A moment of enlightenment

[guenron]

Ron,

What say you on the dangers of this technique using maybe a slightly less aggressive blade a la Derby?

Andy,
Everytime I have tried with blades that (appear) are less sharp, it may be okay for the first day, nicks the second day, more nicks the third day..I toss them at that point or change my shaving style. Blade hop is your real enemy. It occurs when the blade does not scythe(pop the hair), but pulls on the whisker.. I cringe at the results.

 

[woodbane]

Ron,

I get the feeling you're very much from the "the sharper, the better" brigade!

 

[letterk]

And I was thinking I was all macho for shaving against the grain on the first pass...

 

[guenron]

Ron,

I get the feeling you're very much from the "the sharper, the better" brigade!

Andy,
That seems to encapsulate my experience. When I first started with the Vision I used Merkurs and a setting of "S * I." I achieved fair results. Occasionally when I shaved of the S-N I would get a nick or two or a bit of irritation. Deciding I did not like wall papering my visage with toilet tissue, I started to analyze the site(s) of the nicks and look for a pattern. What I found was those areas always had more of the shrub remaining than elsewhere, i.e. I had not reduced the whiskers low enough for the blade to easily shear. The remaining whiskers were holding the blade and when releasing it, there was a slingshot-like effect accelerating the razor as it plopped down onto my face taking a bite out of my skin.(aka a #@% nick).
What to do? I was prepping well enough that it was not an issue of hydration. I had GREAT lather, good blade angle.. I looked at the speed, angle, etc. to no avail. Having nothing to lose but 8 pints of blood, (intuitively) I opened the Vision to "V" and started very carefully checking the results of each of my passes. I confirmed that my original hypothesis, after analysis, yielded some relief. But, suddenly I noted that a blade that had previously given me a week of comfortable shaves; no longer did. I switched to Feathers and found the satisfying results I was looking for, the BBS visage..
Not being one to be satisfied with apparent perfection, I have fiddled and diddled and piddled with different blades and razors only to find that for a week-long (or almost week-long) great shave the Feather, with a lot of steel showing, is the answer. AAMOF, I find that with some razors, if I don't use a Feather it's irritation city,
Remember, these results are from my PERSONAL experience. That experience includes a very tough, wirey beard (grey/white is tougher that dark), and an aging visage where skin tone is not quite as good as it was twenty, thirty, or forty years ago.. Point in fact, I am invariably meticulous about prepping with no less than 3 minutes of hot-water beard hydration prior to lathering, etc. While I can get a passable shearing with less prep and less threatening techniques, it is what it is and that is a daily exercise in achieving excellence.

 

[Kyle]

Very well written, Ron.

 

[DoubleE]

Feather! Nuff said!

 

[woodbane]

I'm very much looking forward to trying a Feather blade, when my order arrives. I've just stuck a swedish gillette in my Futur as I said and will be trying this on a 6 later this evening.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained as they say.