Tips for using the Feather SS non folding needed

[dieselfuel79]

Greetings gents,

Been trying my feather SS on the weekends. I have had some great shaves with it, but seem to be having a couple of issues, and was wondering if I could trouble some of you for some assistance.

Shaving ATG is actually a breeze with the feather SS non folding. Where I am having trouble is shaving WTG, on my upper lip area, around my mouth and especially my chin.
I try to maintain a grip on the razor without closing my palm around the handle, but rather with my 4 fingers across the the top and thumb securing the bottom. I cannot seem to find a comfortable way to angle the razor properly, and have ended up cutting myself from trying to re-position the razor, or just simply having a poor angle. (Me thinks.) My chin is the biggest complaint I have. I have tried pushing my tongue under my bottom lip in an attempt to flatten my chin area. But the most of the damage is done right where the chin curves and heads to toward my jaw/neck. I have successfully cut myself 3 out of 3 times. I know I am doing something wrong for sure. I don't think I am using too much pressure, and I try to hold the razor as lightly as possible. But I will share that WTG passes don't feel very smooth, so I feel that it has to be the angle.

I have been watching Geo's videos and just random straight shave videos to try and see if I can track down some tips or see what I might not be doing correctly. I even try taking out the blade to complete passes in which I "think" my angle would work best. Obviously there's no results with no blade. I see these videos where the shaves look effortless, comfortable and smooth. I don't want to give up on the feather. I know it has the potential to offer awesome shaves. I have used the Proguard blades which, IMO, tug a bit and just don't feel comfortable. I have some Kai Pink milds and they're ok. I am thinking some Professionals might be better, but can only imagine how much worse these nicks and cuts would be with an even sharper blade.


Thanks in advance as any advice is appreciated.


Brad

 

[Kentos]

On the SS I actually need a slightly higher angle otherwise the blade won't contact the skin properly. You also need to apply just a bit of pressure so the rounded lips smooth out the skin a bit. Skin pulling is important too. YMMV tho, but the SS is a very forgiving razor. Also, make sure your lather is nice and slippery and somewhat thinner, as opposed to the thick cushiony lather favored by some DE guys .


I hold kamisori style razors between the thumb and three fingers, with the pinky finger under the handle, or with the thumb and 2 fingers with the ring finger underneath. This allows me to roll the razor in the finger tips to maintain the angle as I go around the chin, while still being able to steady the razor with the pinky. Hope that makes sense.

 

[dieselfuel79]

@ Kentos

Makes perfect sense. I don't know why I didn't consider rolling the razor with the contour of my face as I am making the pass. I traditionally would stop and adjust the position and then nick myself.

 

[Snuff-Belgium]

I'll try to help a bit: You might instead of just the weekends use the SS as your only razor for a while, you're shaves will improve a lot if you use it every day.

About the grip: Try thumb and pinky under the handle and the other 3 above, the balance is much better this way, the pinky will make sure you don't put to much pressure on the razor.

I don't like the Proguards, IMO just a waist of money but as they are often included with a razor it's ok to use them up. The Kai milds are my favorites (I get the most shaves out of them, about 15 a blade), the professionals and super professionals are also very good but don't expect a big difference from the kai's. The problem is with your technique and not having the muscle memory yet to shave optimally.

Instead of pushing your tongue under your lip (this rounds the area) open your mouth a bit, curl the underlip over your teeth and then bring your bottom teeth just a bit up, this should flatten the area. Just go with the grain and use the backend of the razorblade near the handle instead of the top, no pressure, stop where there is a line with the chin. What I do then is curl my lip even further over my teeth and stretch a bit, this should flatten the chin area, again just ATG on the first pass (also easiest with the backend of the blade), for the second pass go sideways but in a slightly diagonal way (from North-West to South-East on one side and the other way around from the other side North-East to South-West). I think that going against the grain on the chin and under the nose should only be done after you're really good with this razor.

As far as angle goes I use the same angle as with a straight, about 30 degrees. The SS is very forgiving and allows for more or a angle then a DX for example, I think you must for yourself experiment a bit to find out what is the angle that you feel comfortable with, also the best angle depends on what part of the face your shaving, that's something that will come with time. If you still have problems with the chin you might try a touch up pass where you do small buffing movements while stretching the skin sideways toward your ear.

Let us know how it goes? have a nice shave, ron