Difficulty with straight shaving

[LouBarraza]

Hello all,
I started in March dumping the Fusion in favor for DE blade shaving and decided to try out straight razor shaving to hopefully someday get so good with it to where I can use it daily.I inherited a vintage Colonial razor that was my grandfathers and had it honed,but didnt use it for months until last week.I did my regular face prep.Face scrub in the warm shower,Proraso pre-post,laid a hot towel on my face for 2 minutes to soften the whiskers and VDH soap with a few drops of glycerin.I had difficulty using my left hand to shave my left side on my face because it was hard to see what I was doing in the mirror,but I managed to glide the razor down without slicing myself.Only problem is,it didn't slice very good at all and did nothing but irritate my face and felt alot of tugging and pulling.I figured since it was honed,I needed to strop it.So I stropped it on the linen side a few times first,and then on the leather and tried it the next day and it felt even worse and even more duller. It is possible that a razor gets dull just by sitting and not being used?Or was it a bad hone job?Or was it my stropping that made it worse?I stropped it correctly after watching so many videos on it.I can run the razor on my arm and it barely even cuts the hair.What am I doing wrong?Is there anyone that I can send it to get properly honed?I hope it can be saved since it was my grandfathers blade and felt alot of pride and nostalgia using his razor.My strop is a cheap one I got from ebay and was looking at getting a Poor Mans from Whipped Dog.I was also looking into getting a Norton stone to practice honing,but the price of them are out of my reach right now.
Thanks to anyone that can help.

 

[Legion]

Hello all,
I started in March dumping the Fusion in favor for DE blade shaving and decided to try out straight razor shaving to hopefully someday get so good with it to where I can use it daily.I inherited a vintage Colonial razor that was my grandfathers and had it honed,but didnt use it for months until last week.I did my regular face prep.Face scrub in the warm shower,Proraso pre-post,laid a hot towel on my face for 2 minutes to soften the whiskers and VDH soap with a few drops of glycerin.I had difficulty using my left hand to shave my left side on my face because it was hard to see what I was doing in the mirror,but I managed to glide the razor down without slicing myself.Only problem is,it didn't slice very good at all and did nothing but irritate my face and felt alot of tugging and pulling.I figured since it was honed,I needed to strop it.So I stropped it on the linen side a few times first,and then on the leather and tried it the next day and it felt even worse and even more duller. It is possible that a razor gets dull just by sitting and not being used?Or was it a bad hone job?Or was it my stropping that made it worse?I stropped it correctly after watching so many videos on it.I can run the razor on my arm and it barely even cuts the hair.What am I doing wrong?Is there anyone that I can send it to get properly honed?I hope it can be saved since it was my grandfathers blade and felt alot of pride and nostalgia using his razor.My strop is a cheap one I got from ebay and was looking at getting a Poor Mans from Whipped Dog.I was also looking into getting a Norton stone to practice honing,but the price of them are out of my reach right now.
Thanks to anyone that can help.

Yes, to a point. Possibly. Also possible.

Without having tested the razor there is no way to know what of these factors is contributing to the problem, but I would suggest getting it rehoned by one of our esteemed regulars, and trying again, without stropping first.

 

[mdunn]

There are a million variables... Most are not the razor. Keep on trying to refine the technique.

First thing... Get the spine closer to your face. Much closer!

 

[superdave1987]

i would get another cheap shave ready razor from a reputable dealer like whippeddog.com this will definatly be sharp enough yhen u will know if its u or the razor lets face ull get another sooner or later anyway

 

[global_dev]

poor stropping (even if one thinks they are performing correctly) can degrade an edge.. it's hard to say if a hone job was weak after it was manipulated..

additionally the first handful of shaves may seem poor with tugging, poorly shaved areas... and likely degrade the edge as well more so than an experienced shave does.

 

[Slash McCoy]

Get a second razor. I suggest, since you seem to be on a tight budget, a cosmetically flawed, sight unseen vintage razor from Larry at www.whippeddog.com. It won't be pretty but it will be shave ready.

With a nice sharp blade, the ideal shave angle is when the spine is about a spine thickness away from your face. Even a sharp razor will drag and pull if the angle is too high. But if it isn't sharp, you will think you need that higher angle. For a good shave, the blade must be sharp enough to cut whiskers even if the spine touches the face. The lower the angle, the more comfortable the shave will be. The higher, the more aggressively it will cut, within reason. The ideal angle is one spine thickness away from your face.

Hones out of reach? I wouldn't say that. For maintenance honing, all you need is a sheet of 1u lapping film and maybe a sheet of 3u film too. And a lapping plate, which can be a 3-1/2" x 12" piece of heavy glass from an old coffee table top, or a $5 polished marble floor tile from Home Depot, or a piece cut from the sink cutout from a polished granite countertop. You don't need to mess around with expensive rocks. But save the honing for after you start getting good shaves.

 

[LouBarraza]

Thanks everyone.I was looking into the Whipped Dog Sight Unseen razor and poor mans strop set.Looks like a great deal.I was actually looking up about lapping films last night as an alternative to a stone.Yes,I tried at about a spines length when I was attempting to shave and it was a no go.I tried raising it a bit and it didn't help at all.I'm having much difficulty when I hold my razor with my left hand to shave the left side of my face while my arm blocks my view of where I'm shaving in the mirror.I don't know how many times I've watched many of geofatboy's YouTube straight razor shaving tutorials.Even if I get the sight unseen deal from Larry,I still eventually will try to get some lapping films and try sharpening m grandfathers razor.

 

[LouBarraza]

Get a second razor. I suggest, since you seem to be on a tight budget, a cosmetically flawed, sight unseen vintage razor from Larry at www.whippeddog.com. It won't be pretty but it will be shave ready.

With a nice sharp blade, the ideal shave angle is when the spine is about a spine thickness away from your face. Even a sharp razor will drag and pull if the angle is too high. But if it isn't sharp, you will think you need that higher angle. For a good shave, the blade must be sharp enough to cut whiskers even if the spine touches the face. The lower the angle, the more comfortable the shave will be. The higher, the more aggressively it will cut, within reason. The ideal angle is one spine thickness away from your face.

Hones out of reach? I wouldn't say that. For maintenance honing, all you need is a sheet of 1u lapping film and maybe a sheet of 3u film too. And a lapping plate, which can be a 3-1/2" x 12" piece of heavy glass from an old coffee table top, or a $5 polished marble floor tile from Home Depot, or a piece cut from the sink cutout from a polished granite countertop. You don't need to mess around with expensive rocks. But save the honing for after you start getting good shaves.

Isnt 5micron the equivalent of 8000grit? What's the grit equivalent of the 1micron?

 

[rickboone1]

Isnt 5micron the equivalent of 8000grit? What's the grit equivalent of the 1micron?

about 12,000

 

[Slash McCoy]

Isnt 5micron the equivalent of 8000grit? What's the grit equivalent of the 1micron?

3u is approximately equal to an 8k Norton. 5u is roughly the same as a 4k Norton. 1u is approximately equal to a 12k Naniwa SuperStone.

 

[mdunn]

Honestly - don't bother with lapping film or buying another razor.

Whippeddog is alright if you need an ugly beater to get started with, but you have a razor already! Either your technique shaving isn't right, or your stropping isn't right. A new razor won't help either.

Go back to basics. Get the razor even closer to your face, stretch your skin, use zero pressure.

We'll get there buddy! Hold fast!!!!

 

[Doc226]

I and most new straight shavers suffer from dull razor syndrome. There is tugging when attempting every pass, we all think it is the razor, most of the time it is not. You MUST start with a truly shave ready razor, get it honed by someone who really knows what they are doing, then any tugging will be from technique. It takes a deliberate stroke to shave with a straight, this is hard to do the first few times out. Stick to it, it will get better.

I would also suggest doing the HHT before the shave, not to test it but just to see the results. IMO the razor must pass the HHT every single time, some may disagree but I have NEVER gotten a good shave with a razor that fails MY HHT. I say do the HHT before the shave because if the razors passed the test and then after the next stropping it does not-you pooched the edge and most likely time for a rehoning.

Lapping film is easy to use but that will not help unless you know what the results should feel like.

 

[cpcohen1945]

I test razors, pre-shave, like this:

. . . Hold the razor above the back of your forearm, about 1/4" above the skin, parallel to the skin.

. . . Move it as though you were shaving arm hair, but keeping it above the skin.

In my experience, a razor that catches and cuts arm hair _in the air_ will give a decent shave. A razor that doesn't, won't.

A _really_ sharp razor will cut arm hair with very little pull. But even if you can feel the individual hairs being cut ("popped" is the word), you can shave with it.

. Charles

PS -- yes, you can damage a blade by stropping it badly. If you raise the spine off the strop during the stroke, or let the strop bend around the edge (as opposed to the spine), you'll round-off the cutting edge.

 

[LouBarraza]

Well,I talked to Larry at Whipped Dog.He gave me a great price for honing my razor and the poor mans strop kit included.I may just do that.The razor for sure needs rehoning.I wont even cut the thin hairs on my arm.

 

[LouBarraza]

I test razors, pre-shave, like this:

. . . Hold the razor above the back of your forearm, about 1/4" above the skin, parallel to the skin.

. . . Move it as though you were shaving arm hair, but keeping it above the skin.

In my experience, a razor that catches and cuts arm hair _in the air_ will give a decent shave. A razor that doesn't, won't.

A _really_ sharp razor will cut arm hair with very little pull. But even if you can feel the individual hairs being cut ("popped" is the word), you can shave with it.

. Charles

PS -- yes, you can damage a blade by stropping it badly. If you raise the spine off the strop during the stroke, or let the strop bend around the edge (as opposed to the spine), you'll round-off the cutting edge.

No,it will not slice any hairs on my arm at all.I do believe I made it worse with poor stropping.The strop I have is nothing more than a cheapy from ebay that wasn't even wide enough for the blade.

 

[mdunn]

The cheapy strop from eBay may be the issue.. No experience with the strop means
i can't comment properly.

The new strop may help.. But Tbh, any vendors solution will be to sell you something (said as a salesperson as my day job).

 

[Slash McCoy]

No,it will not slice any hairs on my arm at all.I do believe I made it worse with poor stropping.The strop I have is nothing more than a cheapy from ebay that wasn't even wide enough for the blade.

It is good to have a strop as wide as the edge is long, but not necessary. Most straight shavers actually use strops around 2-1/2" wide, and a typical razor edge is close to 3". What you do is pull the razor as you sweep it up and down the strop so that it makes an "x" pattern. This "x-stroke" ensures that the entire edge gets attention, and helps to compensate for irregularities in the stropping surface, as well. So don't worry if the strop is a bit narrow. It can still work okay. But if you want a wider strop, get a Big Daddy from www.starshaving.com. Great price, nice strop, and plenty wide and long. It's my favorite.

If it doesn't pop hairs when floating over the forearm, it isn't going to shave very well. Get it honed.