Thread: do you go for a bss everytime?

Originally Posted by Rajagra

One reason is that I've learned that after I finish shaving, the closeness improves as if by magic. Must be to do with how the hairs & skin change as they dry. Why bother doing an extra pass when you know that tiny amount of stubble will retract anyway?

This is the first I have seen this mentioned here but I have noticed the same thing!

During the shave, I can work and work at it and still feel some stubble but after I am all done, dried off, etc. -- magically much of the stubble has vanished! Gotta keep my eye out for a puff of smoke!

Originally Posted by Rajagra

...One reason is that I've learned that after I finish shaving, the closeness improves as if by magic. Must be to do with how the hairs & skin change as they dry. Why bother doing an extra pass when you know that tiny amount of stubble will retract anyway?...

As long as I do everything right, I have no trouble getting BBS. And I have noticed this "retraction" effect before. But I have found that if I do take the extra trouble to get it all, I can get a 36-hour shave. This allows me (since I'm retired) to schedule my shaves with a little more flexibility, so that I can be either just-shaved or 12 hours into a 36-hour shave when going out to dinner or a movie in the evening. Of course this applies to me but probably not to everyone, but it is a reason for some to try to get that last little bit. It might even let some people go 48 hours, or some others to postpone their 5 o'clock shadow until 8 o'clock, depending on their beard.

To restate my position a little differently, I don't go into my shaves thinking "hey, I kind of want a rough feeling half-assed shave today." I always go into the shave hoping to remove every single whisker better than ever before and have the best shave of my life. BUT, my face, the razor, prep, etc, etc, etc, do not always allow this, and I don't force BBS shaves at the expense of irritation.

I always go for BBS...to me that's the beauty of shaving with a srt8....and once you get used to BBS, anything less is hard to accept, at least for me. I get BBS about 80% of the time

GOTTA LUV IT......

no. for 2 reasons:
1. if i do it every single day, I get some irritation
2. even if i DO get bbs, it only stays that way for an hour or two.

so, when it's a special occasion, i'll do all four passes, but otherwise i don't usually bother.

Another mental obstacle to finishing the shave at a sensible point is the desire to use up all the lather you made. Took me ages to get over that.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Yes and no. I do 2 passes max with maybe a touch up area and that usually suffices. If I do 3 passes I will have irritation so I don't do 3 passes. I think that my beard is relatively soft with the exception of the chin and an area on either side of my windpipe. So I usually get bbs in the fore mentioned 2 passes but if not then tomorrow is another day. BTW, the better my preparation the better my shave.

I agree with Jimmy. For me the pass limit is 3.5 If I go whole hog and try for a masterpeice I'll be sore later with some burnage. But as even now as I know this I'll probably do it again next time I shave. Now with my neck, whole different animal. My throat will be on fire for days if I go for BBS on it. So I just get the hair off it and that's it. And like what Jimmy says, beard prep is everything. All the best -J

I always do.

Yes and I achieve this every day, WTG, ATG and Fools Pass.
I don't get irritation, I only get irritation or in growns if I don't prep properly, or if my razor isn't stropped properly. I find hot towel after hot shower, and again inbetween passes equals a smooth bbs shave everyday. Takes me 30 minutes before work, but I get up earlier just to do it. Hell that's why I'm here I love shaving with a straight.

I have a very thick coarse beard, but again the prep is key as well as a properly stropped razor, people worry so much about honing, but stropping is key once its honed.


cheers
D

This thread has been a real eye-opener for me.

You all are probably tired of hearing me say that I shaved for 28 years off of a barbers hone and it is true that I don't know how to restore a razor, am not a honemeister or have a big collection of hones but one thing I'm able to do is get BBS every day without irritation.

All the other stuff is valuable and exciting but if you can't get BBS every day without irritation, you haven't mastered the art of straight razor shaving and all your other parphernalia is like a guy with a basement full of model trains who thinks he's an engineer.