Thread: 100 Shaves

I passed the 100 shaves mark sometime recently. The learning curve is rather interesting. I made a substantial amount of noticeable progress in the first 30 or so shaves; each shave had less razor burn than the shave before, and took less time as I learned how my face works and how to shave each area. By this point, my shaves were acceptable, but there was always some irritation somewhere.

Over the next 50-60 shaves, progress was less noticeable, but irritation-free days began happening more frequently, and the time it took to shave dropped substantially, from an hour to shower and shave to 35-40 minutes. The gain is in shaving time, as my showering technique hasn't changed. My two problem areas still presented a challenge, however, and were usually the location of any irritation/razor burn.

Sometime recently, I've managed to consistently shave without any irritation or razor burn, day in, day out. It made me curious to check how long it has been, and it turned out to be right around the 100 shave mark. It's been 112 days, and I haven't missed too many days in there. My observation is that while there's nothing particularly special about 100 except that it's a round number, and everyone's learning curve will be different, it does take some time to be able to manage all aspects of a shave without having to be thinking about everything...pressure, angle, how to shave each patch of skin, where to stretch, etc.

The time is clearly what it takes to develop muscle memory and learn from mistakes and successes. I think it takes the right amount of stubbornness; you have to be stubborn enough to ride through the rough beginning when you've got razor burn and look like a teenager after his first shave, but you also have to be flexible and try new things each time, repeating what worked and altering what didn't. Stubbornly sticking to the same method in an attempt to make it work will probably fail.

Just my observations at this point in my journey.

Excellent summary of the 100 day learning curve! Sounds like you are doing great.
I have been SR shaving for about 6 months now and while still not a cruise control event it sure is a lot easier and quicker. Not that I don't suffer the occasional nick, razor burn or irritation, but not very often. Mostly happens when I do try to go on cruise control and not give my shave my full attention and I really don't ever see an end to that!! We all have occasional air head days and/or distractions ( kids and grandkids over for a weekend, dogs, etc. ).
Still more enjoyable than shaves used to be. Find the whole process relaxing somehow!
Keep at it, try new soaps, preshave treatments, aftershaves, etc and have fun.

It honestly only too me four shaves to get into my groove. I had been using safety razors for just over two years, so no doubt this helped much and a lot of the skills were transportable. After about eight or nine shaves I achieved BBS and I packed my safety razors then. I now have forty-four SR shaves under my belt and I feel as though I have been doing this for years. I now have nine shave ready razors in my rotation and I just pulled the trigger on an 8/8 Henckels Friodur.

My advice to those who struggle is to ensure that your razor is sharp, keep your lather moist, experiment with angle and stretch as much as possible.

I might add that I started out with a 6/8 square point and I have been doing full shaves from the out set. I suspect that the extra practice this provided helped to flatten out the learning curve for me.

Congrats!

Getting comfortable with the process is a major milestone. Building on your knowledge and expertise will only yield closer more comfortable shaves.

Just remember to never take your eye off that edge.

Originally Posted by psillypsimon

My advice to those who struggle is to ensure that your razor is sharp, keep your lather moist, experiment with angle and stretch as much as possible.

I think that your advice is excellent!

(Except for the lack of an Oxford comma, of course!)

OK I am normally fussy about grammar and punctuation, so I'll keep this in the forefront of my mind.

I think the experience of shaving every day helps develop good technique. I also realized the way my beard grows helps me get a better shave with no irritation. I can now use 2 passes to get a very close results.

I'm certain it took me more than 100 shaves to master the straight. But I liked the idea of becoming a straight shaver so much I persevered.

I think those multiblade and cartridge razors are the work of the devil because of all the irritation I experienced.

Five years into straight shaving I still can't believe how close and comfortable my face feels.

Interesting topic. I have at rough estimate 15 shaves with a SR. The last was almost as shaky as the first. Lot's of irritation and some pretty nasty nicks. Can anyone recommend a GOOD video tutorial or two? I find I learn better by watching others.

I'm also new to SR shaving and have about 10 shaves. I rotate between a 5/8 Ralf Aust and a 6/8 Boker Silver Steel. I do two passes then rinse. I check where I'd like to get it closer which always seems to be at the back edge of both sides of my jaw line and where my neck makes the turn going down. I use warm water and try to shave those areas by looking closer and doing a better stretch of my skin. This works well for me so far. I then do a warm rinse followed by a cold water rinse. I apply alum bar to my face followed by after shave then a post shave balm. This sequence works well for me in clearing up any razor burn pretty quickly. I've only nicked myself once and the stipic (sp?) pencil worked well in stopping the bleeding and clearing up the nick.