Thread: Rapid Shave

Greg,
That made my night...I had a stressful day today, but reading your post totally relieved the strain...poof! Gone!! I even shared it with my wife...we both had a great laugh. We do relate.

One question: I never got an invitation to the party!!Did anyone else??

Hope you had a great party and that SWMBO never doubts you again.

Sometimes I have to shave at a faster pace than I like.
If I get up from bed 10 minutes later than I'd should, I need to speed up things a bit.
I left everything ready the night before - brush, soap, stropped razor. After taking a quick shower to get myself more alert - I suggest you don't shave immediatly after waking up, you need your senses in full motion - I face lather, gaining some time over the typical bowl lathering, and start shaving.
I can get a DFS, not a BBS, with only one pass plus touch ups. It's perfectly possible and under 15 minutes.

Ryan,

I think they're all related. How else do they understand each other so well when we're totally clueless as to what they're talking about?

To make the story even more spine-tingling: I forgot to mention that she suffers from frequent headaches, and she had a headache all day. Junior & I ran off to "Man Day" at our church from 10 - 4. It's a testosterone-filled event where dads and their sons compete for the coveted Axe of Manhood (and try desperately not to be in last place and be awarded the Cinderella's Slipper trophy - a lovely pink & purple number). To make it even worse, this was a party for someone at my workplace. I work in a large department at a major university, and she only knows about half of the people. She tends to be shy in social settings where she doesn't know everyone.

Lest you think I'm a total loser, junior & I cut the yard, weeded the flowerbeds, trimmed the shrubs, and helped clean the house the few days before the party. The place was spotless and looked like something out of Southern Living.

Originally Posted by Ryan82

LinacMan,

You just won the prize for most spine-tingling post of the year. Sounds eerily familiar to me. Are you sure our wives aren't related?

Robert,

Glad to provide stress relief

As for the party: you don't need an invitation. Mi casa es su casa, amigo. (Or as we say in Alabama "If a tornado's not blowin' in, ya'll are welcome at the double-wide anytime.")

Originally Posted by BladeRunner001

Greg,
That made my night...I had a stressful day today, but reading your post totally relieved the strain...poof! Gone!! I even shared it with my wife...we both had a great laugh. We do relate.

One question: I never got an invitation to the party!!Did anyone else??

Hope you had a great party and that SWMBO never doubts you again.

David & Victor,

Junior saw both of your posts this a.m. before I left for work. He was grinning from ear to ear. He's even helping me build a doll bed for "baby sister", my 6 year old. We're learning how to make a mortise & tenon joint together.

A good man is hard to find. I guess I just got lucky

Greg

Originally Posted by Alembic

That's great that your son was your valet. Every gentleman needs one!

Originally Posted by vthomlinson

i started laughing like crazy when you recruited junior as a valet.. he washed your brush? that's awesome..

Depends on how hurried I am. If I'm in a hurry, about 7-8 minutes, for two passes, including lathering twice. (I lather in the palm of my hand). If I take my time, maybe 10 minutes. I'm conflicted. I say I view shaving as a contemplative, meditative experience, but I'm quick. I can't seem to figure out a way to make a couple of passes last more than about 10 minutes. I suppose I could shave 4, 5, 6 times, or I could take really short strokes with a pause in between, but that seems excessive, and the lather dries.

One of the reasons I embraced straight razor shaving was as a means of slowing down & fighting the rushed and hurried pace of modern life. That being said, I don't always take 30 minutes to shave - I've oversleep a little and had to pare down the shave by a few minutes, don't turn on music, etc. If I oversleep by a lot, I just forgo shaving so I don't have to rush.

Maybe I don't spend any more time with the blade to my face than you do. Maybe it's just the in-between stuff that slows me down, i.e. - take a sip of coffee, answer questions as family members wander through the shave den, change songs, etc.

Saturday was the first time that I consciously "cranked out" a fast str8 shave. It was a calculated self-challenge where the stakes were high The adrenaline rush was worth it - like the feeling in your gut right before you go over the big hill on a roller coaster.

I guess in the final analysis it doesn't really matter how long a shave takes. As long as you enjoy the ride, life is good my friend.

Happy shaves!

Greg

Originally Posted by fdennis

Depends on how hurried I am. If I'm in a hurry, about 7-8 minutes, for two passes, including lathering twice. (I lather in the palm of my hand). If I take my time, maybe 10 minutes. I'm conflicted. I say I view shaving as a contemplative, meditative experience, but I'm quick. I can't seem to figure out a way to make a couple of passes last more than about 10 minutes. I suppose I could shave 4, 5, 6 times, or I could take really short strokes with a pause in between, but that seems excessive, and the lather dries.

Originally Posted by LinacMan

One of the reasons I embraced straight razor shaving was as a means of slowing down & fighting the rushed and hurried pace of modern life. That being said, I don't always take 30 minutes to shave - I've oversleep a little and had to pare down the shave by a few minutes, don't turn on music, etc. If I oversleep by a lot, I just forgo shaving so I don't have to rush.

Maybe I don't spend any more time with the blade to my face than you do. Maybe it's just the in-between stuff that slows me down, i.e. - take a sip of coffee, answer questions as family members wander through the shave den, change songs, etc.

Saturday was the first time that I consciously "cranked out" a fast str8 shave. It was a calculated self-challenge where the stakes were high The adrenaline rush was worth it - like the feeling in your gut right before you go over the big hill on a roller coaster.

I guess in the final analysis it doesn't really matter how long a shave takes. As long as you enjoy the ride, life is good my friend.

Happy shaves!

Greg

Well said Greg...I am there with you

When I started with the straight about 3 months ago, one major discouragement was how long it took. I think I was needing maybe 40 minutes! My wife rolled her eyes but then I told her it took me about as long as it took her to put her hair in rollers, apply make-up, take hair out of rollers, brush hair....

A couple days later I woke up with this lump on my head but I'm feeling better now!

I have a 3 pass shave down now to about 20 minutes, but I'm trying to work out a "B+" straight shave that is quicker--maybe one pass WTG and then some XTG and ATG touch up passes in spots where that will do the job.

I also recently acquired a couple DE razors that I might use when time is short--at least I can still enjoy the good lather and not have to deal with disposables.

I've had to do a quick shave once or twice too. The m3 was very tempting, but I opted to stick with my str8. One quick WTG and one quick XTG in about 6-7 minutes. Not BBS, but that wasn't needed.