What's new

Making The Call For Quality of Shave

Do you define and determine the quality of your shave (DFS, BBS, Lousy shave for example) immediately when finished or after your post-shave routine?
 
For me, I need 8-10 hours post-shave to determine its efficiency. For example, I had a tremendous shave this morning with my Asylum RX, and 11 hours later it's pretty darn close to a BBS. Yesterday, I used my Weck, and I could feel stubble 4-5 hours post-shave, although the immediate post-shave feel was pretty darn good.
 

Ron R

I survived a lathey foreman
Do you define and determine the quality of your shave (DFS, BBS, Lousy shave for example) immediately when finished or after your post-shave routine?
Hello Jill, I like to determine my shave about 1/2 to 1 hr after the shave if its a DFS>BBS.(let the skin settle down a little)
To check if you have a BBS, a cotton ball will confirm it because it will always snag some cotton if there is some hairs left behind.(Mantic59 showed me that test on one of his videos.)
 
Hello Jill, I like to determine my shave about 1/2 to 1 hr after the shave if its a DFS>BBS.(let the skin settle down a little)

+1

Usually this for a final call on the shave, even if there has been irritation. However, most shaves I can make a pretty accurate initial call upon the final rinse, as I am smooth in all directions. I know because most of the time I’m BBS with some occasional DFS spots. Longer growth is harder to judge.

If you shave regularly and aren’t SAS to CCS in a single WTG pass, something is wrong. DFS should be obtainable with 2 passes at most (WTG and XTG). With good prep you and good knowledge of your shave area, you could get BBS in 2.5 passes.
 
+1

Usually this for a final call on the shave, even if there has been irritation. However, most shaves I can make a pretty accurate initial call upon the final rinse, as I am smooth in all directions. I know because most of the time I’m BBS with some occasional DFS spots. Longer growth is harder to judge.

If you shave regularly and aren’t SAS to CCS in a single WTG pass, something is wrong. DFS should be obtainable with 2 passes at most (WTG and XTG). With good prep you and good knowledge of your shave area, you could get BBS in 2.5 passes.
Please remind me what a SAS and CCS stands for.
 
SAS = Socially Acceptable Shave, which is, in my opinion, a level of shave where it at least looks like you’ve cleaned up your growth. Hair can be felt in all directions however.

CCS = Close Comfortable (or Comfortably Close) Shave, which is, in my opinion, a very close shave where hair might only be felt very minimally in 1-2 directions.
 
I can usually decide relatively quickly, but four to five hours after any shave, I can start to feel stubble again. That's just due to the fact that my whiskers grow relatively quickly.
 

ajkel64

Check Out Chick
Staff member
I can usually tell pretty much after I rinse my face as I use an alum block after every shave. That gives me an indication of how the shave has gone and then looking in the mirror for any redness. I don't bother about trying to get a BBS because I find that the more passes that I do the more chance I have of irritation and getting nicks. I find it is surprising how good of a shave that I can have when I am not trying.
 
I find during the final rinse that I usually think I didn't get all the growth. Two hours later, though, I almost always find that I did better than I thought.
 
Immediately after finishing I can evaluate ‘comfort’ of the shave. However, at 6-12 hours I can evaluate just how well I did in mowing down the whiskers. In other words, I use a combination of approaches!
 
At about 1/2 hour after is when I can judge the best, but final rinse I can usually tell if I needed some touch ups here and there.
 
I can never tell immediately after my shave. I use a good shave balm and AS. After a few hours I can really tell. I want a BBS shave that is comfortable and enjoyable. I find that with my new razor and a Feather blade, I can shave at night and still be BBS in the morning.
 
Generally after post shave routine. Sometimes I can tell straight away though, kinda like a fresh feeling for me.
 
Interesting question, Jill! It’s made me think maybe I’m doing it wrong.

I tend to call the shave on the basis of two things . . . the first is the skin’s reaction to the alum block (which I always use everywhere after a cold-water rinse). Comfort, ‘smoothness,’ I judge from this, and it’s maybe more important to me than closeness (though I feel like I’m just realizing that now).

After that, I shower, apply a little balm, and later when dressed and ready to go, I apply an AS splash. Only after all that calms down (30 minutes later?) do I feel my skin and judge how close the whole deal turned out.

Recently, I’ve noticed that there’s still a third judgement: 24 hours later, when I feel how much whisker has returned - that’s pretty much how I gage efficiency.

But to answer your specific question, I tend to judge a shave immediately on alum sting, though not the closeness until after post-shave routine.
 
I tend to define my shaves later and notice I missed some places. If I find some spots I know its because I was not attentive to spot check the usual suspects.

I've been using three vintage GEM's and a Schick injector. My face feels different with these 6-8 hours later. I might be getting a better result with SE or maybe I am being more attentive.
 
Hello Jill, I like to determine my shave about 1/2 to 1 hr after the shave if its a DFS>BBS.(let the skin settle down a little)
To check if you have a BBS, a cotton ball will confirm it because it will always snag some cotton if there is some hairs left behind.(Mantic59 showed me that test on one of his videos.)

I fall into the half hour to one hour camp also.
 
Top Bottom