My Ritual For Shaving on Days I Should Skip

[syngent]

Most days I dont have a problem, so I do my usual warm water wash with a facial cleanser, lather up, shave, cold water rinse, aftershave, but if I shave to many days in a row and can not take day off due to a date, or family function such as a wedding, then i do have a ritual that always works for me, so I thought I would share,...

Now I did not come up with any of this, it's information I found on this site that I put together to make a flawless shave on days I should probably skip
1. I start out like normal, with a cleanser washing my face with warm water, in the shower if possible, keeing warm-hot, water against my face
2. now I whip up a overly rich lather with one of my products with ingrediants to help the skin and soften hair, for me this is either my mwf, of my GR cream, then I leave it on my skin for a couple of minutes to let it sink into the hair and skin
3.rinse off access with warm water again being gentle not to completely wash it all away, and add a preshave oil, I found a post on here about how preshave oil doesn't add slickness, but rather helps lock water into the hair and skin, this is why I do not add before the lather in step two, as I dont want to lock out anything that can help the shave, so at this point the oil can help keep the water and lather properties stay in the hair
4. lather up ome quality bubbles, with a slicker soap of your choice, keeping it a little thinner as you are looking for slicker lather rather then the pillowy stuff as the earlier lather gave the skin and hair all it needed to stay supple
5. Shave away, with a go to razor/blade combo, no trying anything new out here, and keep it wtg, xtg,xtg for a good look but irritation free
6.cold water rinse off, thenI gently pat down access water with a towel, but not wipping all of it away
7. Then i hit my fce with some witch hazel, and give it a minute or two to sink in, I usually clean my brush and razor at this point just to kill time, and if i feel the need a quality a/s balm/lotion

and im always good to go, it's a bit much to go through everyday mind you, but it has served me well on a few occasions, with cameras everywhere at functions now no need to worry about razor burns, for me at least

Though as always your kilometers may very

 

[syngent]

87 views and no responses, lol, but anyone who sees this and thinks there is something wrong with it by all means speak up I don't want to pass along bad info, just seen 3 or 4 posts on the matter thought I would drop something out there for people who have super sensitive skin.

 

[The Kiwi]

I waited until now to read your suggestions. Personally, I must have one of two things going for me -- either my skin is just not that "sensitive", or else the process of daily shaves beginning from whenever I needed that frequency, probably about age 16, has gradually eliminated the sensitivity through the constant repetition, but since there have been so many times I have shaved 9 or 10 times in a week because of various functions I needed to attend in the evenings, and I've very seldom (that I remember) gotten a "burn" from shaving with a blade, only with electric shavers, my best guess is low sensitivity.

I wasn't sure what your subject line meant until after I read the comments. Were I in your shoes, I would edit in Advanced Mode so that the subject line inside the thread could be changed to read "need to" where you used the word "should".

 

[Mick]

Good information and thank you for putting it all together in one place.

I am sure it will benefit a lot of new (and a few experienced) shavers.

 

[ChiefBroom]

My ritual for days I should pass on but can't avoid shaving is very simple. I use a Fat-handled Tech and lather with a combo of MWF and Tabac and don't go for BBS. Post-shave is the usual hot water rince, cold-water rinse, alum, pat down with towel, witch hazel, dab of Kanwa, Musgo/Proraso AS mix.

 

[JeffOlson]

Those are great ideas!

For me, I need to keep it simple and quick, so I do what I always do (shower first, then lather, then shave with a Feather razor and blade, rinse with warm water, then apply Captain's Choice Bay Rum AS, then apply hand lotion)--except, I never shave XTG or ATG, only WTG, and I avoid multiple passes, excess pressure, and buffing/touch up.

 

[BlackBard]

Since I have been a daily shaver for over 45 years, it is a little hard for me to relate to "days I should skip." If I have managed to scrape or nick myself, I just use extra care the next time, but I don't otherwise alter my shaving routine.

What ever works for you, works for you.

 

[syngent]

Since I have been a daily shaver for over 45 years, it is a little hard for me to relate to "days I should skip." If I have managed to scrape or nick myself, I just use extra care the next time, but I don't otherwise alter my shaving routine.

What ever works for you, works for you.

45 years of daily shaving, wow, was there a time you ever went to the carts ?, or were you always a DE/Straight kind of guy ?

 

[BlackBard]

45 years of daily shaving, wow, was there a time you ever went to the carts ?, or were you always a DE/Straight kind of guy ?

I started shaving with what ever DE was in my parents house. I think it was a ball end. Then I bought a Fat Boy adjustable Gillette - my first new razor. I was using that when I went into the Army (1964). I was issued a Schick adjustable as part of my "welcome" kit, but did not like it. I used it as my display razor.

When the Gillette Techmatic came out, I bought that and abandoned the DE. Then came carts. I bought "then next great thing" that Gillette came up with. And so on. I used a Mach 3 until about 2 years ago, when I returned to DE shaving.

For most of this time, however, I have used a badger brush and shaving soap. This has enabled me to enjoy shaving for most of these years. Unlike so many other men, I got a good shave from the Mach 3 and would not mind going back to it, if it were not for the cost and lack of the "cool" traditional factor of a DE.

Sorry for the long post, but it has been a long journey.

 

[COHunter]

I've generally had relatively sensitive skin, on the neck like many other fellas on the forum. Oddly what I found when I switched to the DE, I'm acutally able to shave everyday vs the every-other I was doing with the carts. I often find that if I skip a day it is more irritating. i did have a very close to BBS shave yesterday morning, so the growth this morning was much more tame, and I just did a 2 pass shave with a couple of touch ups on the usual suspect areas.

If what you're doing works, then go for it.

 

[turbo tom]

I certainly follow the philosophy, if not the actual procedure. I shower while my brush is soaking in a mug of cold water, and wash my face with bar soap (typically Ivory) while showering. I do keep my face wet the entire shower. I do not dry my face after the shower, leaving it dripping wet while I fill the sink (cold) and whip up my lather. While making the lather I splash my face with cold water and keep doing so until I actually start shaving.

I think that once my beard is softened and hydrated in the shower, it's just a matter of keeping it wet until I shave.

I also keep my shaves comfortable everyday. If there is a day I "should" skip, other than the normal one day a weekend I typically do out of pure laziness, then I correct the mistake I made on that prior shave.

 

[syngent]

Blackbard, for 34 years of shaving and service in the military, that many brushes razorsm and soaps I think your post may have been able to go much longer and hold more interest then you would think lol

How come you dont get you vet tag for the site ?

Tom i had the same reaction, since i got DE down i can shave most any day okay, i find i can get a little irritation more in the winter time when 40 below winds are blowing on your face, it tends to dry your skin out, moisturizer helps a lot but once in a while i have a day i can feel going in wont be pretty specially at certain growth lengeths, about a day and a half after a shave when the hair is like sandpaper on my face,.. ill throw this at it and dont have a problem at all.

but more so for beginners who are playing with angles and pressure still it isnt a bad way to help them past a couple of days of not so great shaves

or people with super sensitive skin, its about the most you could do so not a bad place to start to find out if they could get past the shave okay then they can figure out by scalling back certain steps what works for them,

i dont do this often but it has worked when i have had to do it for sure

 

[BlackBard]

Blackbard, for 34 years of shaving and service in the military, that many brushes razorsm and soaps I think your post may have been able to go much longer and hold more interest then you would think lol

How come you dont get you vet tag for the site ?

Thanks for the comment. I don't consider my six years in the Army Reserves to be important enough to get the vet tag. There are many others who have given much more and who deserve the recognition. It was just something I did a long time ago.

 

[syngent]

aww i believe i caught you making a similar comment to someone in another thread didnt realize it was you untill you said that, but i belive you signing up for something greter then yourself, to help other who otherwise may not have been helped meets the requirements of the badge, my grandfthers and an uncle all served in candian forces and to them serving is serving, one was a cook one was SF and another marched the soles right off his boots,... and they would all say everyone in uniform matters, its not about those who did more or gave more, its that you gave more of yourself. just for your consideration, If your not comfortable with it no one would fault your choice either, but im sure there i more then a few people who would thank you none the less

 

[Go West Young Man]

If that routine works so well, why don't you shave that way every day?
What's different in your 'normal' routine?

 

[gstarr1]

I skip every chance I can. It rests my skin and my next shave is always BBS.

 

[syngent]

Simply a time thing Chris although I do do it on a Sunday shave sometimes just to take my time with it if I need to or not...but for a morning shave during week its a bit much and I don't usually need to do it

 

[syngent]

To give an example of the last time i did it,

I had been pifed a razor from DrColossus, and simply had to use it, it was a senator, first time i had ever used an open comb, or a TTO, I also dropped in a new blade i had never used, and a new soap i had not tried, needless to say the results werent that great... normally i would have just skipped a day or two then went on my merry way, except a friend had set me up on a date the next night and i needed a touch up... so i go through went through these steps, but i only needed a single pass with a few touch ups on that night, and it looked just fine for a date without any redness or irritation. I dont do it often but it works for me when i have to

 

[LouBarraza]

My beard grows pretty slow,so Its hard for me to shave every day.Depending on my shave technique ,if I shave doing a WTG,XTG,and call it good,I can probably shave the next day.But if I add a Against The Grain stroke,I cant shave for another couple of days(since there wont be much to shave)My facial hairs are not that tough yet,which surprises me because I figured being 38,they would be tough as wires now.
I go through a similar regiment.Wash face with a exfoliating scrub,lather for 2 ,sometimes 3 passes(WTG,XTG,and sometimes ATG)cold water rinse,after shave,and moisturizer.Been working good so far.