Ever had one of those days?

I did everything the same this morning as my last 3 or 4 highly successful shaves, but I just couldn't get comfortable (or get beard to disappear), so I decided that slow was good and gave it up and finished with my cartridge razor. I was really struggling....maybe it was my lather, maybe my stropping (although that's been having much better results), and maybe the razor (I used the R. Aust 6/8, and have been using the 5/8). Anyway, I did a good cleaning and stropping of the 6/8 post shave, and will try the 5/8 next time. My soap was the same (Pre de Provence) as was my other prep. I'm just writing it off as a bad hand-eye coordination day.

The blade wasn't cutting hair or ...?

I had a similar experience the other day with my new Berg Lowe. It's been nearly a year, and I'm still mastering my chin/neck-line. I don't think I've had a truly smooth shave with no irritation yet in those areas. Some days are better than others, but not a perfect one. It's frustrating, but when everything finally locks in and you get that awesome DFS or BBS that you can be proud of (especially if it's on an edge you made yourself), it's all worth it, to me. We are carrying on a tradition of manhood that is lost on so many people in my generation. It's got speedbumps along the way, but we're doing good stuff here ;)

Yea, everyone has an off day every once and a while. They get less frequent as you progress though.

Bob

You will also find that you get very good days and can't figure out why they went so well either.

if my lather isn't right my shave is always off. I have days like that, sometimes my shave get shortened to a two pass just because it doesn't feel right, but what feels worse is pushing it and cutting yourself. No blood is still a good shave, some are just better than others. It's the off days that make the on days so much better.

I've had great shaves and bad shaves but neither are consistent

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Originally Posted by Headcrowny

The blade wasn't cutting hair or ...?

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One of the team wasn't cutting hair. Odds are it was me, not the razor.

Chill baby. I've had whole years like that. Fortunately you're only talking about a shave. :D

I used to measure off days by the number of nicks. 1 to 2 was "a good day", 3 to 4 was "a tough day" and 5+ was "put it down before you hurt someone". Now the scale is 0 or 1 to 2. No longer have anything higher. I guess that means there's progress. Keep at it. The frequency of tough days diminishes over time.

Ok -- So today was a good day....5/8 R. Aust....same stropping, but I think I did a better lather job (with the same soap) and all around it was a B+. Only being 3 months and maybe 30 shaves in, I'll take a B+ as often as I can get it. No nicks; no irritation. Gotta love the good days if you curse the bad ones :-)

Glad to hear it, man!

Now, if you wanna up the ante a bit, try going through it all again, keeping everything as consistent as possible, but switch back to the 6/8, or even better, shave one side with it and one with the 5/8. If you have an off shave on both sides, you then know it's either your lather, stropping or prep. You can then begin to focus your efforts in the same manner to figure out which of them is the culprit. If you have an off shave on the 6/8 side, you know to focus your investigation on the razor (sharpness, angle, etc.) and eliminate the problem.

It's all just variables put together. If you're having a problem, isolate them all as much as you can and single out the ones giving you grief. No big deal. :)

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Originally Posted by vmathis12019

It's got speedbumps along the way, but we're doing good stuff here ;)

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Once you learn why speedbumps are put where they are, you'll appreciate the road a bit more. ;)

Nother great shave today with the 5/8....I'm now convinced it was the lather; however, I'm going to try crouton976's advice nd do half face with the 5/8 and half with the 6/8 tomorrow or Monday to just see how it goes. Today I had a great lather, and great prep; great stropping; hot towel prep and it may have been my best shave so far. Missed the "speed bump" that DeeGee talked about, and had no bloodshed. I call this one an A-, only because I skipped my mustache area and some of my chin. I love this addiction!

...and today with the 6/8 R. Aust. I'm convinced it was the lather and the stropping. More face done today, including chin. I'm getting excited, but trying to remain calm and concentrating, so as to not make another "bump slicing" mistake.