Thread: Strokes...Slow or speedy and long or short...shaving!

Might seem like a silly question...but having watched barbers they seem to move the blade really fast sometimes compared to me. I can move it quick on the cheeks but thats it. Slow and steady with a little pressure seems to work best for the rest of the face. So, I'm wondering should I be going for slow and steady with some pressure or fast and light or slow and light for that matter...I've also read I should be moving the blade as far as possible...short strokes or as far as possible? What do you guys think?

There's a lot of right ways to do it! Experiment with them and you'll develop your shaving into a unique artform.

First, don't shave any faster than your skill level. Just like stropping, speed kills (just ask my first strop!) Take it nice and easy, avoid the cuts. Taking things nice and slow provides a lot of tactile feedback, so you can feel how the shave is going, you can hear how the shave is going, and adjust as necessary.

I use little to no pressue on the razor, letting its weight do the work. A really scary sharp razor (such as one honed by Lynn Abrams or David Uthe) needs next to no pressure to cut a whisker. Too much pressure can lead to cuts and razor burn.

I use both long and short strokes. I use long ones on the cheeks where I can get away with it, and really small strokes when I attack my chin against the grain. For me, I stretch the cheek upward and shave downard, but I need to re-grip to keep the skin really tight for about the bottom 1/3 or so of the cheek. This also helps stretch the jowl upward making it easy to shave. On my chin, I stretch the skin and attack a patch of 15-20 whiskers, then move on.

Hope this helps.

I may also point out that the barber probably has done thousands of shaves and could probably do it blindfolded. :lol: