Gentlemen,
I have had a request to share some of my "lessons learned" during the genesis of my straight razor shaving. My disclaimer is I am not a seasoned veteran, nor am I an expert: I am a man who tried, and keeps trying. The following is excerpts from emails with Larry at Whipped Dog. Throughout the entire process Larry was quite helpful and always professional. I believe he went above and beyond his call of duty as a vendor.
Please feel free to add, criticize (good criticism is still criticism!), or tell me if I'm WAY on or off base. This is solely meant to share experiences and hopefully shed some light or resolution on people who had/are having the same issues I am/had.
Similar to many others, I felt like my straight was not "sharp enough", and was having a hard time eliminating whiskers or reducing beard. I also felt like the blade was "pulling" instead of cutting:
First, understand that straight razor edges, even when honed to the finest edge possible, are never as sharp as commercial replaceable razor blades like Shavettes. When the expectation is similar sharpness between straight razor and commercial blades, then the conclusion is sometimes that the straight razor was not properly honed.
Now, like a preacher on a soap box, indulge me the probable bad news...
It is possible the razor is not sharpened sufficiently. It is much more probable that it is honed well. There are hundreds of threads on the straight razor sites identical to your message to me, and almost all problems are due to lack of experience, and not fully understanding the required techniques for straight razor shaving.
Phew! Getting off my bad news soap box now...
I am sure the above will sound somewhat defensive. However, it is not in the least. In the order of probability, it is much, much more likely that the edge is fine than that it is too dull. And, I am trying to set you up for the probable outcome.
Here's what I would like you to do...
Strop the razor 20 times on the chromium oxide (green) side of the balsa.
Wipe blade, and strop 20 times on the iron oxide (red) side.
Wipe blade, and strop 60 times on the leather strop.
Then, shave and report the results back to me.
But, before shaving, please reread the beard reduction phase of my manual. Make SURE you are cutting your whiskers down to skin level with the blade FLAT on your face. And, you can fully expect a lot of pulling during this phase. That is always the case, and is expected.
Alternately, shave to very short stubble length with a safety or electric razor, and try finishing with the straight razor. Do that a time or two until comfortable. With subsequent shaves, leave progressively more stubble for the straight razor.
My response was that it worked. I tried a first pass with a DE, then I posted my results in my "diary" of sorts: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/385148-First-Straight-Shave-Thoughts/page2
Larry's response to my email is as follows (abbreviated):
I am relieved it turned out well for you. The key to the fact that your technique was wrong was statements about the razor pulling greatly. If that is the case, by definition you are shaving incorrectly. How can I say this so confidently? Even if you were shaving with a butter knife, it shouldn't drag. If you are shaving correctly, the blade should move across the whiskers cutting off the tips. And, if your blade is butting up against the SIDE of your whiskers, then you are holding the blade at too much of an angle and should be laying it flatter.
When you shave first with the DE, that made it virtually impossible for the blade to butt into the SIDE of the whiskers, and in a way forced you into better technique.
My next question is what did Larry mean by "SIDE" of the whiskers, and how do I know when to jump to the balsa strop, instead of just the leather. That lead to the following discussion:
Let me explain differently. Think of whiskers as a forest of trees standing vertically. Think of a razor blade cutting the forest of trees. Where should the blade make contact with the tree trunks? When shaving WTG, I am saying that the blade should not contact the trunk at ground level. At skin level. Rather, the blade should be laid flat, forcing the tree trunks to bend over diagonally, with the blade now lying on top of the sides of the trees.
Got the picture?
Now, moving the analogy back to shaving, when the blade moves on the top of the whiskers, the blade cuts into the tips of the whiskers at a diagonal angle. You are cutting thru twice as much, if not more, of the whisker than later when you have shaved down to skin level. No wonder there is pulling, even with sharp razors!
The blade slices off the tip of whiskers at an exaggerated diagonal, but the length of the whisker is reduced. Do it again, and it reduces slightly more. Do it again, still flat, and nothing! No whisker reduced in length. Do it again, but with spine slightly raised to nip off the tops of whiskers.
The above technique safely reduces whiskers to skin level without damaging your skin and giving razor burn. What you did with the DE is skip the above phase of shaving, the most difficult phase.
When you strop, and the blade doesn't return to shave readiness, then strop an additional 150 (say) passes to see if you just weren't stropping enough. If that doesn't work, try balsa.
My response was as follows, which I think is a funny video (and Larry thought it was spot on):
Im starting to get the idea. Kind of like the first 30 seconds of this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqOnA-kbNpI
He liked the video and came up with a blurb he will send to folks in the future who have the same issue. The following will be his formal response:
When shaving WTG, with the beard reduction technique, you slice off the TOPS of the whiskers at an angle. You slice the tops off multiple times reducing the length of the whiskers eventually to skin level. This technique, amazingly, is illustrated in the following samurai sword video...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqOnA-kbNpI
Reduce... reduce... reduce... and you eventually have shaved the whiskers down to skin level. After a few times, the beard reduction technique doesn't take long. And, best of all, it practically eliminates problems with razor burn.
I completely acknowledge this is a horrendously long post, but if one new guy reads it and is helped, I'm glad.
I have had a request to share some of my "lessons learned" during the genesis of my straight razor shaving. My disclaimer is I am not a seasoned veteran, nor am I an expert: I am a man who tried, and keeps trying. The following is excerpts from emails with Larry at Whipped Dog. Throughout the entire process Larry was quite helpful and always professional. I believe he went above and beyond his call of duty as a vendor.
Please feel free to add, criticize (good criticism is still criticism!), or tell me if I'm WAY on or off base. This is solely meant to share experiences and hopefully shed some light or resolution on people who had/are having the same issues I am/had.
Similar to many others, I felt like my straight was not "sharp enough", and was having a hard time eliminating whiskers or reducing beard. I also felt like the blade was "pulling" instead of cutting:
First, understand that straight razor edges, even when honed to the finest edge possible, are never as sharp as commercial replaceable razor blades like Shavettes. When the expectation is similar sharpness between straight razor and commercial blades, then the conclusion is sometimes that the straight razor was not properly honed.
Now, like a preacher on a soap box, indulge me the probable bad news...
It is possible the razor is not sharpened sufficiently. It is much more probable that it is honed well. There are hundreds of threads on the straight razor sites identical to your message to me, and almost all problems are due to lack of experience, and not fully understanding the required techniques for straight razor shaving.
Phew! Getting off my bad news soap box now...
I am sure the above will sound somewhat defensive. However, it is not in the least. In the order of probability, it is much, much more likely that the edge is fine than that it is too dull. And, I am trying to set you up for the probable outcome.
Here's what I would like you to do...
Strop the razor 20 times on the chromium oxide (green) side of the balsa.
Wipe blade, and strop 20 times on the iron oxide (red) side.
Wipe blade, and strop 60 times on the leather strop.
Then, shave and report the results back to me.
But, before shaving, please reread the beard reduction phase of my manual. Make SURE you are cutting your whiskers down to skin level with the blade FLAT on your face. And, you can fully expect a lot of pulling during this phase. That is always the case, and is expected.
Alternately, shave to very short stubble length with a safety or electric razor, and try finishing with the straight razor. Do that a time or two until comfortable. With subsequent shaves, leave progressively more stubble for the straight razor.
My response was that it worked. I tried a first pass with a DE, then I posted my results in my "diary" of sorts: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/385148-First-Straight-Shave-Thoughts/page2
Larry's response to my email is as follows (abbreviated):
I am relieved it turned out well for you. The key to the fact that your technique was wrong was statements about the razor pulling greatly. If that is the case, by definition you are shaving incorrectly. How can I say this so confidently? Even if you were shaving with a butter knife, it shouldn't drag. If you are shaving correctly, the blade should move across the whiskers cutting off the tips. And, if your blade is butting up against the SIDE of your whiskers, then you are holding the blade at too much of an angle and should be laying it flatter.
When you shave first with the DE, that made it virtually impossible for the blade to butt into the SIDE of the whiskers, and in a way forced you into better technique.
My next question is what did Larry mean by "SIDE" of the whiskers, and how do I know when to jump to the balsa strop, instead of just the leather. That lead to the following discussion:
Let me explain differently. Think of whiskers as a forest of trees standing vertically. Think of a razor blade cutting the forest of trees. Where should the blade make contact with the tree trunks? When shaving WTG, I am saying that the blade should not contact the trunk at ground level. At skin level. Rather, the blade should be laid flat, forcing the tree trunks to bend over diagonally, with the blade now lying on top of the sides of the trees.
Got the picture?
Now, moving the analogy back to shaving, when the blade moves on the top of the whiskers, the blade cuts into the tips of the whiskers at a diagonal angle. You are cutting thru twice as much, if not more, of the whisker than later when you have shaved down to skin level. No wonder there is pulling, even with sharp razors!
The blade slices off the tip of whiskers at an exaggerated diagonal, but the length of the whisker is reduced. Do it again, and it reduces slightly more. Do it again, still flat, and nothing! No whisker reduced in length. Do it again, but with spine slightly raised to nip off the tops of whiskers.
The above technique safely reduces whiskers to skin level without damaging your skin and giving razor burn. What you did with the DE is skip the above phase of shaving, the most difficult phase.
When you strop, and the blade doesn't return to shave readiness, then strop an additional 150 (say) passes to see if you just weren't stropping enough. If that doesn't work, try balsa.
My response was as follows, which I think is a funny video (and Larry thought it was spot on):
Im starting to get the idea. Kind of like the first 30 seconds of this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqOnA-kbNpI
He liked the video and came up with a blurb he will send to folks in the future who have the same issue. The following will be his formal response:
When shaving WTG, with the beard reduction technique, you slice off the TOPS of the whiskers at an angle. You slice the tops off multiple times reducing the length of the whiskers eventually to skin level. This technique, amazingly, is illustrated in the following samurai sword video...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqOnA-kbNpI
Reduce... reduce... reduce... and you eventually have shaved the whiskers down to skin level. After a few times, the beard reduction technique doesn't take long. And, best of all, it practically eliminates problems with razor burn.
I completely acknowledge this is a horrendously long post, but if one new guy reads it and is helped, I'm glad.
