Thread: Calling all shave masters.

OK folks. So I have been carrying on with my transition from a shavette to a SR. Now, I must be doing something wrong as my shaves now hurt. Not after, but during and only using the SR. I have several theories; my first is the angle of the blade, but I have tried increasing and decreasing with no noticeable difference; second is my SR wasn't honed correctly by the shop I bought it from (this is somewhat unlikely); third is my stropping technique is really bad and I some how have dulled the blade.

I am at a total loss as this is not transpiring the way I hoped it would.

I look forward to your expert advice.

Cheers

Ouch your not making me feel good about transitioning but this is the right group to bring it to

I think you might be right RedGladiator, I must have screwed up on stropping. Is the edge that sensitive? Luckily I'll be swinging by the shop in a week or so and I'll get them to hone it again and get a stropping lesson.

And I wouldn't worry Razorrookie01, don't let my inability to strop put you off the transition.

Maybe it's all three , don't rule out the hone job, you never said who did it , plus all new guys roll their edges stropping unless your the exception, and angle and the amount of pressure is another new guy mistake , if the blade is properly honed, and you are stropping correctly , and using little to no pressure at the right angle , it shouldn't hurt, time and experience will help , watch lots of videos and meet up with a mentor if at all possible God luck. Tc

Could be be that you may have rolled the edge while stropping. Did you strop it yourself and then shave? Or shave with it as it was sent to you?

Edit: looks like tcrideshd beat me to it.

Does it hurt like your pulling the hair or is your face burning like a razor burn?
If the first then, I suspect the edge (honing, stropping ...etc) if its the later too much pressure or bad angle. Just my thoughts.
Hope you get it sorted soon!

Originally Posted by Armourer

I think you might be right RedGladiator, I must have screwed up on stropping. Is the edge that sensitive? Luckily I'll be swinging by the shop in a week or so and I'll get them to hone it again and get a stropping lesson.

And I wouldn't worry Razorrookie01, don't let my inability to strop put you off the transition.

Sorry, I deleted my post. My eagerness to help sometimes gets the better of me. I'm a beginner too, I figured I would let more experienced "shave masters" chime in.

Ask them in the shop if they could examine the blade and ask for feedback. I believe they should be able to tell you if it is a stropping issue.

Agree with Trimmy72 - could be a rolled edge from improper stropping. That would cause a lot of the tugging, pulling and ripping out of hairs depending on how bad the edge is rolled and where it's rolled on the parts of the razors.

I would send it out to get looked at and potentially re-honed...after 4 months I had to go back to the fundamentals of stropping after I visited a known master of said hones, he looked at all 6 of my razors at the time and promptly told me four of them had badly rolled edges and the other two hadn't been maintained properly, poor stropping again.

The learning curve can progress steadily, it's shaving afterall, but with a bum edge, it's just going to make any progress near impossible and incredibly frustrating.

How can you tell if the edge is rolled, does it feel like a burr? And I bought the razor from a store in Calgary, Alberta called Kent of Ingelwood. I don't doubt the honing, I do however doubt my stropping abilities. Oh well, back to the shavette until I get it sorted out.

There is a test for a rolled edge using a sewing needle or pin. You can feel the point catch letting the point gently move on the razor toward the edge. Hard to explain especially after a few cocktails.
Best bet is to send it out for a known good honing. Search the community for local honing expertise or send it to Lynn, Glenn or someone else from the classified.