I'm having trouble shaving

I.N.F.K

I.N.F.K

Joined
Jul 7, 2012
Messages
1,896
Evening gents,

Ice been attempting to shave with a straight razor for months now. However I don't seem to have a grasp on it quite yet. I've been trying to shave with a Razor & Sword during that time. I also have an old (1820????) W &B straight razor that is in need of professional sharpening. Anyways, my problem is that I cant get a very good shave out of it. I seem to get a lot tugging or not even shaving. I have a honing stone and just got a cloth & leather strop. Along with good shaving soap and a nice badger hair brush. Now I have rather thick facial hair so that may actually be the cause. I use a Gillette fusion pro glide and the performance is vastly superior with just one pass. But those are really expensive. I like and prefer a straight razor, but not enough to deal with razor burn and missed hairs.
 
The fusion will cover a multitude of prep sins. Are you using canned goop with the fusion? The canned stuff has more hair softeners, so it will work faster, you need to give the soap time to do its job.

My suspicion is a dull razor from what you describe. One bad stropping stroke can take the edge off some blades. If you are getting razor burn, you may be over compensating, and going too heavy.

Its hard to give too much help with just text other than to say, its a long learning curve. Some guys seem to get it in short order, but its not uncommon for six months before things start to mesh. Combine that with a potential dull razor and its a hard thing to learn on your own.

I'd recommend doing the easy stuff like your cheeks while you get the prep down, and as your honing and stropping improve. As that gets easier, just do more and more. And burn leads to more burn, so give your face a chance to heal up if you need.
 
Your razor is not shave ready, because if it was it wouldn't matter how thick your beard is! If you are inclined to hone yourself, look up gssixgun and his honing videos. If not, PM me and I will let you know who can actually make your straight razor shavable. Also,consider doing a search on YouTube for straight razor shaving videos and see how your form matches up against a more experienced user.
It takes a while to get the hang of it, but is worth it! I have been shaving with a straight for over two years now:)
 
I guess I need to get it professionally honed and shave ready. Any reccomendations on someone who can start from scratch with my w&b
 
I am at the safety razor spot right now. Not quite ready for the straight razor. Having said that, I have to lather twice going in different directions to get something similar to my old expensive modern razor. If you watch the videos on straight and safety shaving, i see them lathering 3 and 4 times.

For what its worth.
 
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