What exactly is BBS?

[MasterRolf]

What ever you want it to be. After all, no one is going to come to your house and check.

[HNSB]

What ever you want it to be. After all, no one is going to come to your house and check.

What if they do???

[Deckard]

Good grief.
When I think back to what used to be acceptable before getting into this, who cares? I just think it's good to aim for it and it's nice when it happens more cosistantly.
To me the shave ritual primarily is an experience to be savoured like a single malt.
If I come off the hone ever so slightly tuggy I'll leave it at that. I will get very servicable shaves and keep time on the stone to a minimum.

[flyman]

What if they do???

I guess I had better lock the shave den door!

[tinkersd]

For my part, a BBS shave is when you feel across your face in ALL directions and its jut plain smooth!! It will depend on not just your experiience, but which razor you might be useing that day, each razor in a rotation will be a bit different. Your face prep. of course. And the amount of time you have that day, not to mention the OCD factor. I go WTG/XTG/ATG and then very cold water rinse with lots of cold water, I feel it tightens the skin and allows the stuble to present for better cutting. All the touch ups at that point are easier when you can feel the beard better. Razor burn?? Yes that will sometimes go with the teritory, but not always.
Thanks for letting me chime in,

tinkersd of SRP!

[Bodach]

At my stage of the game, the best shave I have had was 3 passes and touch ups. I still haven't got a BBS shave! I have gotten it all with the exception of the real estate right on either side of the adams apple. For one thing, at my age the skin gets a little loose down there.

One thing though, each pass I make is not strictly WTG, ATG, XTG. Within each pass I make several follow up strokes in different directions. Using this method, I have mastered getting a DFS in one pass.

Let's set the stage...

John Doe shaved in the morning before work and considers his shave to be a PGS.

If I walked up to John Doe and stood a comfortable distance from him, would I see stubble here and there and think he just did a poor job of shaving?

Same exact setup, but now John Doe thinks he had a DFS, does the answer change?

As many of you have said BBS is the holy grail of the shave, meaning it would be perfectly smooth if your wife or girlfriend were to rub her hands over your head/face. At what point does the shave break down enough that it looks "sloppy" from a business point of view--I.E. you can see it and it looks bad. DFS, PGS?

Bodach

[souschefdude]

One of the better recent shaves I had was before a cousins' wedding last weekend. I was not trying for BBS, just trying to not leave any weepers, didn't want to bleed all over my collar, plus all my relatives who knew I started str8 shaving recently would have been all over me if I showed up bloody. I made 2 passes only, and got a DFS. not quite BBS, but not far from it.
Moral: relax and enjoy, don't chase the BBS.

Be the shave.

[flyman]

As time goes on, for my part, I think I will eventually hone my technique enough to get a BBS shave. For the time being, I can get a DFS with a pass and a half that gives me a baby face from a comfortable distance.

[bconl205]

What do the letters stand for? I'm a newbie excuse me. And DFS is darn fine shave I'm assuming.

[Muscles]

#1 BBS - Baby Butt Smooth
#2 DFS - Damn Fine SHave
#3 PGS - Pretty Good Shave
#4 CCS - Close Comfortable Shave
#5 SAS - Socially Acceptable Shave

Any Others? Are they in the correct order?

I normally get PGS's and the occasional DFS, well, in my eyes anyway. I never aim for BBS as I know it will result in some discomfort when the stubble grows back. YMMV.