I just bought a good quality straight razor, paid over 220$ for it and the guy and the shave store said its shave ready. I also bought some shaving cream. I watched the tutorials on how to hold the razor and shave and decided id start with my sideburns. I soaked my badger hair brush and then got some shaving cream on it and worked it into my face. When I started shaving, I increased the angle till I could hear and feel the hair cutting. It did a terrible job of cutting the hair and it felt like it was pulling on the hairs. after 10 min of minimal progress I switched it up to my normal gillete mach 3. The weird thing is, with the new shaving cream, it was extremely difficult to shave with the Gillette. The hardest shave ive had. I don't know if the cream wasn't lathered enough or what but it was really hard to wash off my face at the end as well. After I put on the aftershave my face felt extremely dry and I put on some moisturizer and my face started burning. Still burns an hour later. Any pointers? discouraging first go.
first straight razor shave, did not go well
- Thread starter aktnine
- Start date
It sounds like your lather was way to dry. Try adding more water.
And welcome! It gets a lot better, and you're in the right place to get the help you need!
I'd guess that you jumped in with both feet! I admire your courage! Work on that lather for ten or so shaves to get it fine tuned, using your Gillette. I bet it wasn't the best lather you'll get (no offense). Once you've got that, then move to the straight. I do not use a straight, but having been on the forum for a while, I don't think I've ever heard of a straight coming from a retail outlet that was quite shave ready.
Lather is much more forgiving of a DE shave. I have been having the same issue with my lather and the straight razor. It's a learning curve.
welcome.
welcome.
my limited experience with straights tells me they are not shave ready off the store shelf (despite what you were told). I suspect this is the issue more so than the lather. I would suggest looking for a honemeister here on B&B.
We have a great straight razor section here. http://badgerandblade.com/vb/forumdisplay.php/32-General-Straight-Razor-Talk
*I also think you are supposed to hold the straight almost flat against your face. As for the lather maybe give us a rundown on your lather building process. How long did you load for, what kind of creme, how long did you build the lather. Pics would help too.
We have a great straight razor section here. http://badgerandblade.com/vb/forumdisplay.php/32-General-Straight-Razor-Talk
*I also think you are supposed to hold the straight almost flat against your face. As for the lather maybe give us a rundown on your lather building process. How long did you load for, what kind of creme, how long did you build the lather. Pics would help too.
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Hey, you lived to post about it. There's the first good point.
I too find that my straight razor shaving is rough. But i keep at it.
I would probably do better if I practiced regularly.
But your here. And a bajillion guys will help. And it's really just a learned skill. Not magic.
I too find that my straight razor shaving is rough. But i keep at it.
I would probably do better if I practiced regularly.
But your here. And a bajillion guys will help. And it's really just a learned skill. Not magic.
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Most new factory razors are not really shave ready and need to be honed by a pro or experienced mentor before 1st use. It is really all about maintaining edge keenness, beard prep, and shaving technique. The finest SR will not shave without a shave ready edge.
Stropping and touchups are key because the edge will not remain shave ready unless well stropped after each shave.
Try wetter lather using your current shaving system then you will quickly find out what works for lathering. Keep lather wet, moist hairs are easier to cut. Dip you brush tips in water or lather and rehydrate you face as often as necessary..
Try skin stretching and keeping the spine as low as will cut hair. A shave ready razor should cut most hairs WTG with no catching or tugging. A scrapping toast sound and feeling light or no resistence is normal. The sound and light resistance fades on repeat passes as the hairs are removed. Keep pressure against the skin very light, almost like you were trying to wipe dust off a delicate object using a feather.
Pressure causes nicks and razor burn. Difficult spots may require passes from several directions to achieve skin smoothness.
HTH
Stropping and touchups are key because the edge will not remain shave ready unless well stropped after each shave.
Try wetter lather using your current shaving system then you will quickly find out what works for lathering. Keep lather wet, moist hairs are easier to cut. Dip you brush tips in water or lather and rehydrate you face as often as necessary..
Try skin stretching and keeping the spine as low as will cut hair. A shave ready razor should cut most hairs WTG with no catching or tugging. A scrapping toast sound and feeling light or no resistence is normal. The sound and light resistance fades on repeat passes as the hairs are removed. Keep pressure against the skin very light, almost like you were trying to wipe dust off a delicate object using a feather.
Pressure causes nicks and razor burn. Difficult spots may require passes from several directions to achieve skin smoothness.
HTH
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It could either be that your razor is not truly shave ready. It could also be bad, dry lather. Or both. Does the razor shave hair off your arm?
...when hovering above your skin ("tree topping" the hairs)?
I see mention of making sure the lather is wet enough. Is there some sort of test or way to know? Does it have a different appearance? I assumed that a thick lather is sufficient but can it be a nice looking lather and still too dry?
This is a matter of personal preference, but I think most straight razor shavers use a wetter, looser lather that is almost the consistency of a loose greek yogurt. Not so wet that it slides right off the razor as we shave, but not that puffy, billowy lather that we see in the Brush & Lather Porn Pics.
I've been straight shaving for a couple months now. I had a similar experience with the tugging feeling, this happened for me when I was trying to face lather and put too much cream on the brush and there wasn't enough water in the brush/ on my face to balance the large amount of cream. With good shaving cream you don't need a whole lot to get a really good lather. Secondly that tugging feeling can happen when the blade isn't sharp enough to be shaving with. I don't know where you bought the blade but I know that most places, if the blade is new, then it isn't going to be shave ready. You might want to look at having the blade honed.
Great posts above. Shave-readiness, angle, lather, etc.
What kind of beard preparation did you do? Did you just lather and start scraping? Did you shower just before shaving? Of course there are plenty of prep strategies, and you may need to try a few before you find what works for you.
What kind of beard preparation did you do? Did you just lather and start scraping? Did you shower just before shaving? Of course there are plenty of prep strategies, and you may need to try a few before you find what works for you.
Slash McCoy
I freehand dog rockets
The proper shave angle for your first shave is that which leaves a gap between face and spine of ONE razor spine thickness. If you rotate the razor further out than that you will have problems. If the razor doesn't shave, it isn't sharp. Pass the razor 1/4" over your forearm and if it doesn't lop the tips off any hairs at all, it is not shave-ready at all. It should get at least a few hairs. The less it catches and the easier it pops the hair, the less ping it makes, the sharper it is. If the hair doesn't even react except that the top magically falls away at the touch of the razor, you have as good an edge as it is humanly possible to put on a razor. Everyone's hair is different and your exact results will vary, but it should treetop at least one or two hairs each 1/4" high pass over your forearm, or don't bother to try shave with it. Well, maybe once, but as you go along you should try to correlate YOUR results with YOUR shave.
Be sure you are stretching the skin tightly, too.
Be sure you are stretching the skin tightly, too.
As always, great advice by Slash.
Try this is you can. Put your nice razor aside for now. Cone back to it later.
Buy a couple if the shave ready Gold Dollar razors from folks in the hobbies forum. Nobody is making any real profit there, so they're great bang for the buck.
These will be "right" directly out of the package when you get them, and they aren't expensive so you can experiment with them without fear. Learn to shave. Learn to strop. Learn what goes wrong.
Then go back to your nice razor.
Having a forum like this is a real 21st century advantage. But the thing we are missing is the 19th century advantage that other folks in your local social circle shaved too, so the feedback wasn't quite as disconnected like today.
But no one in 1890 bought a fistful of Gold Dollar razors to practice with.
Buy a couple if the shave ready Gold Dollar razors from folks in the hobbies forum. Nobody is making any real profit there, so they're great bang for the buck.
These will be "right" directly out of the package when you get them, and they aren't expensive so you can experiment with them without fear. Learn to shave. Learn to strop. Learn what goes wrong.
Then go back to your nice razor.
Having a forum like this is a real 21st century advantage. But the thing we are missing is the 19th century advantage that other folks in your local social circle shaved too, so the feedback wasn't quite as disconnected like today.
But no one in 1890 bought a fistful of Gold Dollar razors to practice with.
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Slash McCoy
I freehand dog rockets
Fistful? My last order was 60 I think. I never order less than a dozen.
- Thread starter
- #20
I've definitely improved on my lather building skills, I take an almond size of shaving cream in a bowl and whip it around and keep adding water till its nice and creamy, I have gotten better results, I think the issue I am having is blade sharpness, it feels extremely sharp to the touch but it will not cut arm hair. I am going to give it a very thorough stripping and if I have no luck after that I will get it honed.
