Thread: New discovery

For a long time, I just never paid too much attention to
the "quality" of my morning shave, except to note that it
was OK, immediately following the shave.

Well, now that I'm retired, and have more time to pay
attention to such things, I discovered something.

Ordinarily, I "check" the quality of my morning shave by
feeling ATG to see if I "got it all". If all is well, then
that's it for the day. No discernable stubble = BBS

The other day, however, I noticed that, 10 minutes or so
after my shave, that I had "missed" quite a bit....there
was alot to be desired re: BBS.

This "revelation" occurred after I had checked for
"missed spots", rinsed my face, dried with a towel,
and applied aftershave.

Normally, due to pressures of time and necessity,
I wouldn't have even noticed this....but I'm retired
now, and I have time, and I do notice.

I wasn't happy with that shave, so I decided to "give it
a touch-up" using water only. This, remember, is 10
minutes post "BBS" shave.

I applied cold water to my face, I gave my beard another
ATG pass, and I was astonished at how much more of
my beard was removed....10 minutes later, no lather,
water only...WOW!

Now, I don't understand this. My initial "survey" was
BBS. 10 minutes later it's definitely NOT BBS.

I don't understand this at all. My beard can't possibly
grow that fast.

Does anyone have some insight into this?

Thanks,
Paul

Hi Paul. No, your beard is not growing that fast, although that would be impressive! What is happening is the skin on your face is tightening (from aftershave and cooling down) to reveal some stubble that was below the surface when your skin was warm and relaxed.

Try rinsing your face with cold water before your ATG pass to tighten the skin up a bit. Works for me every time. HTH

Mark


*Edited once for spelling*

Mine does the reverse. When I finish my shave I can feel stubble on my chin. After ten minutes it's significantly less as the follicles withdraw slightly.
I never go BBS around my mouth though, as I'll just end up with ingrowns.

I've noticed a similar thing as the original poster. Immediately after my ATG pass I use cold water to rinse and I can sometimes actually feel the stubble pop up and expose itself as my skin contracts. Then I can touch up those spots using just the cold water and get all of those stubborn areas. Then I have a true BBS face.

I think the bottom line is that the shaving process makes some temporary changes in your skin and they differ from person to person depending on your face. Once your done and those changes reverse you may find you missed a few spots or it may be the opposite. I know with me a few minutes later my face feels smoother.

This would be a good topic for a survey.

Would this be part of the cold water shave thing I have heard about. The cold water allows you to see more or get more since the skin is not warm and possibly puffy from the warmth?

I took all your comments to heart, and I have come to
a conclusion, after further "study".

The "discovered" post-shave stubble IS related to the
cooling of the face. A cold-water finish and the application
of an alcohol-based aftershave did indeed result in the
skin tightening, which in turn revealed stubble.

However, on my face at least, this cooling process is not
immediate. It takes a few (5-10) minutes to occur.

Therefore, the solution (for me) is to wait a bit after
I'm "done", and then do a final touch-up on the shave.

Thanks for all the help and advice!

Cheers,
Paul

You'll have to draw your cold water from the fridge instead of the Pacific ocean mate.


Mick

Hey Mick....Our "tap" water is captured rain water,
stored in tanks. It is actually cooler then the seawater
here, by many degrees.

I'm not about to add ice to my shave water, mate,
and the salt on a wound is more than I am prepared
to suffer!

Cheers,
Paul

Hey Paul...simply put m'man...do the cold water shave instead.you soak,lather shave and rinse in it.I'm living proof that it works and my shaves turn out 98% bbs which is good enough for me.It's really soothing too.And you dont really need to do ATG which means alot less irritation. P.S.I'm sittin here with some sechuan chiken and it's mighty ifo vovo !! And I can't spell worth diddle tonight hehe.