Hello all, I need some advice here. Ive been DE shaving for about 3 years now and getting great shaves with my EJ DE 89 with Astra SP bladees. I wanted to step up my game a bit and go all the way and learn to shave with a straight razor. I bought a good condition Fredrick Reynolds in a local antique store and restored it to a decent polish. The I sent it out to "The sharpening Shack" for a professional hone. Stropped it up and tested it on my arm hairs to make sure it was sharp and good to go. So I have used it for about a dozen times and I think I have a good angle and light to no pressure. I am having mixed results and am a bit disappointed. I trying the straight because my neck tends to be sensitive (like so many others). Many people say the most comfortable shave is with a straight. So here is my problem. 1. I tend to get more irritation on my neck from the straight. 2. The straight does not seem as sharp as my DE and pulls a bit more especially initially. 3. The straight is not a smooth as shaving with my DE. Question: Is it my blade, the hone, or just lack of practice? I feel I have been real careful and have a good angle and I'm cutting hair just fine. Are DE's just sharper and smoother or should I keep trying or re-evaluate my razor and hone. Thanks for reading and any advice you can give me.
It's very hard to say, because there are many factors. My guess would be two-fold: 1) you have 3 years practice with DEs and almost none with straight razors. There is a much higher learning curve with the straights. Are you pulling the skin tight and using a favorable technique for your facial hair growth? How much are you stropping? 2) some people need extra cushioning with straights, particularly when starting out. Do you use a preshave oil? Do you use the same soap as you would with a DE? My guess is that you just need to single out the aspects of your technique.
Thanks. Yes I use the same soaps. I created my own pre-shave oil with blend of castor, olive, tea tree, jaobba and lavender essence. Do not use it much for DE anymore but use it for straight because I think it helps a bit. I do know my growth direction but I can not get ATG with the straight. Angle too difficult on the neck. Also when I go ATG with the straight is gets a bit choppy not smooth like the DE. So I can't get as close BBS with the straight. I do tighten as well. I suppose I need to keep trying to work it out and not expect the same results as my DE.
Only a dozen shaves? Still lots of practice to go. My pocket knife will take hair off my arm, doesn't mean it will give me a comfortable shave on my face. Do you strop before or after every shave? Personally, I don't think it makes a difference when you strop, as long as you do. I found I ruined my first edge from poor stropping. Had to send it back to Glen, aka gssixgun, Again, practice and I'm good now. You say the straight doesn't give as smooth a shave as with your DE. I'm right there with you, but I still str8 shave every Saturday. Maybe if I used a str8 for every shave... but the DE and SE will still give me a better shave for now. I don't think any human can get a str8 edge as precision sharp as a machine on a DE blade. My opinion. Practice, practice, practice.
One of the areas I struggled with was how I was holding the straight. When I started, I was going to make sure I didn't use any pressure. I did this by using a very loose grip on the blade and very tentative strokes. This caused the blade to skip quite a bit. I found that if I firmed up my grip a bit and used confident, not tentative, strokes, I got a smoother shave.
Thanks. I get you for sure. I typically straight shave on weekends when I have the time to strop well and take my time. I will keep at it as a challenge and a cool thing to do but will probably defer to the DE for the daily shave until I get it down.
Thanks Yes I did notice that. You have to hold tight and start with a confident stroke for sure. Thank you.
Possibly. If you're getting 'pulling' or 'tugging' sensations, the edge might not be right. It may have been properly honed or not, but how you stropped it upon receiving it may have determined the integrity and feel of the edge. ...your technique. Newcomers to straights often are understandably tentative in their stroke. This can result in repeated strokes over the same location (versus one firm stroke) which can lead to burn and irritation.
Because you say pulling and tugging I would guess your edge is not where it needs to be. My straights feel the same as DE blades on my face. When they don't, they need to be touched up. All that said it took a good month of shaving daily with a straight before I could judge how smooth a razor was. I had plenty of "hot" shaves when starting. When I became confident, I lightened up and everything fell into place.
I'm new to the straight shaving too. I agree with the consensus, about the razor not being sharp enough. One other thought could be blade angle.
Hi all, This is my neck again destroyed trying to get a close shave with my straight. I tried using a straight to get less of this but I am getting more than my DE. What do you think? Should I send it back to someone to re-hone? It's a vintage Fredrick Renolds I restored and sent out for honing. Thanks
I find my straight edges feel more comfortable than a DE. Send it out to someone with a track record for honing straights like @gssixgun. Did you shave against the grain? The neck is a tricky area to learn to shave with a straight. It may also be due to to much pressure and/or to steep an angle. Try to keep the spine just 2 spine widths away from your face and no more than 3. Do just 1 WTG pass and finish with a DE. Then add more passes as you get better. When I started I just shaved my cheeks WTG then finished with a DE. As I got better I shaved more of my face and added more passes. It was at least 30 shaves before I could do 3 full passes and 50 shaves before I final added my 4th ATG pass. I rolled two edges early on learning to strop. You may want to pick a second straight. I recommend a sight unseen from Whipped Dog, it will be cheap and ugly but with a good edge.
This might help a bit not only for a test of the edge but a few hints and tips http://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/video-what-is-the-shave-test.32920/
I recommend you ease off the neck shaving till you heal plus pick up another straight. Have them both honed again so your starting fresh. Strop carefully with the spine on the strop and not lifting up. Use the two blades to compare shaves and see how they are shaving. You can tell quickly if your rolling an edge. This takes time. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
