Thread: How long do you take to shave?

I am really not very good at shaving so I go really slow. Plus I do not work anymore so there is never any time pressure. I take about 45 minutes.

Being retired I have the luxury of taking as much time as as I want to go through the whole routine. So for me about 20 minutes from beginning to end. If I was still working I probably would only use a straight on the weekends. I learned the hard way if your in a hurry use an alternate shaving method. And I have the scars to prove it!

I am new to straight shaving (2 weeks) so I do take my time. I only managed to shave in 20 minutes once. I had to skip the 3rd touch-up pass. Otherwise, 2 passes plus touch-up takes a bit over 30 minutes.

I'm in the 15-20 bracket. Even without all the right tools. I've got a nice ebay special Henckels 5/8 that I absolutely adore that I've honed myself and I ghetto strop on various materials I have about the place. I'll be saving towards real strops and professional honing after Xmas, but for now I'm getting quite satisfactory results with my current setup. I was shaving yesterday when the wife decided to shower...and when the mirror started to fog up I lost a little depth perseption and put a nifty slice in my ear lobe...but other than that I've not had much trouble with nicks and such and therefore I'm extremely happy with my shaving experience.

Between the prepping, stropping, 3 passes (with, across, against), final pass without lather, and clean up, I spend about 35 - 40 minutes. I shave at night so that I don't need to "hurry up" through the process. I could get by with only the first 2 passes, but when I shave with my straight, I cannot seem to put the razor down until I achieve a "baby's butt" shave. This is why about half of my shaves are with a DE. I'm less anal about my shaves when I use my DE.

As a side note, I watched Greg Ives video again yesterday and he strongly recommends using hot towels at least twice if not 3 times while prepping. On some of my weekend shaves, I use a hot towel, but it's not part of my normal routine. Does anyone use hot towels as part of their daily process? Plus standing at the sink with a hot towel on my face with my head leaning backwards without any neck support isn't very comfortable. Wish I had the luxury of an old fashioned barber chair in my home. It would also make the angle for stropping better as well. When I strop my razor, the angle is more horizontal compared to a 45 degree angle as Greg recommended in the video.

Rob

20 to 30 minutes normally. Sometimes as high as 30 others as little as 15. Depends on what is going on. It also depends on how I feel or if the hands are shaking a little. But one of my objects in str8 shaving is to take my time and smell the different aromas. A moment in time when nothing else counts.

I can shave pretty quickly, but when I'm doing a really good job, it usually takes me between twenty and twenty-five minutes. This is because I'm obsessive about getting every little hair, and run my fingers all over my face for any sign of stubble. Then I stretch the skin like crazy and irritate the hell out of it. Heh. I'm just kidding. I have a gentle touch and use oil after the initial passes to prevent aggitation.