Thread: Ninety Shaves Retrospective

Welcome to SRP. Great post. I hope we don't have to wait another 90 shaves for the next post.

Very encouraging post. I am on my fourth week and am still struggling to get a "good" shave. Like you, I am persistent yet patient. An occasional well shaved chin makes me proud and reminded that I can do this.

40 minutes shave...I was wondering if it was just me. Sometimes I enter the bathroom and return over an hour later (bath included) and wonder how long I can do this. Nevertheless, I look forward to the shave each day.

When I started with a str8 in Dec, I took 45 min just for the shave. I think that is a normal time in the beginning. Now my shave takes 20 - 25 min. As you gain experience, your time will decrease. There are guys that can str8 shave in 10 min. What's the rush? I'm happy with a 25 min shave.

Appreciate the kind responses. The post was obviously meant to be cathartic and hence its length.

Forty minutes does seem like a long time. Not being particularly interested in efficiency I have never broken down the time for each segment of the shave routine.

PWS203

As I recall, my first shave took nearly an hour. It may have been even longer than that. Before I knew it, I was down to 45 minutes, then 35. Now I take around 25 minutes to shave and that's moving at a modest pace. Best 25 minutes of the day

Thanks for the fantastic post! Do post frequently and keep us informed of your progress.

I tend to not visit the forums for long periods of time so I'm not really up-to-date on the techniques, methods and experiences. Recently, I decided to try shaving directly after showering based upon suggestions from the Masters. For me, that means no glasses and steamed-up mirrors.

I'm trying to develop my "once down, once up, walk away" technique. It's been working very well. Not the BBS shave I'm used to when I have time and my bifocals, but very acceptable, and pretty darned quick. I've gotten it down to under 15 minutes. Today I picked up the Timor Blue Steel instead of the Dovo Prima Klang and got busy. It's really a good shaver, but sorta felt different than what I'm used to. Good shave none-the-less.

I guess all I'm trying to say is that technique is "job one" and good hardware only makes it easier, faster and more pleasant.

Keep it up! Soon it won't even be a special event... just shaving as it was meant to be!

Dear Biffdebris:

Thank you for the response.

No question technique is number one. Hard part is that you can only really practice your technique once a day. As a novice you can experiment and practice all other parts of the routine ie stropping as much as you want. Technique then will perhaps lag behind other parts of the shave routine.

PWS203