Proper Shaving Angle

[jraice]

Been struggling a lot to properly understand the angle I should be shaving at.

My first shave took the hair off really well but I felt like the angle was too steep (handle pointing towards floor too much).

Second shave I tried to have a much shallower angle and it worked but didn't take much hair off certain parts of the face.

It is my understanding that the blade should be around 30 degrees, which seems to be around a 45 degree angle for the handle. Most videos it looks steeper than this, with the handle closer to parallel to the face rather than perpendicular.

Also this video talks about starting with the handle pointing straight out and says that if it is lowered until the blade touches and then used it scrapes, but if moved down a little FURTHER (steeper angle) it shaves well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzeqIqtJ9ns

I guess its somewhat based on feel but if anyone knows of any better video or pictorial explanations I'd appreciate it greatly!

 

[jamesspo]

Blade angle of 30 degrees is a pretty good starting point. I find that too steep - I prefer shallower angles (as long as there is enough blade exposure with that particular razor to keep the blade on your face), and have better results with that. Really, you just need to experiment. I start with the handle straight out and shave right at the point where the blade begins to touch my face, for most razors. I certainly don't feel scraping at that point. Scraping generally happens with too steep of a blade angle. However, sometimes a steeper angle bites the shaft of the hairs better on certain parts of your face. It's also useful around the nose. It all depends on your particular hair, angle of growth and a host of other characteristics that are going to be unique to your face. You just need to experiment and see what works for your beard, and particular razor/blade.

 

[KodiakAttack]

Blade angle of 30 degrees is a pretty good starting point. I find that too steep - I prefer shallower angles (as long as there is enough blade exposure with that particular razor to keep the blade on your face), and have better results with that. Really, you just need to experiment. I start with the handle straight out and shave right at the point where the blade begins to touch my face, for most razors. I certainly don't feel scraping at that point. Scraping generally happens with too steep of a blade angle. However, sometimes a steeper angle bites the shaft of the hairs better on certain parts of your face. It's also useful around the nose. It all depends on your particular hair, angle of growth and a host of other characteristics that are going to be unique to your face. You just need to experiment and see what works for your beard, and particular razor/blade.

+1 I prefer shallow angles on my face as well. Merkur Progress on #3 very shallow angle WTG, crank it down to 1 or 1.5 for XTG and ATG keeping the very shallow angle.

 

[jraice]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAg6CBr7ZmU

Here is another video where he puts the handle nearly parallel to the face then moves up a little and shaves, which is the exact opposite of what you guys seem to be advocating.

 

[Copierguy]

If you want to see why angle affects shave quality, take a credit card and slide it up and down your arm at different angles like you are shaving with a big blade. At zero it just slides right up your arm. At 90 degrees it hops around, wants to grap,etc. That's why you want to be sliding on the razor cap or doors and not on the safety bars. The safety bars are like bumpers on a car and are there to keep you from cutting off you nose and ears.