Thread: Before and after

Originally Posted by Feebo

It occured to me today that I may have unrealistic expectations of my razor. Could some of the more experienced members post some before and after close ups of thier shaves please? I think it`d really help in giving me an idea of what these razors can do in experienced hands and give me something to strive for. Today was very close, still not super close but hopefully time and practice will help me out there..... Anyone have time to take some shots?

Are you asking for closeups of our face after a shave?

Let us know what your current expectations are, and please tell us what your procedure is. Be specific with regards to what razor you're using, soap/brush, how many passes and which direction, etc.

If you are using a quality razor, and acceptable products, and VERY GOOD TECHNIQUE, you really CAN NOT, in my humblest of opinions ask TOO much of a straight razor shave. Picture the closest, smoothest, most long lasting and comfortable shave you have ever gotten. That is what you can expect if ALL parts of the equation are doing their jobs perfectly.

Now, when one part is a little "off" in a straight shave, it goes form GREAT to just OK a lot faster than, say, a can of goo and a Mock-Three. But....when it is good, it is SO good.

As for pictures, I'll be no help. The best I could do is a blutty picture of scruff followed by a blurry picture of no scruff.

Pictures won't help you much. Just run your hands over your face and that will tell you all you need to know.

no 2 faces r alike

if your razor is shave ready and your technique is close to "proper" than no real issues should arise..it takes up to 1 year before you really are able to use ANY shave ready blade..IMOO (I'm into it 4 months and use 3 different ones)

pcdad

Right.... Yeah I was asking for pictures of the face. I suppose even if you have the closest shave in the world, you can still actually see the stubble can`t you? Todays shave has to be the best yet, I`d freshly stropped my razor with a few pasted strops. Red, black and then leather. That left my razor looking different, (the bevel was poilished) and sounding totally different too. I`ve started off with a cheap razor, I figure I won`t be ready for a beautiful antique for a year or so. Here`s my razor....
Imperial UK - SHAVING STRAIGHT CUT THROAT RAZOR + STROP on eBay (end time 22-Jun-10 21:13:38 BST)
I`m using Geo F. Trumper sandalwood shave soap and a pure Badger brush. I`m having a shower before each shave to try and soften the hair. I make sure my face is wet before I begin, lather up (one section at a time because I`m still quite slow) cheeks first WTG, then the top lip, scooping downward from the nose. I`m still finding this bit a little catchy and often have to come in sideways on the top lip. Then onto my chin, I`m still struggling to do the front of my chin properly because it`s too hard! If you see what I mean... Head up and WTG on the neck. I`m doing quite short passes, going back and forward again a little so as I cover the same spot a few times. Not really sure this is correct but it`s not causing irritation or anything. I then go ATG from the neck to the chin then cheeks. There are plenty of places I seem to need a sideways pass on, which I`m carefully attempting. I hope this is the kind of information you wanted and I`m not just wittering here lol So all in all I`m doing WTG then ATG and a few sideways to try and get some awkard hairs. There are plenty of places where I just can`t seem to get them. Like my neck where they grow in all directions but I guess that`ll come as I gain more and more experience.... How`s that? Enough? It`s probably worth mentioning that I`ve had a little trouble with the correct angle at first, it is quite difficult to maintain it with all those different contours isn`t it? As for my expectations, I would have thought I can achieve a shave so close I can feel NO stubble at all, like there was never any hair there, although as I say you`ll probably still see it a little won`t you. Even though I finished things off with my M3 today, I`ve ended up with what is definitely the closest shave I`ve ever had which is great!

Originally Posted by Feebo

Right.... Yeah I was asking for pictures of the face. I suppose even if you have the closest shave in the world, you can still actually see the stubble can`t you?

I think it might depend on the face. Some guys say they always have a shadow even when they can't feel any stubble at all, while others say their close shaves last more than a day before a shadow appears

Yeah that`s a good point... I think if I can get to the point where I can get a shave like todays without having to finish up with the "Mock3" lol I`ll be happy. But half the fun is getting there. I`m so enjoying every part of it, sitting in the workshop stropping my razor is just soooo relaxing

I think your expectations of how long it takes to gain proficiency are what's off. I'm sure everyone's varies quite a bit. I've been SR shaving (daily) for 5 months and am still not able to get BBS on the neck reliably without razor burn.

It took me 1-2 weeks to get all the hairs to catch, then another 3-4 weeks to improve my technique to the point there was no razor burn. After 1-1.5 months after starting, my shaves were significantly closer than an electric, and about equal to a careful, multi-pass mach-3/fusion shave with canned shaving cream. At the 2 month point, I started working on BBS. It took another 2-3 days to learn WTG+ATG on the cheeks, underside of the jaw, and "easy" side of my neck - but 2-3 weeks (4 months "from start" point) to learn to do ATG without getting nicks or razor burn once in a while on the "tricky" areas like the chin, upper lip, and "swirly" side of my neck. I've been working on BBS over the last month. The upper lip took 3-4 days to learn to do reliably. The chin took 3-4 weeks. I'm going to need another month to get the swirly side of the neck to be BBS reliably and without occaisional razor burn.

ps: I can see the hair shafts even with a very close shave (ie: lasts 8 hours before stubble can be felt level of shave). BBS does cut the effect in half, but it's still there... I've tried the alchohol spashes to try to close the pores. Didn't work unfortunately.

Has anyone used these razors before????

I haven't honed one or shaved one, just looking at the ad and the pics in the ad I am seeing Krigar/Master/Cold Steel here...

Anyone????

Originally Posted by Feebo

Right.... Yeah I was asking for pictures of the face. I suppose even if you have the closest shave in the world, you can still actually see the stubble can`t you?

I do a 3 pass shave and I get a BBS smooth shave, even "against the grain" I can't feel any stubble. If I do a 2 pass shave I can feel a little stubble "ATG".

Chief