Straight and DE clean up; a crutch? Or acceptable?
I've only been straight razor shaving since May. I forced myself to be very disciplined until this week. No cartridges and just work on the straight edge. About 50 shaves into the straight razor adventure, I had some serious break through and the shaves since then have varied between great and excellent. It just all came together.
My biggest challenges are a dimpled chin and a sideways neck whiskers. I really took 50 shaves just to figure out the sideways neck whiskers and chin. This amounted to some clever blade grips and skin stretching. Low blade angle and some buffing solved the chin.
But the fact is I am not very fast with the straight razor, and I wanted something to get me a DFS with little time for those rushed morning meetings or when traveling. So I always planned on a DE Razor, and a few days ago I got one. I'm setting up my travel kit and then goodbye Fusion forever. I'll shave DE on the road (losing a Merkur DE would hurt much less than a straight).
Okay, a lot of question set up I know. So the DE lives in my shave den now, and it is about six strokes on my lowest sideways neck hair and near my dimple, this makes a straight edge shave rather quicker. These are the places where I am the slowest.
So what is the common opinion, should I stick to straight only and hope eventually the problem areas will become quicker? I can get a BBS shave there with the straight, it just goes slooooooowly.
A couple of swipes with the DE and I'm done. I'm worried this is a crutch and will slow down my learning. I am still taking the first and second attempt on these trouble spots with the straight, but if two tries don't get it? Zip! The DE razor knocks them out in a swipe each.
I don't know if I would have got this good with the straight if I kept using the cartridge; and I didn't use it I just stuck to the straight.
But what is the group opinion on a straight razor shave and some DE cleanup? I am getting fabulous shaves. The cartridges are gone forever. So the largest goals have been met: no more cartridges and BBS capable with the straight razor.
But? Is the DE a crutch I should avoid for a while longer?
Best,
Ed
Straight and DE clean up: a crutch? Or acceptable?
I like the way a couple of you put it (no rules, your pace, etc.). I aspire to be consistently as good as some of the shave videos I've seen by guys who have been straight razor shaving for years.
And I know it is definitely in me, because there are many shaves in the last couple of months which have been stellar straight razor BBS shaves. Three passes and a little clean up and I have eel slick skin. I mean no beard at all.
Some shaves it all just comes together: preparation, blade grips, strokes, angles, skin stretching, and a perfect multiple pass beard reduction. But some days that doesn't happen, oh I am getting a much better shave than with a consumer razor system, but it isn't an alpha shave. I am working it too hard. Those stubborn patches go to nearly BBS but not quite perfect. This is when I am tempted to just jump to BBS and wield the DE for cleanup.
I rather like a BBS shave, and often the difference from DFS to BBS for me is only a couple of small patches on my neck and chin. Now I know my shaves can all be BBS smooth if I do some DE cleanup. I'm curious on opinions if this will impact my straight razor learning. I suppose it might take a bit longer to get to more perfect Str8 shaves consistently.
I appreciate the collective wisdom of the forum. Thank you for your replies!
Best,
Ed