I've been doing this straight thing for a number of years now & have gotten pretty good at it. However one final mystery continues to haunt and baffle me. You know that elusive Perfect Shave? The one which is BBS in every single direction? I can get that reliably, but only under a very specific set of circumstances, which are as follows:

-- It has been 2 or 3 days since I last shaved

-- The razor is either freshly honed, or has only one shave worth of mileage on it. Actually, the latter is better than the former; a freshly honed edge is grabby and a little harsh.

-- I do a full 3-pass shave. 1 pass is useless, 2 passes acceptable, 3 passes divine.

I have no idea why this is so. would it maybe help if I were to swing a dead chicken over my head by the light of the full moon while singing the praises of the shaving gods?

PS: I have the unfortunate combination of sensitive skin and a barbed wire beard. This might have something to do with it.