General questions about sharpness/BBS shaving from a noob

I have been shaving with a Dovo Solingen from the Art of Shaving for about 3 months now and have ran into a bit of trouble.

For the first handful of shaves I was able to get a shave so close the stubble was invisible and the skin was BBS even against the grain on the cheek. However, the neck was significantly more difficult, as my hair is a lot thicker there, so I encountered severe irritation. I figured it was part of the learning curve, and, partially, it was, but I never managed an ATG shave on the neck without strong irritation, and eventually gave up on it for the time being, relying on single-pass on the neck.

But after I began to shave the rest of my face (jawline, sideburns, mustache, etc; I grow a beard for the winter) I just could not cut the hair reliably WTG, and XTG did pretty much nothing. ATG resulted in yet more irritation. Even the cheek, which I used to be able to shave like a pro, now is riddled with a very close/fine stubble after all three passes. I can't even attempt ATG on anywhere else.

I tried everything from various directions of skin tightening to various lather and preparation methods (I use pre-shave oil too) to no avail, and began to despair, thinking that my hirsute ancestry and sensitive skin had gotten the best of me.

However, after watching numerous videos where people are able to get a pretty smooth shave with just a single WTG pass, something I was never able to accomplish, and reading a post on this forum stating that Art of Shaving razors are in fact NOT shave ready, it's my opinion that my razor is just incredibly dull. It's also my theory that the only reason my cheeks were so easily shaved was because prior to starting with this straight razor I had only ever used electric in my 7 or so years of shaving, so the hair had not been "toughened".

So, now, a few questions:

1. Is there such a thing where a person's hair is just too heavy, and their skin is too sensitive, that they will never be able to reliably get a BBS shave? Are some of us just genetically disadvantaged to this end? I really like that invisible whiskers look, as opposed to that leftover shadow despite a fresh shave.
2. How well is a single-WTG pass supposed to turn out? For me, I have noticeable stubble, but in many videos the gentleman in question has more of a 5 o'clock shadow appearance.
3. I am not interested in learning to hone, at least right now, because of the limits of my wallet, and because I want to be able to have a really sharp razor while I'm still a beginner. Where do you all recommend I should get my razor honed? I live outside of DC.

Thanks in advance!

The neck is tougher on most people from what I read on SRP, including me, but a shave ready razor should give BBS whatever the area, assuming the shaver has adequate technique. Anyway, outside of DC mainaman is in VA and offers honing services in the SRP classifieds 'member services'. Not sure if he is close enough that you could drop it off but worst case scenario you would have to mail it.

Razor honig and restoration services - Straight Razor Place Classifieds

Great link, thank you - I had been under the impression classifieds only applied to buying and selling razors!

Your Questions:

1. Yes. I will get a lot of argument here, but BBS involves many factors and among them are smoothness of the skin and toughness of the beard. Hair follicles on some men are like small bumps with a whisker growing out of it. WTG/XTG are the only ways to handle this, ATG causes too much irritation. I have a lot of scar tissue so parts of my beard are in pockets below the level of the other tissue. If I get the blade down to the lowest level I will be an irritated bloody mess. You go for the best shave you can get given your circumstances.

2. This depends on the individuals facial characteristics - see 1 above.

3. You will spend a lot of time and money if you have to send the razor out every time it gets less than the sharpness your beard requirers. I would get a barber's hone and/or a pasted strop so that you can keep the edge comfortable and reduce the number of times you need to send it out for a major refresh. There are wiki articles on each and videos on how to use them.

:gl:

You should send your razor out to one of the pro honing guys to see what that does. It should improve your edge dramatically. I agree with matloffm above with regards to honing, in that you should learn to do it. Send this razor out first and see what that does for your shave. Look into a Naniwa 12k stone for touch ups to your razor. I find that touching mine up every two weeks or so works magic on the blade. I have more stones than just the 12k, but with regular maintenance I may never need another stone.

Most of the other stones I have are for damaged or severely worn razors that have not been maintained.

No matter what kind of beard you have you can get BBS if you have a proper sharp razor and you have the technique to do it. Certainly professional barbers back in the day routinely did it so.....

Also keep in mind a total BBS shave is not indicative of a great shave.

It took me 3 months to get my first BBS on the neck. I been straight shaving 7 months now and I go for and get BBS every day. Now I get a 2 pass and a little touchup bbs as opposed to 3 on the face and 4 on the neck before. I do both neck passes atg. You will find what works for you and my experience is irrelevant. All parts of the shave have to be on, lather, stropping and of course a sharp razor. I use a slicing stroke that prevents the skin from lifting which I believe is at least one of the reasons for razor burn. Keep at it, I almost went back to de after some frustrating shaving session. You can get it if you want it. Good luck.