Thread: Dry shave touch-up?

I finished my second str8 shave 2 days ago, and it went pretty well. I had just over a week's growth and was a little nervous about shaving when my whiskers were so thick and long. I did one pass WTG and one pass that was a XTG/ATG combination. I only got 2 or 3 small nicks and my shave seemed a bit closer than my first str8 shave. I had done 50 passes on the strop ahead of time, and the razor seemed even sharper than the first time I used it (it came honed and shave-ready when I bought it).

Any way, after finishing my second pass and rinsing my face off with cold water and drying it, I noticed a few stray whiskers here and there. In a moment of bravado, I decided to just clean up a bit with the razor on my dry face. I was surprised at how comfortable the razor felt on dry skin. I seemed to have a lot more control over it, and it seemed to be pretty effective for shaving off those strays. I could see what I was doing better without the lather and could more easily stretch my skin. Surprisingly, it did not seem to leave any burn or additional nicks behind.

Just wondering whether anyone else has done any dry shaving with a str8 and what your experience was. I certainly can't imagine doing a first pass dry, but as a final, touch-up pass, it seemed to work quite well.

Payne

I too have done as you chasing a few strays dry. I would however caution against doing this for a COMPLETE shave. I can only imagine the amount of razor burn left behind, not to mention the dulling to your edge that would be caused by the lack of lube.Just my 0.02...

I always clean up a few stray whiskers in just this manner. I wouldn't worry about dulling the blade at all, as your whiskers are still swelled up from water/soap/cream/whatever. You can easily get razor burn though. Best thing is to just avoid any long strokes with the razor. To date I've never got razor burn from cleaning up those 4-5 strays after shaving, and I do it every day. I have got a nick or two doing this, but it's pretty rare.

Just a note... DRY whiskers have the hardness of copper wire. So don't dry shave!

Originally Posted by randydance062449

Just a note... DRY whiskers have the hardness of copper wire. So don't dry shave!

agreed, DRY whiskers..... very bad. But a dry touch up immediately post shave. Works well for me.

Why not touch up with water?

Blueghost... What are you smoking?


Nevermind. Looks like a moderator is already on it.