What should my skin feel like after a straight razor shave ?

[aseidman62]

I have been shaving with a straight razor for about a month now and I can get a nice clean shave going WTG, XTG & ATG (in some parts of my face) with no cuts (Hooray).

When I am done though, some parts of my face are baby butt smooth but on other parts of my face (parts of my neck or cheek) I can still feel some bumps, pores or stibble.. Sometimes these areas feel smoother an hour later...I can't tell if the balde is getting under the whiskers and kind of pulling up roots creating some kind of bump, or if I am really not getting the whiskets down to the skin. I am doing a few passes, spome almost flat and some at differing degrees of blade angle....

Any ideas ? Am I describing somethig odd or common ?

Thanks,
Allen

 

[professorchaos]

Sounds like you are doing a better job in some places than others. Keep at it.

 

[cb91710]

Ditto.

Watch your pressure and angle. Every now and then I'll get red "spots" on my cheek. Always my right cheek.... I'm being a bit too aggressive with my ATG pass (with my left hand), or maybe my stropping wasn't quite there.

 

[aseidman62]

are the bumps likely just stubble or the result of friction on the face ?

thanks,
Allen

 

[Kentos]

The bumps COULD be irritation, but who knows? How does the aftershave feel in those areas post shave?

Either way it seems you are getting great shaves!

 

[tomjr]

practice makes perfect. almost.

 

[aseidman62]

Kent: I dont use aftershave but i do use a Nivea After Sahve Balm and it feels pretty good. A little rawish as some parts but not bad. No doubt i am scraping a bit of skin. I just seem to have to find the right angles for some parts of my face. If I dont, I have stubble. Elsewhere I see dark whiskers.... but they are either super short or below the skin showing through.

Weird.. the shave takes loner but the experience is nice and frankly kind of fun !

Thanks to all who responded !
Allen

 

[Disburden]

If you rub a child's face, thats how it should feel.

Keep practicing

 

[mr_]

What you described is normal for people who are just starting out. Some areas of your face are easier to shave and that's that. You can improve your shaving techniques by controlling pressure and angles. For example, the left part of my neck consistently had more irritation when I started out. I thought it was the skin, but it turned out that my angle there was more aggressive.

 

[aseidman62]

thanks to all for the help. I just bought some lapping paper to see if i can polish my new edge as well and get a smoother shave.


will let you know how it goes !

Allen

 

[adept]

Allen I'm about a month and am really connecting with your symptoms. I'm very careful with angle and have really had almost no cuts. I have a heavy beard. If I'm not carefully at every angle I'm red from too much skin off in parts. But sometimes the shave really comes together with my holding technique, angles and then I feel the skin feeling pretty good. I'm done, I look in the mirro, and its not an extremely close looking shave. But I back away; I say to myself its enough- its got to be. Water risne, pat dry and then maybe AS. An hour later my face looks as smooth and as close a shave I could ever imagine or want. If I could just master this balance of a shave everyday, wow. My only problems is lately the sides of my lower neck gets inflamed and I get bumps even when shaving with the grain and scathing. Slanting and cutting away from the neck doesn't seem to help. I'm sure I'm doing something really wrong here. Well keep up on your touch and balance and it was good to hear some symptoms I'm having you are too as we probably are both experienced DE shavers and just perfecting the art here. I for one love the cut and finish of a straight much better- again heavy beard here.
Last thoughts for now: blade and stropping. I just have a hunch experimenting with quarter, half and whole grounds as well as perfecting stropping may win some serious ground. So what kind of beard do ya have, straight blades, and how long have you been DE shaving?
Best wishes!

 

[Kentos]

A nice slippery lather will help emmensely. DE shavers coming over to straights often have lather that is too thick and airy. A thinner slicker lather helps the blade to glide over the skin, rather than scrape off the top layer. The safety bar mitigates this with DEs, but...YMMV

 

[adept]

Kentos. Point well taken on the lather and aspects of DE and Straights.

 

[Chrisp]

I get better results doing 2 to 3 passes WTG and finish with an XTG & ATG combo rather than following the typical WTG / XTG / ATG sequence - always BBS that way with very consistent results. Try make sure you do a decent 1st pass WTG at least - repeat if necessary - then subsequent passes should be better and your face will feel smoother all over with no to little irritation.

 

[rimmini]

I had the same problem. As long as you have a sharp blade you should be able to solve it with experience and multipass shaving. Also stretching the skin ensures that the blade does not bounce.