An Old School Technique

 

Of all the shaving techniques that we know today, the traditional shave with a straight razor proves to be one of the best. This one allows to did fresh cut perfectly straight and smooth. The straight razors are the favorite tool of barbers of this world. They use it to make beautiful beard worthy of royalty. Today, this ancient technique is gaining popularity and men start more than ever to shave with this type of razor. However, just like learning to ride a bicycle, shaving with a straight razor requires a lot of learning. Thus said, time, patience and perseverance are required. During the training period, nicks and cuts are inevitable but you must not get discouraged or give up. The technique comes with practice and experience. Once you have mastered the traditional shave, shaving with any other technique will never bring you as good result as this.

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Straight razors are tools that require maintenance. As for your kitchen knives, for an optimal experience, straight razors must always be freshly sharpened. For a close shave and to have the smoothest skin possible, it is strongly suggested to sharpen his straight razor from 2 to 3 times a year. Like shaving himself, sharpening is a process that, at first, may seem difficult, but with experience, practice and patience, becomes natural. Before being ready to proceed to the sharpening of the blade of your straight razor, you'll need a hone and a strop.
 
Once you have a hone and a strop in hand, you are ready to proceed the sharpening of the blade of your straight razor. Choose your times to do this practice. Remember that your sharpening will be felt on your next shave. So, choose a time when you are calm and relaxed rather than a time where you are tense and stressed. This operation is not a race against the time and requires to be done right. On the contrary, sharpened the blade of his razor while being pressed could lead to making mistakes that could damage the blade and then take more time to correct it. At this point, it is important to read the manufacturer's instructions regarding your hone. This one can be natural or artificial and his nature affects the way that it should be used. Generally, a natural hone requires water while an artificial hone does not require water. Thus said, you should always read and follow the manufacturers instructions when it comes time to use a hone.

The Honing

Once comfortably installed comes time to honing the blade of your straight razor. Depending the nature of your hone(s), you will have to soak them in water or not before starting. For sharpening, some like to use a single hone while the other like to uses two to four hones with different grains. Whatever the hone, the method is the same. However, for those who use multiple sharpening stones, the process consists of moving from a coarse grain (2000-3000), to a medium grain (4000-5000) and to a small grain (9000-12000). Finally, to finish, you should use a sharpening stone with fine grain (12000-30000) or with polishing paste.

First, when you honing, you must make sure that the blade and the back of your straight razor are always in contact with your hone. In theory, the back of your razor should never take off the stone. When you're ready to start sharpening, place the back of the blade of your razor right in front of you on the hone. Lightly press it with your index finger of one hand and hold the handle with your other hand. Perform an upward movement and then return the blade. When you return the blade of your straight razor, remember that the back of it must always stay in contact with the stone. Once the blade is facing you, make a return movement by always keeping the blade flat on the hone. This back and forth motion should be repeated at least ten times before looking if sharpening of the blade fits you.

When you have achieved the desired sharpening, you must now form and smooth the blade of your straight razor with a strop.

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