Thread: Some problems

Hi all,
Excuse my english, it's not my main language.

So I have straight shaved before, but now got back into it.
However I am experiencing some troubles.
Afaik my razors are shave ready and very sharp, one was professionally honed and another one I honed myself; I think my stropping is good too, i've done this for quite a while before. My razors pass the HHT flawlessly, just slightly touches the blade, it cuts and falls off smoothly. Not that the HHT means anything. It shaves arm hair without problems, I just touched em up on a coticule as well with a good amount of stropping.
One razor is a TI le grelot which was professionally honed and another one is a vintage one I got from an ancestor which I wanted to clean up and hone myself.
My cream and soap I've used are: D R Harris lavender cream and L'occitane cade soap.

Now onto the shaving itself where the trouble lies.
I don't rly get razor burn and use a very light touch.
However whenever I do my first pass WTG I get a pulling sensation.
On my second pass WTG/XTG I never get a pulling sensation and I get a bbs nearly everywhere when I shave with using a very light touch.

On my first pass my razor does pull, both of them;
I tried all angles, from flat to the face and up. When using the advanced shaving techniques the pulling is to a minimum, but it still doesn't go as smooth as it should.
Flat to the face has the least amount of pull to almost no pull, but it still pulls a little (however I shaved a 5 days worth of hair, and I used a hot towel which left my face a bit dry).

Whichever cream and soap I use, when I wet my face and lather up and shave, when I touch my skin where I just shaved the lather off, it feels very dry even if I don't use a hot towel, with no prep, with whatever; my skin feels dry.
So I'm assuming; skin = dry, hair = dry.
And that's exactly what my first pass kinda feels like, shaving dry.
I added a lot of water to my lather and whip it up, the lather felt very moisturizing, but my skin was still kinda dry.

I was just wondering and wanted to ask, if my razor pulls on the first pass ATG, but shaves my other pass(es) XTG/WTG without a problem when my hair is reduced, could you conclude that the razor is or is not sharp enough to shave with? Anything but my first pass goes very smooth and without rly any pressure I get a very close shave; so I was wondering about my razor sharpness.

I just have very sensitive skin and very dry on the place I shave.
This I think is the main problem for my first pass pulling;
I might try to just put on some watery later, just trying to let that get into my skin and let it moisturize and see what that does. Or just apply a moisturizer before I plan on shaving. Maybe some baby oil, but I don't rly want to apply baby oil every time I shave, just because.
If anyone got any good suggestions, comment or questions, feel free to reply.
After shaving my skin also feels dry, no matter which cream or soap I use, just a very dry skin.

On a side note, the D R harris cream is simply one of the best creams I've ever used, very thick nice lather, actually pretty moisturizing and very close shaves.

thanks in advance for the reply and for reading my gibberish

Sounds strange...

Do you shave after a shower?

I find my results to be similar to what you describe when I merely wash my face before shaving. I do find that a little more effort to "scythe" takes care of it no problem.

After a shower though, it is pretty smooth on the first pass for me with minimal "scything."

Hope this helps!

-Rob

Welcome to SRP. From your description it sounds as if you know what you are doing and have plenty of experience. The first thing I think of is very coarse whiskers and the second is skin stretching being inadequate. From your description of the razors passing HHT and easily popping arm hair, not pulling on the passes subsequent to the first WTG, it sounds like they are sharp enough.

You will think I am crazy or kidding but I am serious. Try doing your preparation and your shave with cold water. The theory is that the hot water softens the hair making it more difficult for the razor to cut it. The cold water leaves the hair stiff and the edge cuts more efficiently. This has proven to be true for me and I only prep and shave with cold water for months now. Go to this thread here for a more complete explanation.

Aha, I actually shave before a shower, I'll try to shower and shave, see what that does, thx!

Originally Posted by sicboater

Sounds strange...

Do you shave after a shower?

I find my results to be similar to what you describe when I merely wash my face before shaving. I do find that a little more effort to "scythe" takes care of it no problem.

After a shower though, it is pretty smooth on the first pass for me with minimal "scything."

Hope this helps!

-Rob

My whiskers are pretty coarse and I can improve my stretching a bit more.
I used to shave with cold water only ^^, I don't know how I forgot;
I actually liked cold shaving a lot. I actually used to do what I saw Paul Newman do in ''Harper" and "The Sting" and he said he did it every day, he would fill his sink with cold water and add ice cubes and submerge his face in it for a while.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

The first thing I think of is very coarse whiskers and the second is skin stretching being inadequate. From your description of the razors passing HHT and easily popping arm hair, not pulling on the passes subsequent to the first WTG, it sounds like they are sharp enough.

You will think I am crazy or kidding but I am serious. Try doing your preparation and your shave with cold water. The theory is that the hot water softens the hair making it more difficult for the razor to cut it. The cold water leaves the hair stiff and the edge cuts more efficiently.

Thanks for the advice guys, I'm gonna try putting some more effort in my prep, seems like that is what is prolly lacking a bit.
Thanks and take care!

I know i will sound a little add In fact i think you have problem with over honing issue.
I am not sure 100%.
Why i am not 100% is didn't understand your words correctly?
your first shave blade gets dull?
then your second shave blade shaves perfect? in fact in over honing blade shouldn't act looks like this.
Now again when you go atg your blade is dull again.
That description doesn't not match to over hone blade.
Over hone blade should act similar to blow description.

You blade very sharp and passes all the testes.
you shave it shaves great half of your face then all of a sudden it doesn't shave . Now to bring back edge to same sharpness you strop blade in the middle of shave and edge sharp again.
you shave half of your face again and so on.

if your blade acts similar to above description then you have over honing issues.
hope this helps.

ow ok,
well I only honed on my natural combo coti. My razor doesn't seem to have a wire edge. I might try to do some backhoning on one razor just cause I like to hone and maybe it is overhoned, but I'm not quite sure.

Maybe a bit confusing about my passes,

my first pass is WTG, with a little pulling as mentioned above usually without a decent prep

second is XTG on cheeks, lip, mouth area and just a regular WTG on neck, no pulling, pretty smooth

I don't do a third pass and I don't go ATG, my skin doesn't take ATG too well.

thx!

Originally Posted by bpjosh

my first pass is WTG, with a little pulling as mentioned above usually without a decent prep

second is XTG on cheeks, lip, mouth area and just a regular WTG on neck, no pulling, pretty smooth

!

if this is the case then pay attention to the preparation. This is not over honing sign.

Cold water !! Try it , you'll like it .... or you won't .... but give it a try.

haha ok guys,
thanks a lot for the replies;
greatly appreciated !

owkay so I just wanted to get back to ya,
I did a little backhoning followed by some regular honing, good stropping and I gotta say that my edge actually feels much better, much smoother; I didn't do many laps at all either on my hones.
I did let my whiskers soak in some cold water first as sort of a prep and my shave was very smooth, was much better and very comfortable, only pulled a tiny bit on my chin, but overall very smooth shaving, no irritation, very close shave. Thx for helping me out!