Pressure, No Pressure, Floating Blade

The advise of using no pressure with a DE is often questioned by newbies. "What do you mean by 'no pressure'?" "how much pressure should I use?"

Then we often follow up with the canned reply about letting the weight of the razor do the work. Which of course raises questions. "What about when I am shaving up?" "What about when shaving sideways?"

I have often struggled with how to answer this. It kind of falls into the catagory of "I just know". Often times someone will post how everything "just came together" and they had their best shave ever. I think this is probably the result of getting the "no pressure" thing just right.

So as I have pondered this thought in my mind over many shaves I will attempt another explanation of what "no pressure" means.

Rather than using the phrase, "no pressure", I will talk about floating the blade. Think of your blade as a plane, or foil, like a wing or hydrofoil. What you want is for the leading edge to glide just along the skin surface, removing the whiskers as it travels, but not cutting or scraping into the skin. This is done on a microscopic film of lather.

To make the blade float like this you must have the right angle. Too steep and it cuts in. Not enough and the whiskers don't get cut. Because cartridge razors have taken a lot of the skill out of shaving, it is understandable that a newbie might be confused. With a DE, getting the angle just right takes practice. One is often tempted to press the razor slightly against the skin. This forces the skin to form itself over the guard, blade and head. It may even give good results on the cheeks, but could lead to lots of trouble on the neck and chin.

One thing that is happening when you do this is that the blade, relative to the surface of the skin is too steep. The steep angle cuts and scrapes through the microscopic film of lather, leaving somewhat dry skin for the head to ride on. The dragging head makes the razor want to tip forward, which causes the blade to try digging in even further. Good thing there is a guard to prevent that. However, after cutting through the film of lather the blade will probably also cut into the epidermis. That's what causes razor burn.

So when we say no pressure, what we mean is, get the angle just right and let the blade do the work, regardless of whether you are shaving up or down. The blade should be skimming across your skin like a hydroplane on a smooth lake. Now making this happen on all the different contours of your face takes practice. A few problems may need to be dealt with.

Getting your lather just right is one of them. I have often made remarks about not liking Proraso. For me Proraso doesn't leave enough of that microscopic lubrication after the blade for the head to ride on. I'm not trying to bash Proraso, (at least not in this post), but that's just the way it works for me. There are a lot of other lathering products out there that just don't do this very well, no matter how good you get at floating your blade. So you may have to experiment with different products to find the ones that work well for you. This is one of the reasons I prefer soap. Generally speaking, I believe soaps do a better job of providing this micro film of lubrication.

Breaking the habit of pressing while shaving like you are using a cartridge is something that needs to be consciously thought about with each shave until your muscles develop memory. Then you can think about it less, but it still takes more concentration than with a cartridge. Cartridges are designed to lay at the right angle when they are pressed against your face, DE's are not.

Chin shaving is one of the most difficult areas to develop. It is hard to float the blade over a constantly changing surface angle with thin flesh against a boney structure. One way is to take very short strokes. Kind of like using a series of short straight lines to represent a curve while drawing. I use a blade buffing stroke to make this go more smoothly. This allows me to make several attempts at an area without having to relather after each short stroke. Again this takes practice, as too heavy of a hand will cause nicks and razor burn. Stretching the skin helps, but be careful, if you are not properly floating the blade over a stretched chin it will cause a great deal of damage.

I could probably cover a few more details, but I am getting tired and need to get some rest. This should be enough to think on and try for now. I invite your questions and or comments and together we can refine this into something that may be a little easier to understand.

Many of us believe that the sound of shaving is important in this learning process. Many recommend that you use a sink full of water,, and not running water, to rinse you razor. This allows you to hear the razor "float" over your beard with the clear sound of the blade cutting the beard.

It is difficult to quantify how to use a razor with out the ability to demonstrate our technique as a father would to a son. Manic has done us all a great favor with his video's in this regard, but the personal interaction is still difficult. Old Saw is correct in defining the process as "get the angle just right and let the blade do the work" as the goal is to let the tool make our life easier.

I would add that the process is much like any skill we wish to acquire like playing the piano. Practice, Patience, and Repetition leads to Proficiency.

I have been DE shaving and reading this forum over a year and a half and this is the best description I have read (regarding pressure). Can't wait for tomorrow's shave with the mental image of floating the razor over my face.

Perhaps we need a new term... I vote for Ekranoshave (see here for the source of the idea)

Great post and thanks for your advice.

Thank you. Neck has been the biggest problem for me. On the chin I have been using short strokes for a while and works well.

I am also still in the prosess of figuring out angle for ATG pass. Upside down is strange.

This is a great way to put it! Thanks!

methinks this should be a sticky or part of a FAQ!

Thanks! That makes more sense than trying to use the weight of the razor under my chin!

This makes prefect sense! I hope it'll help me out, I need some more work with pressure...

Very clear explanation, should be required reading for newbies struggling with the 'no pressure' concept.

Great! This should be a sticky IMHO.

That was great!! Now I'm going to read it five more times!!

Great post Old Saw... Can you tell me what shaving cream you do like. I use proraso, but I would like to know what you are using.

hotshave said:

Great post Old Saw... Can you tell me what shaving cream you do like. I use proraso, but I would like to know what you are using.

Click to expand...

I prefer soaps and am currently using AOS sandalwood shave soap. For creams I am currently favoring Omega. It is nearly the same as Proraso, even made in the same facility AFAIK, but it has lanolin, which apparently makes it work better for me.

I also like Santa Maria Novella, but it is very expensive. Others that have worked for me are: C&E sweet almond oil, Arko, Palmolive (red tube), Gillette (red tube), even Clubman isn't bad if I use enough of it. I'm probably missing a few, but there are probably just as many that don't work well for me. That's why it is important to experiment.

Sounds kinda Charles Robertish to me Good job pal

I would add; it is easier to skim across the face with a sharp blade. A dull blade tends to ride over the whiskers....unless you push down harder [too hard!]. You can always feel and hear the difference in sharpness.

It's easy if you think of the separate forces. Your hand must exert a force on the razor equivalent to the sum of all forces in effect:

• A lifting force to oppose the weight of the razor;
• A moving force to counter drag and to push the blade through the whiskers;
• Pressure pushing the razor into the skin.

Depending where you hold the razors, some of these forces will need to be generated by applying torque (twisting force) to the handle.



'No pressure' doesn't mean no force. It means the single component force pushing the razor into the skin should be minimised.

In all seriousness, you can shave using zero pressure. Especially going against the grain, because the blade hooks under each hair and is pulled into it.

Hmmmm. Interesting concept, and interesting responses! Very cool!

This is an outstanding piece of work OldSaw! I never really liked the 'absolutely no pressure' advice because it was missing something and this is by far the best description of that missing part.

Looking at the dates I clearly missed this thread back then but it should be an obligatory read for every starting wetshaver!