Thread: How close is a 'close' shave?

I am going to upset you Unimaru55.
I've been using straight for more less 2 month and my BBs means no roughness on my face. I am 40 so my grains are pretty tough. With some effort I archive it every day.

My advice is, don't worry about achieving BBS and enjoy the shave. It'll either come or it won't. Just concentrate on getting a good, comfortable shave. That doesn't answer your question though, so, in answer to your question… as close as you want it to be. (This is one of those subjective parts of the discipline.)YMMV etc.

I agree with Sham. For me, I can't get my shaves totally smooth without going ATG (usually twice), but AGT is comfortable for me so it's not an issue.

Cheers!

Originally Posted by DPflaumer

You might also have an angle issue. ATG can be very uncomfortable if you have the blade at too steep an angle. Stretching your skin ATG is also important. Make sure you are stretching the right direction or it will make the issue worse.

+1 on the angle. ATG pass should be made (I think) with a watered-down lather and less of an angle than the WTG pass. And stretching cannot be over-emphasized.

I'm pretty new too but since I've been doing some experimentation going back and forth between shavette, regular straight, and some gilette products (sensor excel II and fusion) and I'll chime in here with what I see so far:

1. There seems to me to be a trade-off between closeness and comfort no matter what you use. More passes and including ATG gives superior closeness (for me) and longer lasting BBS feeling throughout the day, but worse comfort. Difference for me is that with a straight I can achieve a BBS feeling that lasts a good portion of the day - at least through lunch hour, and even after that it never feels scruffy late in the day as is common wth cartridge types. Also the cartridge type never does get me quite as close to begin with.

2. Everyone's different but I have to do some amount of ATG to get true BBS. I'm still working on how to make that comfortable. I'm getting better at it and I expect it to improve over time with practice and learning. I do not expect that it'll ever be as comfortable as a single WTG pass of course.

3. There seems to me to be an optimum sharpness range. Shavette with new blade = super sharp and gives no tugging or snags as it mows through the whiskers like a hot knife through butter. But at that level of sharpness I'm sure to have a handful of weepers when finished. A regular freshly honed straight shouldn't tug too much but in my limited experience neither will it mow 'em down like a fresh shavette blade. Less weepers though and certainly capable of getting BBS. Somehow the straight seems to leave your skin in different state than the shavette - not sure if that is sharpness or some other effect (like the shape of the hollow grind or who knows what else...). If it's not sharp enough a straight begins to hurt as it tugs the whiskers too much, and more or less rules out an ATG pass (for me at least).

Other stuff... I have some nice pre-shave oil but I hope I don't have to resort to actually using it regularly. Post shave treatment is huge for comfort. If I use the wrong after shave the effect on comfort become cumulative so that after 3 or 4 days of using something that maybe smells nice but doesn't do much for healing "ATG skin trauma" then by the 3rd or 4th day of using that stuff I can't get a comfortable shave no matter what I do. I've found AOS post shave balm is great in this respect, as well as the Ogalalla stuff. I haven't tried an alum block yet but probably will soon.

I tend to agree with the earlier comment that it sounds like you have a sharpness problem, but the other thing to consider is whether your post-shave treatment is helping to heal your skin between assaults. If not, you may be going down a rat-hole of worse and worse comfort each time because you never do quite heal up in between (learned that one the hard way...).

Hope some of that is helpful. Good luck.

Charlie

How are people able to get BBS without shaving against the grain?

I don't think you can get a bbs shave w/o going against the grain. Your razor has to be sharp enough and it should come clean for you.

Rich


Always acknowledge a fault frankly. This will throw those in authority off their guard and give you an opportunity to commit more.” – Mark Twain

Originally Posted by mojka

I am going to upset you Unimaru55.
I've been using straight for more less 2 month and my BBs means no roughness on my face. I am 40 so my grains are pretty tough. With some effort I archive it every day.

Good for you but in general people don't always learn as fast as you did

Originally Posted by onimaru55

Good for you but in general people don't always learn as fast as you did

That's true. Just be patient, and it will come.

You can not expect to get almost perfect shaves after 2 months. If you are not cutting yourself and everything is going good, that is all you can expect. For most people it takes over a year and a half to get those crazy close shaves with almost no irritation, daily. How you accomplish that will take intimate knowledge of your own face, a lot of thought about getting a better shave and some techniques that you have yet to develop. I am learning something almost weekly. Your honing skills have to be very good to excellent to get those buttery smooth shaves that you can only dream of when you are first starting out. Just kick back and enjoy the shaves that you are getting and it will come to you.


Take care,
Richard

I vote the sharpness too.
If you have a truly shave ready razor you shouldn't feel uncomfortable while doing atg. If you have a dull blade you probably try to compensate the dullness and might load too much pressure on the blade.....just to make it cut better. And the result is that it won't cut any better but goes deeper in your skin and cause irritation due to unneccessary exfoliating.
For me BBS is not a big thing.
I admit it's a great feeling but I prefer to shave every day as it's my truly morning meditation and preparation for a brand new day.
Wtg & xtg give enough close shave for me daily and occasionally I'll go to atg.
Also if you have a truly sharp object in your hands be careful with stretching and pressure load.....ingrown isn't fun at all.