If I'm using a safety razor it's very easy to stop at a 3 pass shave, which doesn't quite get me to a perfect shave. Sometimes I shave with, then against the grain only, for a much better than average shave. Maybe I'm too pernickety, but getting truly-and-utterly-homogenous-never-grown-a-beard-in-your-life-smooth is very difficult. There's always some sensation of hair somewhere from some angle, despite the fact that it's invisible. Sometimes it takes me a long time to find it, passing a hand over my face for a full minute to feel THAT tiny little inconsistency in the hollow between my jawbone and chin or wherever, but I always find it. I've had truly BBS only a few times, despite being 95% there more than half my shaves of the last 45 months or so. I found a 37c was one of the worst razors for this. Great first pass then downhill from there. I don't worry about it and I step down the next morning at the merest hint of irritation.
Is a BBS shave every day okay?
- Thread starter Blackbeard's Delight
- Start date
Same set-up here - mine is Grande handle Mühle R41 and I use Feather or Persona blades, too. However, as other have ponted out, for me a BBS is more easily achievable if I let the beard grow for 3-4 days.
I also think slants are not a big deal, actually can be counter productive. I'll rather do my own slicing shave strokes (guillotine) than use a slant. Many say that Muhle R41 is too aggressive. It’s been my go-to razor for years and I absolutely love it. Never had any major cut doing either J-hooks or slicing stroke to get a BBS, other than a couple of nicks on my first shave with it.
BBS is overrated!
I have the sort of face that ordinarily cannot handle daily shaves, but I like the relaxing ritual of an evening shave. What has helped me solve this dilemma is to use a mild razor (Feather AS-DS2), pay close attention to my prep and shaving technique, and to change razor blades every few days. Also, as you say, healthy skin depends on what you do to your face after you shave. I rarely get a true BBS shave, but am happy with a shave that is close enough and does not cause irritation. This allows me to shave daily.
By the way, I'm interested in what you do to keep your skin healthy after you shave.
People should do what's good for their face. Some people might be able to tolerate a BBS shave every day. Some people aren't able to tolerate daily shaving at all. A lot of people are in the middle, able to get a daily comfortable DFS and step up to BBS for special occasions. Wetshaving is all about finding what works best for you...if daily BBS works for you, great, but if it doesn't, you don't have to chase it.
It's BBS every shave for me. I was shaving everyday with DE, when I switched to SE, BBS would last for 20 or so hours so i started shaving every other day. Now I'm just lazy and only shave once a week, it's BBS of course.
www.badgerandblade.com
[POLL] BBS or DFS
POLL... Do you have to have a BBS shave or do you settle for DFS or less? I have to have a BBS shave everyday. Once I was able to get BBS results, I can't shave with anything not capable of getting me there.
www.badgerandblade.com
This is very true. My stubble is like copper wire -stubble gets tougher the older you get! When I shoot for BBS I risk redness, weepers and nicks. For me BBS necessitates touch-ups and repeated buffing in my troublesome facial areas which causes the redness, weepers and nicks. I've spent a small fortune buying different razors in my quest for that elusive one BBS razor -which on reflection has been a waste of money. Reading this Forum didn't help me to stop spending money buying more and more different razors!
The greatest thing for achieving a close shave, for me, has been pressing a warm/hot flannel on my stubble before and between passes for good exfoliation. Nevertheless, I really must learn to be content with sticking to just three passes (WTG/XTG/ATG)when using a mild razor without doing touch-ups and buffing for BBS -the cause of my irritation. Alternatively WTG, XTG and limited ATG strokes when using a more aggressive razor. Since I find that whether I use a mild or a more aggressive razor the 'closeness' of the shave, for me, is about the same.
As someone once said,'hindsight has 20/20 vision.'
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