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Lack of progress after 6 months SR shaving

Hi I'm just a bit down about a lack of further progress after 6 months daily SR shaving. I've learnt to shave without injury, to use a balsa strop and leather strop to bring good quality SRs to tree-topping levels of sharpness.
I still can only go WTG. On the cheeks it's BBS after 2 passes but the sideways growth under the chin refuses to go away. Even after preshave and a hot towel plus pulling the skin tight, the razor tugs on the stubble and I can only come in with a NS pass. I keep having to do a final pass with a slim or a Parker slant to achieve under the neck BBS. Especially the left side of my neck which grows towards the ears is a total pain.
Any words of wisdom or guidance that can help?

Thanks all

Bas
 
Neck is a troublesome area for a lot of us, part of it is the growth patterns and part of it is the contour. You probably can't get the razor's edge perpendicular to the growth, so find an angle that does work, but still make your stroke perpendicular to the growth. And accept that it won't be perfect. There's nothing wrong with a cleanup swipe with a different tool.
 

rbscebu

Girls call me Makaluod
@Baz4262 you say that you are only shaving WTG. You will need to also lean to shave effectively XTG to achieve better that a CCS result.

I think that most SR shavers have difficulties in shaving their neck. Of course everyone is different so you need to develop a technique that suites you.

First your blade is probably not sharp enough. After each shave, put your SR through a full diamond pasted balsa strop progression (0.5μm, 0.25μm, 0.1μm and 0.1μm hanging). Don't forget the pull strokes and the short X strokes. Keep on doing this after every shave uptil there is no further noticeable improvement in the edge.

Practice different skin stretching techniques. With my face shape and direction of whisker growth, I found that shaving parts of my neck area using a motion like the "Gillette slide" with my SR works well for me. It takes some practice to perfect.

It took me about a year of daily SR shaving to solve most of my neck shaving problems.
 
I still can only go WTG.
Well, what's stopping you from going XTG/ATG?

Not etting BBS under the chin is one thing, being in total pain doing a WTG pass is a different story.

Developing a very light touch and the motoric skill to control the shave angle made a huge difference for me, as well as experimenting with my stopping motion/pressure.
 
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Steve56

Ask me about shaving naked!
After 6 months with little noticeable improvement, I would begin to suspect the edge. I would have Alfredo or another well respected razor honer tune up a couple of razors for you and see if that makes a difference. If it doesn’t you’ll still have a very nice edge or two to enjoy. As my razor honing skills improved, I had less problems under the jaw line/neck, and other problem areas.

Another thing that’s helped me is to do a ATG pass on the neck, dry, after the shave. This will take off residual stubble that seems hard to get when wet. Very light pressure please, and use a soap with good slickness and residual slickness, not a drugstore soap.
 

Steve56

Ask me about shaving naked!
Only real men SR shave dry! I'm not one of them.

It’s no problem if you have a real SR soap, lol. And you need a good natural edge, not one of those nasty, bitey, method edges.

Happy holidays my friend, I was listening to NPR this morning, a person put a large amount tinsel up in her home in Maine for Christmas and was receiving a Cebu station that only played 80’s rock, over and over! I suspect that this was a gag piece, but I thought of you.
 
After a year and a bit of SR shaving I can do some XTG but not on my neck.

That's enough to give me a very good shave but if I wanted to go a full BBS (smooth in all directions) I'd finish with a DE.
 

rbscebu

Girls call me Makaluod
It’s no problem if you have a real SR soap, lol. And you need a good natural edge, not one of those nasty, bitey, method edges.
....
Thank you for your expert guidance. I will immediately switch to honing on a house brick (made with all natural ingredients) and face lathering with a bar of Sunlight laundry soap. That should do the trick and allow my to SR dry shave.
 
@Baz4262, I am with @Steve56 about suspecting that your edge may not be sharp enough. Can you tell us about your razor(s) and what you know about how they were initially honed?

I see that you are in Bahrain. Can you tell us how you get shaving gear in Bahrain and anything about shipping to and from Bahrain?
 
A razor that tugs is not a razor which is sharp enough.

A razor that is sharp enough but doesn't shave hasn't been stropped properly.

Either you're not sharpening it enough (or correctly), or you're not stropping it right.

A well-stropped, well-sharpened straight will cut anything and everything.

The way to shave effectively with a cutthroat razor is to use LIGHT, short, smooth, deliberate strokes. If you are exerting ANY force at all on the blade - you're doing it wrong. The blade should be sharp and smooth enough that you can hold it with two hands, rest it on the skin and just pull it across to cut the hair.

If you can't do that, then razor is not sharp enough, or not stropped correctly.
 
Wow, lots of great advice!
The Str8 razors I have are a Heljestrand 31, le grelot, Ralf Aust and gold dollar. All tree top effortlessly and came expertly honed. I'm pretty obsessive and follow the balsa method precisely. I use a heirloom horsehide strop, 60 laps counted after the balsa.
I suspect my stropping is off somehow, and I'm rounding the edge. I have made a paddle strop and might go back to it to see if that's what's wrong. I'll try a much lighter touch on the strop.
Being in Bahrain, I've dealt with Griffith and get virtually all my razors from them. Top notch service and you know you are getting a quality shave ready razor. The RA I purchased from @Tomo on here.
I'll keep on going, many thanks for all the help.

Merry Christmas in advance

Bas
 
I always use a hanging strop. It's just easier. The flexibility of the strop makes it easier to use.

A properly sharpened, properly stropped straight razor, used correctly, will annihilate any stubble that you're trying to get rid of. If it isn't, then there's something wrong with your preparation, or technique.

I'd examine each step of whatever it is that you're doing, and see what's going on there, and adjust accordingly. You should be shaving with the razor like the steel should JUST stroke the skin like a feather, and should avoid touching or exerting pressure on it, at all costs. The steel should just KISS the skin as it glides along, scraping off the stubble.

If you can't do that, then the razor hasn't been prepared properly. That's really the only explanation.
 

rbscebu

Girls call me Makaluod
@Baz4262, for stropping, strop on clean leather only. Hold the strop reasonably tight and strop spine leading with just the weight of the blade on the strop. There should be almost no deflection in the strop while stropping. Stropping this way and always keeping the blade's spine on the strop from the start until you have finished stropping means that you cannot deteriorate the edge.

If you have not been doing the above, you could have rounded the blade's edge. If so, it would take forever to correct with diamond pasted balsa. The blade will need to be returned to lapping film or stones to correct the edge.
 
Wow, lots of great advice!
The Str8 razors I have are a Heljestrand 31, le grelot, Ralf Aust and gold dollar. All tree top effortlessly and came expertly honed. I'm pretty obsessive and follow the balsa method precisely. I use a heirloom horsehide strop, 60 laps counted after the balsa.
I suspect my stropping is off somehow, and I'm rounding the edge. I have made a paddle strop and might go back to it to see if that's what's wrong. I'll try a much lighter touch on the strop.
Being in Bahrain, I've dealt with Griffith and get virtually all my razors from them. Top notch service and you know you are getting a quality shave ready razor. The RA I purchased from @Tomo on here.
I'll keep on going, many thanks for all the help.

Merry Christmas in advance

Bas
I agree with you own assessment. In my experience, with good stropping you should be able to get at least a comfortable shave (not necessarily clean & most efficient) once your razor is sharp enough to treetop easily.

I see better results from rather firm stropping, with some defection in the strop (not holding the strop too tight). All pressure should be generated by the spine (to ensure good contact) don't generate any torque towards the edge.

Experiment with different motions and keep checking your results with HHT and a loupe. With proper technique you should be able to see the improvements through the loupe (removal of any reflections / burr on the edge) and your HHT should improve after stopping.
 

rbscebu

Girls call me Makaluod
I agree with you own assessment. In my experience, with good stropping you should be able to get at least a comfortable shave (not necessarily clean & most efficient) once your razor is sharp enough to treetop easily.

I see better results from rather firm stropping, with some defection in the strop (not holding the strop too tight). All pressure should be generated by the spine (to ensure good contact) don't generate any torque towards the edge.

Experiment with different motions and keep checking your results with HHT and a loupe. With proper technique you should be able to see the improvements through the loupe (removal of any reflections / burr on the edge) and your HHT should improve after stopping.
I can appreciate that some prefer to strop with more pressure on the strop and less tension which allows greater deflection in the strop while stropping. The reason why, in @Baz4262's case I recommend light pressure on a tight strop producing little deflection was that he is also using diamond pasted balsa strops.

Deflection in the strop when stropping enhances the formation of a convex bevel surface. Such a surface is not conducive to getting the proper results from diamond pasted balsa stropping.
 
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