Thread: Course hair question

As my screen name implies my facial hair is tough and tends to destroy whatever dares try to cut it. I've been shaving with straights for about a year; I only have bought two but I'm wondering if there's a specific style or steel type or technique that will make this go a bit smoother. I have two non-stainless razors and my 4/8 gives me a significantly better shave then my cheaper 5/8. Of course the 4/8 I bought was higher end then my 5/8 and the steel may just be better. Would I have better luck with stainless steel maybe? Or a different blade length? Or is this all in my technique?

I'd say you should pay a good bit of attention to your prep as well, shave after showering, and spend a good deal of time working your lather into the whiskers.
What your straight razor is made of will not make much of a difference, but the honing and stropping sure does.
Do you hone them youself? And how do you strop them?

Assuming you want edge durability & a smooth shave there would be a number of razors that come to mind that may fit. Some of the New York made razors. Swedish razors & Japanese razors, even some Solingens. PM some of the honers/restorers & ask them which razors take more work.
If money is no object an HV860 tamahagane Iwasaki should do the job.
You need to try a few & see what you like best but as for technique I'd emphasise a very low almost flat angle of approach.
If your beard is that tough maybe a little stropping pre final pass may help also.

Originally Posted by onimaru55

Assuming you want edge durability & a smooth shave there would be a number of razors that come to mind that may fit. Some of the New York made razors. Swedish razors & Japanese razors, even some Solingens. PM some of the honers/restorers & ask them which razors take more work.
If money is no object an HV860 tamahagane Iwasaki should do the job.
You need to try a few & see what you like best but as for technique I'd emphasise a very low almost flat angle of approach.
If your beard is that tough maybe a little stropping pre final pass may help also.

onimaru,
By flat angle, do you mean with the blade closer to parallel/lying flat to the skin as opposed to the generic 30 degrees?

I do hone them myself on a spyderco ultra fine ceramic which seems to do fine normally. Twenty passes each way seems to make them plenty sharp. I strop by holding it taught and flipping it on the spine when I finish a pass. Although interestingly I recently fixed up an old Wade A Butcher I inherited and used it this morning and it was the most perfect shave I've ever had with a straight razor. My first two razors are a Boker King cutter 5/8 and a Boker Tree Brand 4/8. I'm wondering if quality is the issue here because the 4/8 is great but the 5/8 is just awful for me. The 5/8 gets the job done but I get a lot of hair pulling, whereas the 4/8 is pretty smooth. The Wade A Butcher I just got working melts my hair like butter though.

I also have pretty dense hair and would agree with prepping is important. having said that, I'd like to know if you set the bevel on all three of the razors and also did the finish honing. I'm not well versed enough in honing stones to know how a Spyderco ultra fine compares to other hones. My initial thought is that the Spyderco is not setting the bevel on your razors, just polishing. In that case the difference in the razors my simply be they were honed differently on different hones and have different bevels.
Even with a very tough beard, you should be able to get at least one comfortable shave from a razor. Just my 2 cents.

That makes perfect sense Mvcrash. With the wade I had to completely redo the edge but with the two I bought I just kept the edge, polished it and touched them up from time to time. I'll try messing around with the edge on my Bokers and see if they perform better. I really ground the heck out of that poor wade, the edge was close to non-existent so I just decided to start an edge from scratch.

Now the WB shaves better......You have your answer. Dense hair is a pain in the behind, but it is manageable. I only shave after a shower and do a really good prep. Works well for me.

Just picking up on this thread and I thought I'd chime in as well.

As someone with very coarse hair, I know what you are going through. It was one of the top 5 reasons why I started shaving with a straight. My journey began with a shavette, the blade of which would be worthless after just one shave. Eventually I got on to proper straights with a 5/8 blade. Before long I was using a 6/8 and now all my razors are either 6/8 or 13/16. I have one slight wedge (quarter grind) and the rest are full hollows. All shave equally well and go through my whiskers like a blow torch through butter. I don't go against the grain.

My advice is to stick with a 5/8 blade but to move to something slightly wider, e.g. at least a 6/8 over the course of time. The choice of blade is also important. I would advise you to get hold of a 'new in box' older razor. Look around on eBay or ideally the classifieds here. Those older razors take an edge like no other and tend to shave soooo smoothly you will never go back to your previous methods!

Definitely focus on your prep as well. Lots of hot water will do the trick and a good quality soap and brush. Practise makes perfect and it will be worth it in the end! I promise

Try to remember that no matter how coarse your beard is, it's still just hair versus steel. How efficiently you approach that hair with that steel will go a long way toward more comfortable shaves. Like the others said, preparation is important. Good beard prep, good razor prep (well-honed, well-stropped), and ever-improving shaving skills and techniques are all you need for a good shave. Experiment with different razors sure, but make sure you can be confident in those other areas before blaming this or that style of razor for subpar shaves

Since you've been shaving with straights for a year, and one razor gives you poorer shaves than the other, I'm wondering whether either of your razors are totally up to snuff. Might not hurt to send one or both out for pro-honing