Thread: Is there a "too long" to shave?

I would say the limit is what your are comfortable with. For very long stubble (or even a short beard) clipping or pre-cutting shouldn't be required. For very long (i.e. year old beard). You may want to run clippers first although it's not totally necessary it will make the shave a bit more comfortable.

When I first starting to straight shave over a year ago..took me 60 minutes...plus the excess moisture and I sweat alot naturally made things more complicated..now 15 minutes on the average

Remember, barbers used a straight to trim side burns and the hair at the back of the neck and that hair can get pretty long.

I think the problem with shaving off a beard without trimming it down first , is that you're not going to get it lathered well enough for a comfortable shave . I shaved 8 days of stubble off my face a few days ago , and really couldn't get the lather on as well as I could have if the stubble had been shorter .

Originally Posted by ace

Here's a video of a guy who pulled it off nicely after not shaving for two months:

Is it me or does he seem to come at his cheek at almost a perpendicular angle at times? Couple times I thought for sure he was going to cut himself pretty deeply the way he was wiping that razor around.

I shaved a months growth with no problems ( I also have slow beard growth normally shave every other day)...I wouldn't suggest it for someone new.

Originally Posted by skinnerj

Is it me or does he seem to come at his cheek at almost a perpendicular angle at times? Couple times I thought for sure he was going to cut himself pretty deeply the way he was wiping that razor around.

It's interesting what one can do with angle and pressure adjustments. The angle can be be increased (carefully) if pressure is really minimized. I like the way he handles the chin area by shaving down over it while raising the blade angle. My shaves really got faster when I adopted this technique, but it does take some practice and experience.

I've shaved off a beard with a straight on many occasions with no issues at all. The last time I did this my beard was over 3 months long and was probably 10x as long as the guy in the video with 2 months growth. The trick is to really steer the lather into your beard with a stiff brush, working the lather 3x as long as you normally would. Again, I wouldn't recommend this to a beginner but that's the beauty of using a straight - there's no need to pre-trim using electric clippers

One concern is the drain.
Since most drains will not tolerate big
piles of hair without clogging the drain
needs consideration.

Originally Posted by niftyshaving

One concern is the drain.
Since most drains will not tolerate big
piles of hair without clogging the drain
needs consideration.

There's an easy fix for that too: wipe the razor on a towel as opposed to rinsing it. At least that's what I do