Dialing it in

[FloridaMan]

Disclaimer: Nothing below is rocket science nor is the idea unique to me. : ) ....but it's the newbie board, so here are my thoughts.

All of the great teachers here talk about the importance of light pressure. It got me to thinking, us new guys don't always know what this means, especially when graduating from cartridges and Norelcos. Importantly, today we come to DE's by way of electrics and cartridges, years ago we came to DE's by way of straight razors. That's a significant difference.

This morning I decided that I was going to go super light on my passes. Meaning, what I considered light before, I softened by a considerable magnitude. Just enough pressure to keep the razor at the right angle, not drop it, and nothing else. Had to get in the right mind set....fragile, dainty thoughts like sipping a cup of tea whilst sitting next the the Queen, holding an ultra rare baseball card, releasing an endangered butterfly into the wild.....you get the idea. 30+ years of muscle memory grinding away at my whiskers is no small hurdle.

This was a breakthrough shave for me. The secret sauce was that I convinced myself that it was going to take as many passes as it was going to take and that no matter what I wasn't going to add additional pressure. You know what? it still only took 3 passes to get to DFS, and 1 more touch up pass to get to mostly BBS. Not much different then I normally would do and it was the least irritation i've had, confirmed by an alum block and aftershave. Was it perfect, no, but really great nonetheless.

Lessons learned:
1. When the more experienced say "light pressure", us new guys coming from electric/cartridge may translate it to, "Ok, how I used to shave, but dialed back".
2. What some of us may need to hear is, "Build up from near zero pressure as needed rather than scale back from your prior experience, don't deviate, and take as many passes as you need. Then dial it in from there"
3. I'd imagine if I had been using a straight razor all my life, coming to a DE, pressure would not be the issue, because I'd be used to a very light touch. But, I've been teaching myself how to survive dull cartridges and one pass shaves my whole life. So too much pressure is very much the issue, at least for me.
4. There's still lots more to learn, but dialing it in makes more sense now starting from a 0 and scaling up rather than remembering 10 and scaling back.

Tools used: Merkur 38C, TOBS Sandlewood, Dorko blade-3d shave (not great, part of a sampler pack), Alum, and PAA Future Fiction AS

Thoughts?

 

[Rosseforp]

Disclaimer: Nothing below is rocket science nor is the idea unique to me. : ) ....but it's the newbie board, so here are my thoughts.

All of the great teachers here talk about the importance of light pressure. It got me to thinking, us new guys don't always know what this means, especially when graduating from cartridges and Norelcos. Importantly, today we come to DE's by way of electrics and cartridges, years ago we came to DE's by way of straight razors. That's a significant difference.

This morning I decided that I was going to go super light on my passes. Meaning, what I considered light before, I softened by a considerable magnitude. Just enough pressure to keep the razor at the right angle, not drop it, and nothing else. Had to get in the right mind set....fragile, dainty thoughts like sipping a cup of tea whilst sitting next the the Queen, holding an ultra rare baseball card, releasing an endangered butterfly into the wild.....you get the idea. 30+ years of muscle memory grinding away at my whiskers is no small hurdle.

This was a breakthrough shave for me. The secret sauce was that I convinced myself that it was going to take as many passes as it was going to take and that no matter what I wasn't going to add additional pressure. You know what? it still only took 3 passes to get to DFS, and 1 more touch up pass to get to mostly BBS. Not much different then I normally would do and it was the least irritation i've had, confirmed by an alum block and aftershave. Was it perfect, no, but really great nonetheless.

Lessons learned:
1. When the more experienced say "light pressure", us new guys coming from electric/cartridge may translate it to, "Ok, how I used to shave, but dialed back".
2. What some of us may need to hear is, "Build up from near zero pressure as needed rather than scale back from your prior experience, don't deviate, and take as many passes as you need. Then dial it in from there"
3. I'd imagine if I had been using a straight razor all my life, coming to a DE, pressure would not be the issue, because I'd be used to a very light touch. But, I've been teaching myself how to survive dull cartridges and one pass shaves my whole life. So too much pressure is very much the issue, at least for me.
4. There's still lots more to learn, but dialing it in makes more sense now starting from a 0 and scaling up rather than remembering 10 and scaling back.

Tools used: Merkur 38C, TOBS Sandlewood, Dorko blade-3d shave (not great, part of a sampler pack), Alum, and PAA Future Fiction AS

Thoughts?

Welcome to B&B!

A great place to start would be here:

The Wanderer’s Guide For Newbies

There are already a number of really excellent guides out on the forum and wiki already, but I wanted to have a crack at it myself. Why? Because every experienced shaver recommends what has worked for them, and what works for the writers of the other guides, doesn’t necessarily work for me … and...

www.badgerandblade.com

~doug~

 

[AimlessWanderer]

One way I have started trying to explain no pressure, since writing that guide that @Rosseforp linked to (cheers Doug), is as follows:

• Sometime after a shave, when your face is already smooth, take the blade out of the razor.
• Hold the razor securely. For some reason, some folks think no pressure means holding the razor so lightly, that they might drop it.
• With the blade-free razor, and no lather, offer the razor to your face as if you're about to shave, but touch it against your face so lightly, that you can barely feel it.
• When you're not quite sure whether the razor is touching or not, THAT'S no pressure.
• Note the angle of the razor. Is the cap and comb touching at the same time? If not, and only one is in contact, the chances are that the blade (if it was there) wouldn't be at skin level. That means it would most likely tug.
• Still with no blade, and still with no lather, go through the motions of doing a full shave. The aim being, to maintain that borderline uncertainty of whether the razor is touching or not, whilst at the same time making sure that you're keeping both cap AND comb at skin level.
• The final piece of the puzzle, aside from putting a blade back in, and doing the shave for real, is to avoid making a lather so dense, that you lose all that perception of lightness of touch.
• Some folks on that well known video site, look like they're making lather to protect themselves against face planting down a flight of concrete steps. with that lather, by the time you know whether the razor is in contact or not, you're already using WAY too much pressure.
• With the secure hold on the razor, lightness of touch on the face, thin and slick lather, and the certainty of good angle control in all areas and all directions, the vast majority of new shaver's problems would evaporate.

The reason I say do this after a shave, is stubble can mess up that lightness of touch perception.

Oh... and remember to put the blade back in when you do it for real

 

[dmshaver]

Welcome, & thanks for the post.

 

[PRobots]

Welcome aboard! Looks like you are on the path to great shaves!

 

[FloridaMan]

One way I have started trying to explain no pressure, since writing that guide that @Rosseforp linked to (cheers Doug), is as follows:

• Sometime after a shave, when your face is already smooth, take the blade out of the razor.
• Hold the razor securely. For some reason, some folks think no pressure means holding the razor so lightly, that they might drop it.
• With the blade-free razor, and no lather, offer the razor to your face as if you're about to shave, but touch it against your face so lightly, that you can barely feel it.
• When you're not quite sure whether the razor is touching or not, THAT'S no pressure.
• Note the angle of the razor. Is the cap and comb touching at the same time? If not, and only one is in contact, the chances are that the blade (if it was there) wouldn't be at skin level. That means it would most likely tug.
• Still with no blade, and still with no lather, go through the motions of doing a full shave. The aim being, to maintain that borderline uncertainty of whether the razor is touching or not, whilst at the same time making sure that you're keeping both cap AND comb at skin level.
• The final piece of the puzzle, aside from putting a blade back in, and doing the shave for real, is to avoid making a lather so dense, that you lose all that perception of lightness of touch.
• Some folks on that well known video site, look like they're making lather to protect themselves against face planting down a flight of concrete steps. with that lather, by the time you know whether the razor is in contact or not, you're already using WAY too much pressure.
• With the secure hold on the razor, lightness of touch on the face, thin and slick lather, and the certainty of good angle control in all areas and all directions, the vast majority of new shaver's problems would evaporate.

The reason I say do this after a shave, is stubble can mess up that lightness of touch perception.

Oh... and remember to put the blade back in when you do it for real

Excellent. Thank you for this thoughtful reply. I always marvel at how different words mean different things to people (hence the point of my original post) but a great teacher can overcome this by offering a real world exercise, like you did in your post above. Thanks so much. Greatly appreciated. Your comment on lather is very insightful as well. Thank you!!

 

[BigJ]

Welcome aboard!

 

[Phoenixkh]

Very thoughtful first post.

Welcome to B&B.

 

[Whisky]

Great first post. Pressure, or the lack of, is the secret to getting a truly great irritation free shave.

When you get a chance head over to the Hall of Fame and tell us a little about yourself.

Hall of Fame

This the Badger & Blade 'Hall of Fame'. It's a place for users to tell the community a little bit about themselves. Who should join the Hall of Fame? EVERYONE!

www.badgerandblade.com