Thread: Not quite getting it

Focus on comfort and an ok looking shave. The BBS will come in time. I used DEs from 1979 up until right before I found this place and became a member here.

The BBS will come in time. Don't worry about it. It took me about 100 shaves with a razor before I could consistently get a BBS.

I probably can't pinpoint your exact problem but for me the keys in your post indicate two things: you mentioned the blade angle from 0 to 30 degrees and you kind of glossed over stropping.

Second evidentiary point is that the shaves seem the same no matter what point your at in the honing cycle.

First, let me emphasize that the key to BBS using an across the grain pass seems to be focus. I need to focus on what I'm doing. I need to see the whiskers in question in order to make them disappear. I remove my glasses and get really close to the mirror (a suggestion for a shaving mirror perhaps) and then shave like 5 inches from the mirror. This is where I can see really well (I have bad eyes). You have to be careful though if you have bad eyes too. If you get too close to the mirror you'll hit the razor on the mirror and that is really dangerous. It can get pushed into your face. The second fact behind this technique is that you get a little more firm hold on the razor. That can help a bit too. But what I like most about this is you can see the effect your having.

Next, the angle you will find the most effective can be felt and heard as you shave. If you relax a bit and open your senses up a bit, sort of start meditating into the task, you'll sense the changes that the angle plays on the shave. You'll know if you need to increase or decrease angle because you'll feel the effect increasing or decreasing. You need that feedback on the angle and stroke. Utilize a light stroke as well. The skin sort of seems to block the straight razor from doing its job.

Reconsider your stropping routine very carefully. Don't focus on what people say, focus on the effect you personally achieve. Let me ask you this: "Does your edge improve after stropping?" Have you started out by shaving without stropping and then stropped and gone back to shaving? If you aren't getting any improvement relook at the way you strop or the way you interpret what people are saying. From my perspective some of the generic advice we give out is very conservative. I can agree that a really sharp razor benefits from taut and light stropping, but most of my blades after a few weeks of shaving actually get better effect from some pressure added. So taut strop, but adding pressure. I would try to shave, then do like 50 passes on linen, followed by 50 passes on leather with some pressure, then do 50 passes on leather really, really lightly. Use enough pressure to feel a draw, assuming your strop provides it. But really think about effectively stropping your blade. Don't worry so much about what somebody else says they do to their blade. And then measure for the effect. If I hone up a razor it'll shave just fine without stropping at all. So, if I hone up a razor and then strop very lightly, why would I be impressed if I could shave off that edge? I could shave off it in the first place. The real mastery begins when you can take a razor that does not shave well and, using a strop, make it shave close and smooth; in a way that it could not before you stropped it.

So in summary the keys for real success lie in good prep, effective stretching, a light touch, effective stropping, and a well practiced focus on the angle/whisker/result of each stroke.

Its in the technique of the shave. I get BBS shaves 100% of the time and I absolutely love the feel of it.

Some areas on the neck and throat are the most difficult to get BBS as they require a certain stretch, pitch of the angle, scything motion, and only on my third pass do these work well to get this area BBS+.

I had to practice and try different things. 30 degrees is a decent guidline, but not the law. Occasionally a few hairs will be BBS in three directions, but I can slightly feel them in the forth direction. That is still BBS and sometimes they are best left that way so they grow out properly and don't give you problems. Only you will know this difference, not anyone looking at you.

If you can rub a cotton ball on your face and it doesn't catch any hairs, then you have a BBS shave.

I hope this helps some.

Pabster