My take ,and remember I,m only talking about myself, is until I had quite a few shaves under my belt, I learned that I didn't even know how to shave , so the shaves weren't that great , passable but still not great , but the areas on my cheek were smooth so I knew it would be better with practice . Then I learned that my edge wasn't as good as I thought it was. This is the biggest thing I think all newcomers come up against, they don't a even know how to shave , let alone know if it's shave ready razor. So if any one out there gets a BBS 3 pass shave first time out with their razor they bought and honed first time,, then go ahead and tell that story , it's your fable. Tc