Thread: Shave Angle

I've shaved twice now with my first DE razor, a Merkur 180. I can't see to find the right angle to when shaving, particularly when shaving with the grain. Anybody out there got any advice?

I would say somewhere between a 30-45 degree angle should do it.

Originally Posted by jmattax

I've shaved twice now with my first DE razor, a Merkur 180. I can't see to find the right angle to when shaving, particularly when shaving with the grain. Anybody out there got any advice?

20-30 Deg. for me.
1 pass against the grain
1 pass across the grain
1 pass with the grain


There is a nice book on wet shaving.

The idea with a DE is that the blade is held so it acts like a straight but with the safety of the mechanism. So you should hold it to the angle where it would approximate the effect of a straight. They all tend to be somewhat different. The Feather is probably the most extreme from the ones I've seen.

A trick I have used is rolling the razor. You have to be careful not to go to steep of an angel to cut yourself though. Start out at the top of your cheek, then change the angle as you make your pass down. Where ever it feels the best try that. It is all an experiment the first few shaves. Good luck.

Brian

A trick that I found helpful when I first started is adopted from mantic59's YouTube channel. (just giving credit where it is due). Place the round top of the razor at the top of your sideburn so it's sticking straight out from your face. Very slowly roll the razor towards your face and shave down. When you start to feel and hear the razor shaving you have found your angle. Be extremely careful though, use no pressure and shave slowly. Also be mindful that you have go through aggressive angles before you reach comfortable ones with this technique. If you use this before every stroke after one or two shaves you'll get a feel for it

I have the same question regarding the DE angle. However, I found it confusing as the definition of the DE angle is not well stated in previous
posts. Unlike the SR, I am not sure if the angle of DE handle to the skin is
the angle everyone was talking about? Or, we are talking about the
angle of the actual DE blade edge to the skin?

Since you cannot control the blade in the razor, the shave angle refers to the handle to the skin.