contradictions or opinions?

[MD112A319]

I've read some good discussion on this forum and another straight razor forum, but I have to ask a couple of questions as some of you in other threads have mentioned things like a good shave is with a dry blade, and I've also read in another place that many shave against the grain (after mastering the with the grain shave).. I then also got from this forum and a couple of other on-line articles advise NOT to use paste on my strops..

On the other hand, while reading this about "wet shaving" on Trumpers website here I have to ask why is this place giving advise that seems to contradict the common wisdom? Is there that much divergence of opinion on what should be an objective thing? or is it really subjective?

I'm genuinely interested in the whys of things as I'm a firm believer that this makes one better able to understand what he is doing.

And as always, thanks for the good discussion.

 

[mparker762]

I don't remember ever reading positive comments about shaving dry; possibly you misinterpreted a comment?

As for pastes on strops, it's not so much a difference of opinion as we're talking about different types of strop. Daily stropping needs to be done on an unpasted strop. Pasted strops are used for touching up the edge, and is only done every few weeks or months. You'll also read admonitions not to paste a hanging strop - this is usually a matter of giving safe advice to beginners, since pasted hanging strops are somewhat tricky to use properly and are very aggressive. This is also why you'll read recommendations to use a hanging strop for daily stropping and a paddle strop for pastes - it helps eliminate misunderstandings and reinforces the idea that you should have two strops of you are going to use pastes.

 

[TromboneGuy]

About the "dry" issue, I think what the person said was that the blade should be dry. Everything else about wet shaving applies, he just meant you probably want to be holding a dry blade in dry hands to shave.

Personally, I hold my blade under running water before I start shaving. As with pretty much everything else, experiment (slowly) to find out what works for you.

 

[MD112A319]

Ok, but just to be clear, are you guys rinsing off the blade frequently with hot water while shaving or not? My concern is I don't want to corrode it faster, but this is what I've been doing with my disposables.. I like to keep the blade warm. As for paste.. would I be wrong to use one strop with a "red" abrasive paste for the occasional edge up-keep, and then another strop with the yellow (condition) paste?

thanks

 

[mparker762]

Ok, but just to be clear, are you guys rinsing off the blade frequently with hot water while shaving or not? My concern is I don't want to corrode it faster, but this is what I've been doing with my disposables.. I like to keep the blade warm. As for paste.. would I be wrong to use one strop with a "red" abrasive paste for the occasional edge up-keep, and then another strop with the yellow (condition) paste?

You can rinse your blade in the sink or under the tap, or just wipe it off on a towel during the shave. You do want to try to keep water out of the pivot area because it tends to stay in there and cause corrosion. Oiling the pivot every week or so helps as well. I'm not which "red paste" you're talking about; there are several red-colored abrasive pastes with different grit sizes, and you want to be careful that you're using the right one - the one I've got is way too coarse to use as a final step. You don't really need any conditioning paste - you can use ordinary leather conditioner, and the old barber manuals said to use shaving lather, and that's what I use. But you've got the general idea; if you're going to use an abrasive paste then put it on a second strop and only use it when needed, and use the plain strop for daily use.

I'm partial to both the Dovo Red/Black paste set and HandAmerican's boron carbide and chromium oxide pastes. The Dovo Red/Black paste set is probably the cheapest, and will last many years. You can also get diamond pastes or sprays in a huge variety of grits - 1.0 and 0.5 micron are pretty popular around here, and I've even got a tube of 0.1 micron that is "interesting".

 

[TromboneGuy]

Ok, but just to be clear, are you guys rinsing off the blade frequently with hot water while shaving or not? My concern is I don't want to corrode it faster, but this is what I've been doing with my disposables.. I like to keep the blade warm. As for paste.. would I be wrong to use one strop with a "red" abrasive paste for the occasional edge up-keep, and then another strop with the yellow (condition) paste?

thanks

Using a strop with an abrasive paste for edge upkeep is great. You can do that whenever the razor gets dull and starts pulling.

As for the conditioning paste, it won't hurt anything, but it's probably unnecessary unless your strop is drying out. Sort of like I treat my leather jacket with a leather conditioner twice a year - I don't think the conditioning paste is something you need to use incredibly frequently. It's more for the benefit of the leather, not the blade.

 

[GsSixgun]

Pastes come in basically 3 types....
The green, red, black $ white series from Dovo (the yellow is conditioner)
The CrO2 Type "pastes" in micron sizes .3 .1 .50 .25
The Diamond "pastes" also in micron sizes
Which to use?????
Almost the same question as "Wow isn't she good looking"????
People swear by them and swear at them I would recommend to try them all but that gets up there in $$$....
There are a few very reputable people that recommend never using pastes and to go from stone to leather!!!!

 

[Kees]

I am not sure why they recommend you do not shave ATG. I do it all the time and no problem there. Many more seem to do so. IIRC Lynn Abrams, to the contrary, mentions he does not shave ATG on his DVD.

Just find out what you like most.

I don't rinse the blade, to worried the bevel will "collide" with the tap or the sink. I start with a dry blade and wipe the lather off on a wet brush. The more you rinse the more you risk water getting into the pivot area.

 

[Steelforge]

You just need to find what works for you. I had a lesson at Trumpers and they showed me to shave against the grain on the second pass, though the barber did tell me to use extreme caution. Some people can do it, others can't, or prefer not to.

I can, but going across the grain gets me BBS and feels more comfortable so usually I don't bother going against. The only place I go against the grain regularly are on parts of my neck where the hair grows in swirls and you can't really avoid it.

 

[Ranat1]

They probably say don't go against the grain for the cartridge users because it already puts the hair below the skin and causes ingrown hairs. I tried atg once witha schick quatro and got the worst collection of ingrown hairs. The straight cuts the hair to flush with or a slight bit below the surface but not like pushing with a cartride razor.

 

[MD112A319]

thanks for the advise gent.. I went ahead and got the red DOVO paste and the White "Conditioner" paste as well. I the also bought a yellow Belgian honing stone and will try to experiment on a cheap used razor to see if I can learn to hone. The video's on youtube seem to be quite informative on this too.

 

[JerimiahC]

Check out Tony's site. He's a member on here:

http://shop.thewellshavedgentleman.com/main.sc

Shoot him a quick email and he'll help you out.


Edit: just read you've already pulled the trigger and ordered the Dovo paste.

 

[GsSixgun]

thanks for the advise gent.. I went ahead and got the red DOVO paste and the White "Conditioner" paste as well. I the also bought a yellow Belgian honing stone and will try to experiment on a cheap used razor to see if I can learn to hone. The video's on youtube seem to be quite informative on this too.

Just to clarify before you mess up a strop, with Dovo tubed pastes, White is for the linen side, the Yellow banded tube is the leather conditioner

 

[Taz]

I don't remember ever reading positive comments about shaving dry; possibly you misinterpreted a comment?

As for pastes on strops, it's not so much a difference of opinion as we're talking about different types of strop. Daily stropping needs to be done on an unpasted strop. Pasted strops are used for touching up the edge, and is only done every few weeks or months. You'll also read admonitions not to paste a hanging strop - this is usually a matter of giving safe advice to beginners, since pasted hanging strops are somewhat tricky to use properly and are very aggressive. This is also why you'll read recommendations to use a hanging strop for daily stropping and a paddle strop for pastes - it helps eliminate misunderstandings and reinforces the idea that you should have two strops of you are going to use pastes.

This is a great post for the beginer. A beginer has so much to learn. When you master shaving and stroping the basic way you can start trying different things. After the basics YMMV real applys. Learn first then start reading all the different ways. Thats when the fun starts.

 

[MD112A319]

Just to clarify before you mess up a strop, with Dovo tubed pastes, White is for the linen side, the Yellow banded tube is the leather conditioner

yeah, my bad, I misspoke. I have a red, yellow and white on the way, as well as two strops.. I will use the white on the linen (one of them is actual linen), and the red on the one strop, and the yellow on the other. The red will only be used to bring back an edge if need by after a while.

 

[MD112A319]

Check out Tony's site. He's a member on here:

http://shop.thewellshavedgentleman.com/main.sc

Shoot him a quick email and he'll help you out.

In addition to the Dovo strop I bought, I bought one of his 3" with real linen.. thanks.

 

[AlpinMacK]

I second the dry fingers thing. No slipping for me.

But I do shave with 3 passes. With, Across, and Against the grain. Since I started with a DE, I just kept going that way. My face "looks" fine after shaving across the grain, but to actually get it BBS, I need to go against. Which means different directions on different part of my face. Straight up on my cheeks but right to left on my neck. It's tricky with a straight so I'm still trying to get the hang of that pass. I hope that helps.

 

[MD112A319]

I have to ask.. what is ATG, BBS, and DE? Air Transport Goods, Bulletin Board Service, and Designated Examiner come to mind when I hear those acronyms Can someone fill me in? thanks.

 

[Kees]

XTG: acrros the grain, ATG: against the grain, WTG: with the grain, BBS: baby butt smooth, DE: double edged (razor blade) like the Gilette things that you can hone yourself with the small cup-shaped hones, allegro's etc. sold on ebay although I have been told that a small drinks glass works just as well.

BTW: by the way: does anyone do that, hone their own DE blades?

 

[bjrn]

http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/index.php/Abbreviations