I've been for the past few days, but every time I shave I hardly reduce the beard at all. The only place that happens is my sideburns, not even my cheek. I do the whole face contortion thing, WTG(x2), XTG. It gives me an inconsistent shave. I get patches, even thought I go all over my face. My chin and jawline, forget it. Nothing's coming off there. I tried against the grain, and it tends to catch even if I stretch, so I stopped. I know the blade is sharp cause I just got it from a honemeister, so that's not the issue. Help! Thanks a bundle
Sounds like your angle is off. Try this, lay the blade flat on your forearm, raise the spine 1/8 to 1/4 away from your skin and shave some hairs off. When you start shaving hairs off that would be your angle. Try then to repeat the process when you shave. This will make the angle of attack around 30 deg. or there abouts. Not enough angle and all you do is skip over too much angle and you will be scraping your skin. Also, there is a certain amount of pressure that has to be applied when using a straight razor. Never move the blade in a slicing way, never. Another issue that comes to mind is if maybe your stroping may have dulled the blade. If you are new your technique might be off but I am guessing since you do not make mention of how long you have been using a straight razor. Even the best hone edges can go dull if stroping is not perform properly. I also suggest that you read Dr. Moss reference guide to straight shaving that is now posted in a sticky in the straight razor forum. Raf
I was wondering, can you strop in the same direction say 40 times (ie on one side of the blade) and then switch to the other and to it 40 times? I have a bit of a problem with dexterity and that would make things easier.
Honestly I do not know since I have never stroped any of my blades in that manner. I would suggest that you start slow and work on pressure and technique instead of speed. Speed is just for show, a well stroped blade is for dough. When I began stroping my dexterity was lacking also. I just practiced and did the laps slow and easy paying attention to the keeping the spine on the strop, fliping the blade properly at the end of each stroke, and applying the right amount of pressure to keep the blade in place. I know it may look difficult at this moment but believe me you will get it. Keep practicing. Raf
Last night I stropped the razor 40 passes on the canvas and 40 on the leather and it was like a whole new blade! Significantly better shave. I guess I just wasn't stropping it enough. Plus I didn't do the thumb test on it. After a while it started to pull a bit, so I guess I'm one of those who have to strop midway through a shave since my whiskers are tough! My lather tends to dry out though since I take longer with a straight. Should I use a cream instead of soap?
Yeah, I don't think you can over-strop if your technique is right (spine and blade touching the strop at the same time, rolling the blade over on its back and smooth motion all the way through). I usually do about 15-20 passes on the linen and about 20-30 on the leather. It does make a difference, but you can really dull a blade if your strop technique is off. That said, I would really work on the back and forth X pattern on your strop. It won't hurt to go one way a couple of times and the other way a few times (I don't think I would go 40 one way, then 40 the other, as the risk for messing up your blade is too high), but you probably just want to learn right off to go back and forth, back and forth so that the blade is stropped evenly on both sides. As Raf says, there's no shame in slow and steady. You see these idiots in movies stropping like a flopping chicken, but it does no good. As far as your lather drying out, what often works is to lather up, strop, rinse off and then lather again (hey, if you're like the rest of us, you have more soaps and creams than the army could use in a year anyway ). Or Mike (msandoval858) even suggests lathering one side of your face, shave, and then lather and shave the other. After you get some experience, you won't take as long and the drying lather won't be as big of an issue. And you can always make your lather a little "wetter" as long as it isn't runny.
Just dip the tip of your brush in the water and work the lather back up on your face. Only takes a few seconds.
If you are talking about the thumbnail test,or the wet skin on the thumb test on a well honed razor ,that is the quickest way to wreck the edge ,If you did I would say you are extremely lucky to get the edge back so you were able to shave. there is a plus side however ,at least you know that your stropping technique is correct kind regards Peter
I know you paid good money to have the razor honed, but my experience is much like yours. I have never received a "shave ready" razor that I could just shave with after stropping 30 or 40 times. At first, not knowing any better, I thought I was the problem. Turned out that most of the problem was the blade just needed a bit more attention to bring it up to par.
