Fast shave, not the best idea.

Well today I was very rushed to get a shave in. I am in the military and I was out of town on a trip. Well we were told to get back to the hotel asap grab your bags and get to the plane. Needless to say I hadnt shaved, and I only had my straight.

I did a very hurried shave, only one good nick. Not any burning, but I was being gentle since I was going so fast. The shave wasnt great, but I dont ever want to shave that fast again. It wasnt very fun. But at least I know I can do it in a pinch. Lesson learned, always shave first thing in the morning or night before when on the road.

Brian

Yep, the quick shaves are never the best..if I need to shave quick I use my DE. Except for weekends I always shave in the evenings that way I'm never rushed. Good thing to know you can get er done in a pinch though :tu

This is why I haven't tossed the mach3 yet. I rarely pick it up, but twice in the last 6 months I've been straight shaving I needed a super fast shave. Nothing pretty of course, but it does the job quickly.

It was the first time I left my shick out of my dopp kit. Thought to my self, I can be a big boy this trip and do with out. Um, apparently not. I got the job done, but not with out my razor letting me know it didnt like being rushed.

to many people undervalue the de.. i recommend getting one of those travel merkurs.. they breakdown to about the size of a silver dollar.

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Originally Posted by vthomlinson

to many people undervalue the de.. i recommend getting one of those travel merkurs.. they breakdown to about the size of a silver dollar.

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I had ordered one but it didnt arrive in time for my trip. I have it in hand now and love it, an Edwin Jagger 89L. So it will be in my dopp kit along with my travel straight when im on the road.

I started all this to save a little dough along with getting a better shave. I need to stop buying stuff in order to get a return on investment. :rofl2:

Thank You, KD, for your service.

I keep a DE for such occaisions also. If I were on short notice call, I might keep a cheapo disposable.

I struggle to do well when I take an hour. You're already doing better than I.

Funnily enough, this morning my girlfriend decided to set me a time limit on my shave. All I had was 10 minutes, so I face lathered and used tools I was rather comfortable with, and I got a great shave.
I think the truth behind it is simple: keep at it, the technique gets better with practice, and the more you learn your tools the faster you'll be.
Also, if you're pressed for time on most occasions and you're still learning your straight razor technique, I would advise only using one razor/brush/soap/aftershave combo that you feel comfortable with until your technique develops.

If I have to have a quick shave I do it by eliminating steps rather than by trying to speed up the process. By that I mean that I might go for only one pass, but try to make it a perfect pass. Or maybe I will use a Feather so I don't have to strop or worry about taking care of the razor after the shave. For me rushing through the shave not only leads to problems, it totally defeats the purpose.

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Originally Posted by Bill S

If I have to have a quick shave I do it by eliminating steps rather than by trying to speed up the process.

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This is great advise. Once I got used to straight shaving, I realized I wanted to spend 30 minutes getting that smooth BBS shave only once in awhile, but didn't want to spend 30 minutes for every shave. So I started finding ways to get my time down for my everyday work shaves.

The most important thing for me was not to try to shave fast, but to make each step count.

Building the lather on the face is a big timesaver. Instead of 3 minutes building lather in a bowl, and another 3 minutes working it into your face, just build it on your face and kill two birds with one stone.

Instead of lots of smaller strokes with lots of adjusting of the skin stretching hand. I'll do a few really long strokes. So now, while my chin still needs lots of small strokes, I can do all of one side of my face and neck in 7-10 strokes.

After my quick WTG, I'll do a touchup XTG pass with water only.

This gives me a very decent shave in less than 10 minutes easy. It isn't rushed either, just efficient use of strokes.

Something to be said for holding on to your Mach 3, or whatever cartridge razor you came from. You never know when it may come in handy. *a hoist of the ****tail glass from an OIF vet/Reservist to my Active Duty counterpart*