Slightly demotivated.. The quest for the elusive BBS

[MikekiM]

Thanks all..

No plans to give up, just don't want to have expectations that are too high.

All of my edges have been honed professionally and I do a decent job with stropping. Sadly, I can't make the MeetUp on Sunday.

I have yet to figure out how to go ATG and that is the major differences with my DE passes and SR passes.

I do use Scything, as well as I can without opening myself up. I've been stretching and tugging and bit by bit piecing things together.. but while my results are improving with every shave, they are miles away from what I can pull off with a DE.. Having said that, I've been shaving with a DE for years and know I have to be patient...

[OCDshaver]

I have yet to figure out how to go ATG and that is the major differences with my DE passes and SR passes.

Ah, there you have it.

[BobH]

Yea, it took quite a while for me to equal the shaves I was getting from my Gillette Fat Boy DE but I eventually got there. After a little over a year, slow learner here, of using a straight the straights are starting to pull ahead a bit. Getting the ATG pass working will make a big difference for you.

Bob

[MikekiM]

A year...

Good news is, it's out there. This helps me with both time frame and expectations.

I'll take this as a challenge and slow down...

Thanks Gents!

[ace]

All we can do is share our experiences based on our memories. I was honing my own blades within the first month, but generally shaving with a Shavette during that early period. If I had to give timelines, I would say that my shaving with an SR started getting competent at about three months. At six months, and shaving every day, I was using my own honed blades and getting what I felt were really good shaves. While I never concerned myself much with BBS, I did want perfectly smooth sides of the face and a perfectly smooth neck as well. I think my quest for that clearly accelerated when I became comfortable with the ATG pass. While I had used it for some time, it took additional time to learn how to be aggressive with the blade and get the job done without causing any problems. After two and a half years, I still feel like I make progress with every shave, but I think I was achieving all the personal goals I had set at the one year point. By this time as well I was getting it all done within ten minutes, and that was important to me.

[OCDshaver]

A year...

Good news is, it's out there. This helps me with both time frame and expectations.

I'll take this as a challenge and slow down...

Thanks Gents!

You didn't mention that this was something you were doing, but if you are cleaning up with a DE after your SR shave I personally recommend that you stop. I forced myself to figure out how to tackle my problem areas with the SR alone. As long as i could still reach for an easy solution, I made no progress. If you are anything like I was, you'll be in the same boat. The moment I started to force myself to try new things in order to solve my issues, I started to improve greatly. You're gonna do it and tell some other guy all about it in a couple months. Good luck!

[Matt69]

The other good news is that you don't have to get to a magic number - 100 shaves, or a year - but you get steady improvement all the way. I've now been straight shaving since January 2012, and my latest 'win' is proper ATG on my upper lip - directly upwards towards my nose. A couple of months ago, I changed stretching patterns on my neck and got a sudden jump in smoothness in the hollows to the sides of my Adam's apple.

This has been a continuing process, and every time a new technique works out, it's a feeling of achievement, and you add that technique to the toolbox.

All the way through, I've been thinking 'The shaves I'm doing now are so much better than what I was happy with 2 months ago', and it's this that's kept me at it.

Enjoy the small breakthroughs, and don't worry about the rough patches - you'll get them in the end.

[MikekiM]

Thanks again.. all good responses..

In the past two months, I have gone back to a DE twice. Both times because I was in a real rush. I will NOT do a clean-up with a DE. As noted above, the best way for me to learn is by doing, not 'sort of trying'. So it's all or nothing.

I am not stuck on any number or time frame. I have yet to duplicate the DE shave and needed to get my expectations in line. To say it a different way.. I drive a lifted Jeep Wrangler. With larger tires, acceleration is the pits. Add aerodynamics based on a building brick and speed is not, ever going to be in the Jeeps repertoire. Just not possible.. not even down hill with a tailwind. So if I asked a Jeep forum, what I needed to do to get a 10 second quarter time out of my lead-sled, it would be a waste. That is what prompted my question. We all use relative terms like BBS, DFS and SAS and to each one of us it means something different.

Your responses have helped me put things in perspective. I came to SR's for the learning experience and the slower, more enjoyable shave and so far, it's all I had hoped. I started DE shaving too many years back to remember the learning curve but, like my shaves now, the DE shaves were hit or miss. Then.. poof.. it all came together. I'll keep at it.

I have (what I believe are) good tools, well honed and clean. Good stropping technique and habits and most important... the willingness to learn.

I should have mentioned it earlier.. I have a REALLY detailed face map from my early wet shaving days.. I know exactly which direction things grow and also have a really good idea of where my challenge areas are. I expect those spots to take longer to master (without drawing blood).

Hopefully, as noted above.. I'll be able to help a new guy at some point!!

[ace]

It might help you put your journey into perspective to take a look at the Member list under the 'Community' tab. If you do some research there, you'll find that very many and probably most folks who try SR shaving don't get very far. Look how many started posting and stopped rather quickly. That doesn't mean conclusively that they failed to make the jump to proficient SR shaving, but it certainly is an indicator that they tried it, didn't find much success, and then quit never to be heard from again.

SR shaving isn't easy to learn. Most who make the attempt don't.
SR shaving will give you better shaves, but, as you have seen, it doesn't happen right away.

Also, take a look at how many begin their journey with questions instead of studying the Library. Because of that, they start their journey without the knowledge that might help them complete it. Success takes work. Some put it in and make it, but most don't and return to some other way of shaving.

If it was easy, everyone would be doing it. You're already a success! Have fun as your improvement increases.

[Chreees]

I have been at it since February and am getting excellent shaves. What I figured out is that you just have to map out which directions your hair grows, and experiment with your angles. I do two passes- WTG, then XTG. Then with no lather at all, I slightly run the other way XTG. I tend to not go ATG because it irritates my face too much. Alum block, witch hazel, and then some Clubman's Bay Rum and I'm ready to take on the day.

Best of luck, man.