First shave

[TonyH]

Well, I just completed my first straight razor shave and the results were...unsatisfactory.

I just received my straight today, back from being expertly honed by Ambrose. Thanks again for that, Ambrose! I have been staring at it all afternoon waiting to get the nerve to try it, and I just did. Here's what I encountered:

1. I feel as though my razor is very light. There is no real heft to it, but this doesn't surprise me since I've been using a Vision for the last two years. Is this normal? I have a 5/8 hollow.

2. The razor seemed to need a good amount of pressure to get the job done. I have read everything on here from "no pressure at all" to "just enough to get the job done" and I don't know which one to believe. I guess I expected the razor to be like the old hot knife through butter analogy. This was definitely not the case.

3. I am not confident enough to get in all the little corners of my face yet, so I know that will come with practice and time.

4. Finally, even in the areas that I felt I did a good job, I got a crappy shave. I put light pressure at about 30 degrees and felt like I was doing well, only to find out that my face was only marginally smoother than when I started. I only had one day of growth to start with, and my beard's not that heavy.

While I'm frustrated, I will keep this up in order to practice and get it right. I could really use some encouragement and advice though. I know you've all heard this all before (x1000), so I appreciate any help you offer in advance.

 

[netsurfr]

Did you strop your razor? Even a shave-ready razor needs stropping before each shave. You may also want to check out the section on preparation before the shave.

Congratulations on making the leap into straight shaving.

 

[TonyH]

Yeah. I stropped on my brand spankin' new Filly I got yesterday. I'm sure my technique is not so hot there either, but I did do it nonetheless.

 

[Seraphim]

No pressure INWARDS towards your face.

It does require some pressure on axis down your face, in the direction of blade movement. Keep the spine of the razor almost flat up against your face as well, not angled way up and away.

Keep at it!

 

[richmondesi]

I have found that the no pressure rule applies more with razors with some heft. My 5/8 hollow needs inward pressure to some degree to get BBS shaves. Razors with heft don't require as much pressure for me.

Don't worry about the results; focus on the approach. This venture will be fun and challenging at the same time. Enjoy the journey!

 

[Tabaliah]

Did you strop your razor? Even a shave-ready razor needs stropping before each shave. . .

Most hone-master that I have talked to / met don't want new people stropping a shave ready blade before trying it, as the act of stropping the blade changes everything. That would be the definition of 'shave ready' - once you strop it, you change the geometry and the hone-master doesn't have a base to work with to correct it. When I sharpen a blade for someone (I am no hone-master) I always say try it first, then strop it and try it again. If it is worse the second time, then you know whose technique needs improving

..michael

 

[gollum83]

No pressure INWARDS towards your face.

It does require some pressure on axis down your face, in the direction of blade movement. Keep the spine of the razor almost flat up against your face as well, not angled way up and away.

Keep at it!

+1

Yep! Really any razor, straight or otherwise requires, some form of pressure to use if you think about it. They won't move on their own folks! For example with a safety razor, you do need to pull downward, or sideward or upwards depending on grain and what pass you're on, on the handle of the razor to move it. When everyone says no pressure, it should be taken as no pressure in toward your face, unless of course your aim is to cut your face to ribbons.

It's probably more than your not used to handling a straight. The motions are a bit different than using any sort of safety razor. Give it some time, it will come. I only started shaving with a straight not too long ago myself and I find I am becoming more competent by the day.

 

[gregs656]

Forget doing your whole mug for a while, there are all sorts of contours and angles to think about and you DE experience will only help you so much and will hinder you in other ways.

Anyway, my advice it to do you side burn/cheek area only on your next shave. It's the easiest bit and you should be able to develop a better understanding of the whole gig if you can get your cheeks down.

A 5/8 hollow is going to punish you if you use too much pressure. You WILL get razor burn. Ease up, remember, it's reduction you want. Hollows give you wonderfully high levels of auditory feedback, you want that knife against toast sound. 5/8 is a pretty ok size for juding angle, but less is probably more. As you're aware, the steeper the angle the more razor burn, the less cutting and the more pulling is going on.

If you can't get a good WTG pass on your cheeks, something is wrong.

 

[xChris]

I didn't see anyone else mention this, but adequate stretching is essential to a good straight razor shave. Keep at it, as it will improve.

 

[leighton]

You'll get it. Its like learning to ride a bike. Once you learn how to do it, your all good, but until then, it kind of stinks. Honestly though, I don't even remember learning either. Except for the training wheels....

As for stropping, we say that because a newbie can roll an edge and that would be bad. It has nothing to do with stropping changing the geometry of the bevel, proper stropping will only do what its supposed to do, no more. Personally, I always strop for the customer and then oil it and send it out. Shave ready means I stropped it for you and its good to go right from opening the package.

 

[pmast]

I bought a shave ready dovo 6/8 half hollow from Vintage Blades and a Tony Miller beginner strop which came in a few days ago. I have been using a shavette and have gotten comfortable with it, so figured I would cut to the chase and get the real thing. I read that one is completely different from the other and expected a new learning curve.
Well the first shave, I did not strop as instructed by the note with the razor. The razor feels great in the hand and the weight and blade size just feel really "right". The problem is that even though I got through the shave okay with only one small weeper, there was just so much tugging! The weight of the razor helped push through the stubble, but it was a struggle the whole way. I had a pretty good amount of irritation and the Osage Rub really lit me up. The shave was socially acceptable, but not very smooth or even.
I have stropped carefully with great attention to keeping the razor flat and using only enough pressure to maintain contact. After 30 strokes, there was almost no difference and I went back to the shavette to finish.
Any advice? Should it feel as sharp as a DE blade in a shavette?

 

[TonyH]

I bought a shave ready dovo 6/8 half hollow from Vintage Blades and a Tony Miller beginner strop which came in a few days ago. I have been using a shavette and have gotten comfortable with it, so figured I would cut to the chase and get the real thing. I read that one is completely different from the other and expected a new learning curve.
Well the first shave, I did not strop as instructed by the note with the razor. The razor feels great in the hand and the weight and blade size just feel really "right". The problem is that even though I got through the shave okay with only one small weeper, there was just so much tugging! The weight of the razor helped push through the stubble, but it was a struggle the whole way. I had a pretty good amount of irritation and the Osage Rub really lit me up. The shave was socially acceptable, but not very smooth or even.
I have stropped carefully with great attention to keeping the razor flat and using only enough pressure to maintain contact. After 30 strokes, there was almost no difference and I went back to the shavette to finish.
Any advice? Should it feel as sharp as a DE blade in a shavette?

This is exactly the boat I'm in, except my finishing setup is Vision DE + Feather.

 

[CJBianco]

Do you play the guitar? (I'll pretend you do.)

Do you remember the first time you made an open chord--D, A, or E? It sounded horrible, right? Your fingering was awkward, and you accidentally muted a string or three. But you kept at it, until one day you strummed and it sounded perfect.

It's the same with straight shaving. (Or anything, I imagine.) Don't worry about BBS in the beginning. (Heck, don't even worry about S.) Just keep at it, until one day...

Me =)

 

[SiBurning]

Sounds exactly like my first shave. It gets better a tiny bit every time. Ten shaves later, it's starting to look like I have 5 o'clock shadow right after a shave. Despite most people's advice, I got the hang of XTG and ATG pretty quick, and find it easier in some areas. Maybe that's the bad habits of 12 years with a DE. The razor burn never got too bad. Scraped a bunch of weepers pretty badly over my mustache area the first two times, and not a drop of blood since. It still feels like I might cut my face up bad, and I'm still wondering why it doesn't happen. Managed to roll the edge pretty bad, but worked through that and got the blade back to decent form. It still feels way too light. Picked up a second straight along the way--a normal full hollow--the first as one of those singing way long hollows. Not much difference, but it feels a little more stable. Also bought a wedge and a smiling blade, but they haven't arrived yet. It just seems like I need more heft to the blade. Also, it's hard to push the blade through 3" of hair, and I tend to rotate the blade, so I figure the curved smiling blade bight be better suited. Eventually, I'll find one I like, and it might turn out to be the first one.

Hang in there. There are a lot of variables that need to come together.

 

[TonyH]

I've been trying some ATG passes and it's getting better. Slowly.