WetShaving
This is a community of enthusiasts, hobbyists and artisans who enjoy a traditional wet shave: brush, soap, and safety or straight razor. We are a part of the WetShaving community found on Reddit, Discord, and IRC.
New subscribers welcome!
Please visit our wiki, which is always and forever a work in progress.
While this server is funded by personal contributions, we'd like to thank Zulip for giving us a Community subscription to their chat software (available at https://chat.wetshav.ing/).
🪒 Check out these alternative front-ends for this server:
https://gem.wetshaving.social/ - a nice modern interface
Our sister Mastodon instance is https://wetshaving.social/.
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🪒 Community Rules
Rule 1 - Behaviour and Etiquette
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Be Respectful. Do not bully, flame, or harass others.
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Malicious comments are not allowed but heated discussion and salty banter is okay.
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Low effort replies and complaints about content will be removed.
Rule 2 - Content Guidelines
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Mail Calls, Simple Questions, and SOTD posts belong in the recurring weekly threads.
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Posts must have sufficient content to generate a meaningful discussion.
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Images, links, or videos must include additional text that summarizes the topic.
Rule 3 - Reviews and Disclosure
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Use [First Impressions] in the title if your experience with the product is limited.
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Use the [Review] in the title if you can provide comprehensive details with enough familiarity to answer follow-up questions.
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Disclose how the product being reviewed was acquired (e.g., PIF, loan, or purchase). If the product was provided to you directly by the maker or vendor free of charge or at a discount, you must disclose this fact even if the item will later be returned to the maker or vendor.
Rule 4 - Advertising
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Vendors are to keep marketing within the biweekly Deals/New Products threads.
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Non-vendors may post topics about products if it will foster a compelling discussion.
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Do not solicit donations or share fundraisers without mod approval.
Rule 5 - Inappropriate Content
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All NSFW/L content must request mod approval and be flaired appropriately.
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Non-shaving related NSFW/L content is not allowed.
Rule 10 - Moderator Discretion
- The rules may not apply perfectly to every situation. The mods have final discretion.
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Here is some of the science that @walden@sub.wetshaving.social refers to:
Most of us take a while to figure out how to get a BBS shave with no nicks or irritation from a straight razor. To get there takes a combination of a very slick lather, low shaving angle, and good control of the razor. It takes patience, but the payoff has been worth it for most of us. It is pretty rare (I've not seen it) that someone has a beard so tough that a straight razor edge is "broken down" by one shave. I suggest that you consider this may be more of a technique issue than a steel issue.
As for your stone progression, there's nothing wrong with what you have. I provide sharpening of knives and razors as a service. If you want, I will hone your razors using Glass Stones on a similar progression to yours, but without tape. This will give you a baseline for your own efforts.
Thanks for the big write up! The first point sounds so logical so it's surprising that I did manage a smooth shave out of the Koraat with its much thicker bevel. I'll try to go without tape in the future or at least try reducing it to a single layer and see how that goes again.
For the second point, I'll take your suggestion and pay more attention to the shaving angle!
The money is a bit tight so I'll have to figure it out on my own I'm afraid. That is also why it is good to hear that my progression is fine. I watched that JPO video where he goes over weakness in the steel from making large jumps in grit so I was afraid I needed something in between 3k and 8k. I'll just practice some more.
I interact with JPO quite a bit via YouTube and I’m also aware of the condition he describes; metal fatigue at the apex caused from the many passes that are necessary in a large jump from a very coarse stone to a very fine one. The steel, itself, and the way that steel is tempered play a big role in this. With a progression like yours, it is an unlikely issue.
If you’re in the US I will hone your razors for the cost of shipping them to me. I’ve been doing this for folks on Reddit/Lemmy/PieFed who are starting their straight razor journey.