Hi all, its been a while....
I got my first Straight razor about three years ago after my wife bought me an Art of Shaving software kit for Christmas and unwittingly turned me into a wet-shaving fanatic. A month or so later I bought a beautifully refurbished Henckel's SE razor off of another B&B user. I unsuccessfully shaved with the razor for about two months before I deployed to Afghanistan and left it at home. I've continued to use the appropriate pre-shave ritual ever since I started, I just had to stick with disposable razors in Afghanistan and then stayed with them for the last few years. I just picked it up again for the first time this morning, and holy crap did I chew up my face. I'm looking for some advice in a couple of areas:
1: How do I know this blade is sharp enough for shaving? I gave it 30 passes on each side of a balsa strop, and then 40 on the leather strop before I started today. It was pulling from stroke one and the grating noise it made as it crossed my whiskers was quite loud. My pre-shave technique is solid, so I think its either the blade or maybe my angle/pressure I'm using.
2: How do I know if I'm stretching my skin tight enough? I feel like I can never get a good grip, even when I wet my fingers and rub them on an alum block. TBH, i've yet to notice a difference between using the alum block and not....
3: Pre-shave oil. I have it. I use it. I don't notice a difference between times when I use it and times when I don't, with a SE or a disposable. My method is usually to get a washcloth soaked with super hot water, press it to my face for about 30 seconds, dry my hands and face, and then apply the oil to soak in as I lather. Should I put it on before the wash cloth? Should I leave my face wet? Should I just dump the whole bottle on my face?
4: Will switching to a DE help me at all? I don;t want to give up on SE shaving altogether, but the months of no progress I had before was discouraging. I've been interested in picking up a DE anyway, and I'm wondering if maybe I switch to that for a while there will be positive habit transfer that will help me with my Straight shaving after a while.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!!
TL;DR: Help! I suck at shaving and want to not suck at shaving.
I got my first Straight razor about three years ago after my wife bought me an Art of Shaving software kit for Christmas and unwittingly turned me into a wet-shaving fanatic. A month or so later I bought a beautifully refurbished Henckel's SE razor off of another B&B user. I unsuccessfully shaved with the razor for about two months before I deployed to Afghanistan and left it at home. I've continued to use the appropriate pre-shave ritual ever since I started, I just had to stick with disposable razors in Afghanistan and then stayed with them for the last few years. I just picked it up again for the first time this morning, and holy crap did I chew up my face. I'm looking for some advice in a couple of areas:
1: How do I know this blade is sharp enough for shaving? I gave it 30 passes on each side of a balsa strop, and then 40 on the leather strop before I started today. It was pulling from stroke one and the grating noise it made as it crossed my whiskers was quite loud. My pre-shave technique is solid, so I think its either the blade or maybe my angle/pressure I'm using.
2: How do I know if I'm stretching my skin tight enough? I feel like I can never get a good grip, even when I wet my fingers and rub them on an alum block. TBH, i've yet to notice a difference between using the alum block and not....
3: Pre-shave oil. I have it. I use it. I don't notice a difference between times when I use it and times when I don't, with a SE or a disposable. My method is usually to get a washcloth soaked with super hot water, press it to my face for about 30 seconds, dry my hands and face, and then apply the oil to soak in as I lather. Should I put it on before the wash cloth? Should I leave my face wet? Should I just dump the whole bottle on my face?
4: Will switching to a DE help me at all? I don;t want to give up on SE shaving altogether, but the months of no progress I had before was discouraging. I've been interested in picking up a DE anyway, and I'm wondering if maybe I switch to that for a while there will be positive habit transfer that will help me with my Straight shaving after a while.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!!
TL;DR: Help! I suck at shaving and want to not suck at shaving.
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