Thread: New Straight Shaver

Hi everyone. My name is Shane and I'm from Walker Louisiana. Just got my first razor the other day. And I found out the hard way that "shave ready" is anything but. The first time I used it, it shaved, but horribly. It looked like I didn't do anything at all. Going to send it out to get it honed. Also got one from WhippedDog.com. I'm going to try it out tonight since it has already been honed and is ready to go. Hopefully I can have a little more sucsess. Anyway, I look foreward to learning alot and sharing some or my shaving experiences as well. Thanks.



Shug

Welcome neighbor, I'm in Watson

Welcome to SRP!

Be sure to strop on a plain leather hanging strop just before each and every shave for 30-50 roundtrip laps.
Your face will thank you.

Ok, just used my professionaly honed straight, same results as the other razor, so the razor must be good. But it feels like I'm getting the angle right, and I can hear the razor over my hair. 2 passes, WTG and XTG. Should I through in another pass, or will it get better with time?

It will get better with practice.

Blade angle and technique sound like the issue here and sometimes it's easy to blame the gear and not the techinque. Don't worry, it does take some time to learn how to shave with a straight razor. Skin stretching is also another variable to take into account. Your first and second shave sound like most beginners, so not to worry, at least you did not turn your face into a burning piece of hamburger. If you have not done so already, make sure you read the Beginners section and wiki for some very helpful advice. With time, patience, and persistence you will soon get the best shaves of your life. Keep us posted on your progress.

Shave with a safety razor to stubble length, and finish with the straight razor. That avoids the most difficult part of shaving for many. When you are comfortable with the shave starting with a safety razor, leave a little more stubble for your straight razor. Back into straights.

When you are shaving full length whiskers, you might try laying the blade flat and shave. There will be plenty of resistance at this stage, no matter how sharp the edge. (There is resistance when shaving long whiskers with a scalpel sharp commercial razor. Why expect anything different.) A few swipes with blade flat and the whiskers are close to skin level. Repeat your WTG, but raise the blade very slightly.

You have to worship the WTG pass, and you have to be BBS after the WTG shave WHEN FEELING IN THE WTG DIRECTION. Do good WTG work and the rest of the shave falls in place. Don't, and you might wish you hadn't shaved!

Fourth shave. It is getting closer, but I have serious razor burn. Still thinking about sending it to get honed, because I know they didn't do it where it came from. One of those knife shops on-line. I'm going to give my face a day off, shave the next day with my Murker 38C, then when I get home from working nights try to shave with the straight again since my wiskers will be very short, about stubble length. Thanks everybody for the advice and keep it coming.

FWIW --

"Razor burn" is usually the results of too much pressure on the blade. That _can_ be caused by a dull edge. If you can shave with a Merkur and a Feather blade, you understand what "no pressure" means -- that's the way a straight razor should feel.

In your situation -- with one "known-good" razor, and one with a factory edge -- I'd stick to the "known-good" razor until my technique was pretty good (which means "no razor burn").

And, until I had a solid WTG technique, I wouldn't shave XTG or ATG.

One thing you might try:

. . . Do a WTG pass with the Whippped Dog straight, and an ATG pass with the Merkur.

That should give you a good shave, without trying for perfection with the straight razor.

Charles

Took two days off from the straight and used my DE. Went back to the straight tonight and it seems like my razor burn gets worse with every shave with the straight. I'm using light pressure and have a good lather. Hoping it starts to get better soon. My face is killing me.


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