First shave with a Straight, Not Great

[silverlifter]

I was really looking forward to this. I folowed my usual routine, so as not to introduce any other new variables. Hot shower, lathered up my wet face with Speick, for a nice cushiony lather that was on the wet side, so I could see the contours of my face, and set to it.

I shaved both cheeks and the outside of my neck. The good news: no cuts or weepers. The bad news, it felt awful; like I was plucking the hairs out. Ive got old man grey whiskers, and am of Irish descent, so my beard is reasonably tough, and this was not a pleasant experience.

I kept checking the angle, with the spine about one spine width from my face, give or take. I took short strokes, that I hoped would be smooth, but were really pretty jittery as the blade hit the whiskers. I made sure I was using no pressure (or as little as I could get away with).

Was my lather too watery? Angle wrong? Too little pressure to effectively cut the whiskers?

I'm not sure what went wrong, but without changing things up, I'm not looking forward to repeating that again.

Tips? Critiques?

 

[McBlade]

A straight should not feel like that. It needs sharpened.

Did you buy it "shave-ready"?

 

[APBinNCA]

I will keep my "tips" to myself, but I sympathise with you. My shave ready razor is not doing it and I am going to have to get a finishing stone to fix it. I want to tell you that you have to push through the hair, because you do, but that could go very wrong...

Edit: have you done a hanging hair test and what is the result? Or check on your arm hair rather.

 

[sanookd]

My guess would be not truly shave ready!
Mind you a real straight will feel completely different from a razor blade no matter what type of tool is holding the blade.
But a well honed keen straight razor should have no difficulty going through your whiskers.
IMHO

 

[rbscebu]

A person's first SR shave normally presents some problems. There are a few things that could be causing you problems. Some of them are:

Your SR may not be truly shave-ready. Who honed it before you used it?

Did you strop your razor before you used it? Many a good edge has been made not so good by n00bies stropping incorrectly.

You may have been using the wrong pressure. There are two components to shaving edge pressure; pressure against (perpendicular to) the skin and pressure against the whiskers (parallel to the skin). The pressure against the skin needs to be as light as possible, just enough to remove the lather. The pressure against the whiskers needs to be sufficient to easily slice through them.

A thinner lather may benefit you, although I don't think that your lather contributed to your problem this time. DE shavers like "cushion", whatever that is. SR shaves don't need "cushion" just great slickness.

Skin stretching or lack thereof may also have contributed to your problem.

From what you have told us, I feel that it is a blade-edge problem you have, either from honing or stropping.

 

[silverlifter]

Thanks all.

The razor was PIF'ed to me as shave ready, and I was advised not to strop before the first shave. I don't doubt that it was shave ready, I do wonder whether what is shave ready for one face is not necessarily so for another?

@rbscebu Yes, I stretch and bullfrog every shave anyway; when you have a face lined like a road map of New South Wales, it is necessary whatever sort of razor you are using.

@APBinNCA No, I haven't tested with a hanging hair. I'll give that a shot.

 

[rbscebu]

Thanks all.

The razor was PIF'ed to me as shave ready, and I was advised not to strop before the first shave. I don't doubt that it was shave ready, I do wonder whether what is shave ready for one face is not necessarily so for another?
....

Every SR shaver has his own standard of what he considers shave-ready. Being polite, perhaps your PIFer has a different standard to what you require.

If you are in AU, I will happily rehone your SR for you. Just pay postage both ways. PM me if interested.

You could also try contacting @Buckler (Simon) in Sydney who hones SR's for others. He hasn't been on B&B for the last couple of months.

 

[APBinNCA]

I knew this was the razor you were sent shave ready so I am sure it was so to speak. Testing on arm hair is not really subjective. It is possible he tamed it, but I would think he would have mentioned that. I am afraid you probably need to strop it to see if it makes any difference. That's what I am about to do before deciding my next step.

 

[silverlifter]

If you are in AU, I will happily rehone your SR for you. Just pay postage both ways. PM me if interested.

No, the NSW reference was because I was born there. Thanks for the kind offer, but I'm in NZ now.

@APBinNCA Yes, I think I'll take it to the film and strop and see if I can make a difference. I've sharpened plenty of knives, but never a straight.

 

[RumpleBearskin]

The razor was PIF'ed to me as shave ready

No names, but was it PIFed by someone on B&B? A contributor to the straight forums?

The reason I ask is that only those that shave with a straight can actually determine if a razor is shave ready. After all, the proof is in the shave.

And I'd suggest heeding rbscebu's comments on "pressure". There has to be some minor pressure in the direction of the stroke to get through whiskers. Just don't apply pressure that pushes the edge against your face.

 

[silverlifter]

And I'd suggest heeding rbscebu's comments on "pressure". There has to be some minor pressure in the direction of the stroke to get through whiskers. Just don't apply pressure that pushes the edge against your face.

Yes, I was definitely using some pressure in the direction of the whiskers. I mean, I did shave my whiskers, it just wasn't an enjoyable experience

 

[rbscebu]

No, the NSW reference was because I was born there. Thanks for the kind offer, but I'm in NZ now.

@APBinNCA Yes, I think I'll take it to the film and strop and see if I can make a difference. I've sharpened plenty of knives, but never a straight.

Unfortunately the B&B Wiki doesn't list any honemeisters in NZ.

The Auckland Razor Co. may be able to help you. I don't know if they know their stuff.

 

[silverlifter]

I've just watched @Slash McCoy's three part video on lapping with film. I'll try that tomorrow and see how I go.

 

[rbscebu]

I've just watched @Slash McCoy's three part video on lapping with film. I'll try that tomorrow and see how I go.

Before you get into honeing with lapping film, I very strongly recommend that you first read:

Lapping film, try it.

I got some lapping film in a PIF a while ago, 4/8/16/30 equivalent grits. I use them on top of a lapped 8x3" hone, but any flat surface will do. They may not offer the sexy smooth feel of a big dollar hone, but man they are effective, and the edges off the "30k" film is not that unlike a $350...

www.badgerandblade.com

Read all of it and take notes as you go. The instructions are developed through the thread. Then read it all again to check your notes.

I did all the study in the thread and it works well. Without the study, you will not get the best results. You do want the best, don't you?

 

[silverlifter]

You do want the best, don't you?

Sure. But at 150 pages, I'm happy to get close enough...

 

[rbscebu]

Sure. But at 150 pages, I'm happy to get close enough...

Close enough is not good enough for comfortable SR shaving. If that's all you want, here is my final advice to you.

A lot of that reading and note taking can be cut down if you mainly just read @Slash McCoy's posts.

One day I might put together a summary like I did for diamond pasted balsa strops.

 

[Kaldane]

You're in the right place, and it sounds like you're doing everything right - you've even got as far as the "is it me or is it the edge?" stage, which took me a lot longer.

Hanging hair, arm hair or similar (I have a corner of my head where I move the razor a few millimetres away and listen for pings without feeling a tug. Fortunately, that's not far off my chosen hairstyle : the less hair I have the more I'll tell myself that's the way I like it). Another trick is to shine a very bright light directly at the edge. If you can see anything looking at it edge-on, it's not sharp enough (this is also a good way to spot whether parts of the edge are damaged).

[P.S. For the first thirty-odd shaves, the answer to "is it me or is it the edge?" was either "it's me" or "a bit of both". But I was learning to hone at the same time - sounds like you're smarter than that. I've dug out the earlier thread, and as it was someone on here, they almost certainly tried a shave before sending it. I'm sure they'll be able to confirm.]

 

[Possum092]

Try one pass with a steeper angle about 1-2 spline widths off your face with very light pressure. A properly sharpened razor used with a slick soap should offer almost no resistance slicing the hairs. Another thing, I start my stroke without the blade resting on my face; I can hear the blade sing once contact is made with the hairs. Remove hairs not skin; a SR will do both with too much pressure, a dull blade, a tacky soap, or poor shaving angle.

 

[McBlade]

A shavette can be very useful to show you what a very sharp edge should feel like. Half-DE blade shavettes are cheap and easy to find. AC blade shavettes are much nicer.

 

[PintoPlain]

Congratulations on keeping the blood inside your skin.

I think there are few, if any, SR users who got it right (close and comfortable with no cuts) on their first shave. I know I'm certainly not one of them.

Given the razor was a PIF from a forum member, I would have had an expectation the razor would shave. I know when I PIFd razors I gave them a test shave before disinfecting and sending on.

I would suggest trying to strop the razor before your next shave. You also mentioned a cushiony lather. I'm unsure what that means. Most SR users go for a thinner, slicker lather. I know my lathers wouldn't look great in a lather of the day post as it is too thin and doesn't look great on the brush but works fine for a shave.

Another thing I will mention is technique. With this having been your first shave your technique can only improve, as will your confidence in holding an open blade to your face. Could you have been too cautious in your stroke? I find a tentative stroke is uncomfortable and almost feels like I'm plucking hair instead of shaving unless it is a freshly honed and diamond stropped blade. Even then with a quarter or half hollow a tentative stroke is not comfortable.

I'd suggest giving a few more attempts if you're comfortable doing so. I believe it's worth it.

Edited as a point was already answered.