and assuming he gets it honed by a pro, then the angle if too steep would ruin the edge again. never more than two widths of the spine from the face. lay the spine flat and move the spine out around two widths out and try after a good stropping and see if you feel a difference. I have seen a lot of cuts and heard complaints from newbies who hold the razor spine almost at 90 deg. out from the face when shaving, not only ruining the edge but their face as well. angle is not the same as de not the same as shavette. it is totally different.

CHurst5841 · Nov 21, 2014

So I sent out this razor to doc226 and received it back yesterday. What an amazing difference! No pain or tugging. I can't claim it was anywhere near a perfect shave (or even a great shave) but I'm confident it was technique this time. Thanks so much doc226!

Lmarkow · Nov 21, 2014

Excellent! There is no doubt Doc's edges take one question mark out of the puzzle, making it a whole bunch easier to suss the rest. Good luck!

Shave_Rat · Nov 21, 2014

The edge can make a huge difference for sure, and you definitely know when you get it back from Doc the edge is a good one. Now, onwards and forwards for the journey!

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