My first straight razor shaving experience...a failure

[rbscebu]

I went directly from carts to traditional SRs. It wasn't until about 30 or 40 SR shaves in that I got my first shavette. My reason for the shavette was so that I could SR shave while travelling with carry-on only.

It didn't take me long before I could shave with my shavette like a pro, getting near BBS results all over. I think my prior SR experience contributed to my shavette results.

I now still occasionally shave with a shavette, just to keep my skill level up with it. My preferred shavette blades are Feather half-DEs. With them it is easy for me to get those BBS results without any skin damage.

It took me many hundreds of shaves with traditional SRs before I could get close to the result I can get from those half-blade Feathers in a shavette. Even now as I approach my 1,000the SR shave it is still a rare occurrence.

With my SR shaving, I do not chase an overall BBS result. For me, that is not the goal of SR shaving. My goal is shaving enjoyment. I aim for BBS on the upper lip, chin and rear jaw-line only but not always achieved. It's a skill problem both in shaving and edge maintenance techniques that I am working on.

Just take your time. All will come to you as you improve.

 

[Member357]

Seems like you're doing really well with the GD. I'm glad to read your posts.

I had a good shave with a ZY razor today. It removed hairs from my arm with no work, so I did a random number of passes on both sides of a Barber hone I found in beautiful condition, more on a denim-like strop, more on a cheap leather strop. With each change of item it seemed to remove hairs increasingly easily from my arm, so I decided to shave. Very comfortable, pretty smooth, especially for how little work went into the blade on my part.

 

[albsat]

Seems like you're doing really well with the GD. I'm glad to read your posts.

I had a good shave with a ZY razor today. It removed hairs from my arm with no work, so I did a random number of passes on both sides of a Barber hone I found in beautiful condition, more on a denim-like strop, more on a cheap leather strop. With each change of item it seemed to remove hairs increasingly easily from my arm, so I decided to shave. Very comfortable, pretty smooth, especially for how little work went into the blade on my part.

Straight razor just needs patience on my opinion and try it time after time till it becomes natural.

I had problems with leather stropping in the beginning but now I think I can manage it without damage. Stropping after each shave seemed so boring for me in the beginning, but now I am used to it. It takes about 5 minutes to do 50 laps in the pasted balsa strop for me.

I think that the best way to start with a SR is having one shave ready with the pasted balsa progression (0.5, 0.3, 0.1 um) at the end and have a pasted balsa strop with 0.1 um for edge maintenance.

This is my situation thanks to the help of a friend who gave me the razor and the balsa strop and it is working so far. I have about 5 shaves with the GD and the edge is sharp like in the beginning. Let's see how long it will last.

 

[albsat]

I went directly from carts to traditional SRs. It wasn't until about 30 or 40 SR shaves in that I got my first shavette. My reason for the shavette was so that I could SR shave while travelling with carry-on only.

It didn't take me long before I could shave with my shavette like a pro, getting near BBS results all over. I think my prior SR experience contributed to my shavette results.

I now still occasionally shave with a shavette, just to keep my skill level up with it. My preferred shavette blades are Feather half-DEs. With them it is easy for me to get those BBS results without any skin damage.

It took me many hundreds of shaves with traditional SRs before I could get close to the result I can get from those half-blade Feathers in a shavette. Even now as I approach my 1,000the SR shave it is still a rare occurrence.

With my SR shaving, I do not chase an overall BBS result. For me, that is not the goal of SR shaving. My goal is shaving enjoyment. I aim for BBS on the upper lip, chin and rear jaw-line only but not always achieved. It's a skill problem both in shaving and edge maintenance techniques that I am working on.

Just take your time. All will come to you as you improve.

There is a Chinese shavette that uses 62mm long blades, format a77. I used to have one years ago but gifted it. I put on in order last week. It is less than 10 usd investment and the shavette comes with 10 blades. You will like it I think, but don't know how much would you be interested to try it.

Strong Leopard Shavette With Antelope Blades

Thanks to the positive reports of @Guitar10 and @BoldSpice I acquired one of these Strong Leopard shavettes which takes the 60mm long "Antelope" style blades. There's a smaller version of the Strong Leopard which takes DE blades and is identical to the Shear Mattaki shavette which has been...

www.badgerandblade.com

 

[Member357]

Straight razor just needs patience on my opinion and try it time after time till it becomes natural.

I had problems with leather stropping in the beginning but now I think I can manage it without damage. Stropping after each shave seemed so boring for me in the beginning, but now I am used to it. It takes about 5 minutes to do 50 laps in the pasted balsa strop for me.

I think that the best way to start with a SR is having one shave ready with the pasted balsa progression (0.5, 0.3, 0.1 um) at the end and have a pasted balsa strop with 0.1 um for edge maintenance.

This is my situation thanks to the help of a friend who gave me the razor and the balsa strop and it is working so far. I have about 5 shaves with the GD and the edge is sharp like in the beginning. Let's see how long it will last.

I have a piece of balsa I got years ago from whipped dog, but I can't find the pastes here in Japan.
I have some stones starting with 1k and going up to 8, I think. I ordered the 12k recommended by @rbscebu and also (because I'm just impatient like that) I have a 12k shapton ceramic arriving this weekend. I'll lap the stones and work through bevel setting onwards through to the 12k and see how that feels in comparison to the shave I had today. I have a couple more ZY razors and some GD razors that were shave ready in the past and which are probably not that far off now. Plenty to keep me busy and plenty to play around with.

I did have a great shave with a Luffy clone yesterday, though. Made light work of a 2 week beard.

I'd love to become a regular daily user of SRs. I think I can get there. I think you can, too

 

[rbscebu]

.... I ordered the 12k recommended by @rbscebu and

If you are referring to the Adaee #12000, I did not recommend it. All I did was report on how I found the one that I received. That one produces a fine edge but does so very slowly. Being a natural whetstone, each individual one may be quite different.

 

[Member357]

If you are referring to the Adaee #12000, I did not recommend it. All I did was report on how I found the one that I received. That one produces a fine edge but does so very slowly. Being a natural whetstone, each individual one may be quite different.

No problem, I just read what you wrote as positive. I made the decision myself and won't be bothering you if it doesn't work out for me.

 

[Member357]

If you are referring to the Adaee #12000, I did not recommend it. All I did was report on how I found the one that I received. That one produces a fine edge but does so very slowly. Being a natural whetstone, each individual one may be quite different.

Plus it was really cheap so worth the risk!

 

[albsat]

Another good shave with GD razor.

I think this razor needs the perfect angle (which I am trying to find out) to give me a very nice shave. I can dial this angle on some areas of my face but the edge is not that comfortable in other parts. This is something that doesn't happen with a shavette. A shavette guarantees, more than I need sometimes, a constant sharp edge. In a shavette you try to maintain a light touch and aiming to not get cut. In a straight razor you try to find the sharpest angle without getting hurt.

 

[Biltong & Boerewors]

Another good shave with GD razor.

I think this razor needs the perfect angle (which I am trying to find out) to give me a very nice shave. I can dial this angle on some areas of my face but the edge is not that comfortable in other parts. This is something that doesn't happen with a shavette. A shavette guarantees, more than I need sometimes, a constant sharp edge. In a shavette you try to maintain a light touch and aiming to not get cut. In a straight razor you try to find the sharpest angle without getting hurt.

You are right. Shaving with a SR is slightly different from a shavette. Shavettes are sharp enough to not only cut whiskers, but also skin without discriminating. A shavette is also more likely to result in irritation when the angle and pressure is not perfect.

A SR with a good edge will be much more forgiving, but you still have to watch the angles. Downside is that your shaves will only be great once your technique has developed to the SR way of shaving. When you shave with a GD66 with a bevel angle of around 18 degrees, it will not be as good as a razor with a sweet spot angle of 16.5 degrees, regardless of how sharp the razor is. After more than 4 years of shaving daily with a SR, I can get a good shave from a standard GD, but my best shaves are with vintage razors.

 

[CpnStumpy]

Another good shave with GD razor.

I think this razor needs the perfect angle (which I am trying to find out) to give me a very nice shave. I can dial this angle on some areas of my face but the edge is not that comfortable in other parts. This is something that doesn't happen with a shavette. A shavette guarantees, more than I need sometimes, a constant sharp edge. In a shavette you try to maintain a light touch and aiming to not get cut. In a straight razor you try to find the sharpest angle without getting hurt.

Given you're working with a GD, saying some places don't work quite right, I could surmise that you may have dull spots along the edge. GD being known to keep an edge for a very short period, it would make sense. Sounds like time to upgrade to a proper sharpened vintage

 

[albsat]

Given you're working with a GD, saying some places don't work quite right, I could surmise that you may have dull spots along the edge. GD being known to keep an edge for a very short period, it would make sense. Sounds like time to upgrade to a proper sharpened vintage

Step by step. Right now the GD is the best straight razor for me as the other one needs honing... I have another vintage razor which needs some edge honing. I have got some films recently but I have not found time to try them on the vintage razor. Or will be my first time honning.

 

[rbscebu]

.... GD being known to keep an edge for a very short period, it would make sense. ....

I suppose that a very short period is all relative to the person who knows this "fact". I have found GD SRs good for 100 or more three-pass daily shaves with only stropping on clean leather. This is about the same as my vintages.

 

[albsat]

Some weeper in the last shave today during the touch up. Well at least the blade is sharp.

 

[APBinNCA]

Some weeper in the last shave today during the touch up. Well at least the blade is sharp.

I guess that’s a reminder to keep the angle low.

 

[albsat]

I guess that’s a reminder to keep the angle low.

I am afraid that my biggest mistake is my rotation between these 3 razors below in a week.

I should better use one only each week so I know how to keep the correct angle. Each of them demand "their own" angle.

 

[albsat]

Today I tried the nice Titan razor from @rbscebu. I could see that it was sharp.

I tried to shave with it. However as I find it with the other straight razor the blade feeling is not like the one I am used to. I did not enjoy the first pass. It felt like it was biting without damaging me and I didn't know what to do between finding the angle or pushing the razor more in my skin. I had the second pass with my sedef shavette using an ac proguard blade. Got a great shave at the end.

Maybe I don't know how to get a nice shave with a straight razor. Maybe I am used to the sharpness of a De blade or a shavette recently. I just don't know.

 

[rbscebu]

Today I tried the nice Titan razor from @rbscebu. I could see that it was sharp.

I tried to shave with it. However as I find it with the other straight razor the blade feeling is not like the one I am used to. I did not enjoy the first pass. It felt like it was biting without damaging me and I didn't know what to do between finding the angle or pushing the razor more in my skin. I had the second pass with my sedef shavette using an ac proguard blade. Got a great shave at the end.

Maybe I don't know how to get a nice shave with a straight razor. Maybe I am used to the sharpness of a De blade or a shavette recently. I just don't know.

Try shaving with an even flatter blade angle, so flat that you believe it is not even cutting your whiskers. You may be happily surprised that it actually does cut your whiskers but you just don't feel it happening.

 

[Biltong & Boerewors]

Shaving with a SR is similar to a shavette, but definitely not exactly the same. I have often remarked that my diamond pasted edges do not match what I feel on a Feather AC blade. I think it may not be the actual sharpness that makes the difference. I would like to see a test one day on the machines that cut thread to measure actual sharpness, and put a real number on it, to compare the two. I am curious, but not curious enough to buy the machine, they are not cheap.

Commercially produced disposable blades have certain processes that make them feel sharper and smoother. Some of the differences to a SR blade are that they get sharpened at varied angles for different grits. It's like honing a SR to say to 8k, and then taping the spine for the finisher. I have read that Feather sharpens at three different angles. That works for a disposable, but obviously will not be good for a SR, because the final micro bevel is at a different angle to your honing bevel. The also coat the blades with coatings to reduce the friction, making them smoother on the skin.

I honestly think a diamond pasted edge is very close if not the same sharpness as a disposable, but will definitely feel different on your face.

It takes time and practise to get everything just right on a SR shave, from stropping to face prep to lather and shaving. Everything makes a difference and is important. A shavette will cut more easily, so more forgiving on the prep, but will be less forgiving on the shave, like we have all experienced.

You have two razors with great edges, and if you alternate daily between the two, they will keep you going for a long time. If you decide that you prefer shavettes for your daily shave, there is nothing wrong with saving your SR shave for weekends when you can take your time and focus on the differences.