So It’s Supposed To Take 100 SR Shaves...

[azwetshaver]

Try writing your name with your non-dominant hand. At first it will look horrible. If you continue working at it, it will become better. At some point it will be comfortable writing with your non-dominant hand.

Same with shaving with a straight razor. It's about technique and muscle memory. You learn to concentrate on your skin (blade placement), pressure, angle, and then moving your arm in certain direction while maintaining no pressure and correct angle. You learn this for one pass, and then have to learn it for your 2nd and 3rd pass if you shave XTG or ATG. You also become more familiar with holding/manipulating the razor in your hands.

It takes about 100 shaves to feel comfortable having with a straight razor. At about 30 you see a lot of improvement. I would say most that quit, do so before 10 shaves. It can be a rough start.

 

[dundak]

I think 100 shaves a way of encapsulating a commitment to learn the process. If you had a shave ready razor, that stayed that way, and shaved daily it would take less. The 100 mark makes you learn the importance of stropping and maintenance. It also gives you an achievable goal that keeps you from giving up too early.

I’ve shaved daily with a straight for decades and am still learning little tweaks. You learn to drop a lot of the dogma that has been formed by the “consensus” of what should be done and focus on what actually works for you.


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[Twelvefret]

I think 100 shaves a way of encapsulating a commitment to learn the process. If you had a shave ready razor, that stayed that way, and shaved daily it would take less. The 100 mark makes you learn the importance of stropping and maintenance. It also gives you an achievable goal that keeps you from giving up too early.

I’ve shaved daily with a straight for decades and am still learning little tweaks. You learn to drop a lot of the dogma that has been formed by the “consensus” of what should be done and focus on what actually works for you.


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Good post. I think because I was able to acquire the tools to hone and get shave ready soon after beginning, I never began to count the number of shaves although, like you, I continue to learn.

 

[dsteidtmann]

I might just add one thing. I wouldn't expect your 100, or 30 or 75 or however many shaves it takes you to get proficient to be monotonically improving each shave. Not every one will be a little bit better than the last. I'd even go so far as to say, you might expect to back-slide a little.

My first dozen SR shaves were typical beginner fare. But I started to get the hang of it and by shave 30 or so, I started thinking, "Man, this is great. I've really got the hang of this now." Then the next dozen shaves were lousy. I think I was a little over confident, moving a little fast, not paying attention to angles (because I was pretty good at it). I would guess that while a lot of SR shavers never get past the dozen beginner shaves, there's probably a substantial tranche of SR shavers that give up during the "over-confident backslide" period.

 

[Old Grump]

After about 30 attempts, I could reliably achieve a SAS with a straight, and no longer needed to use a DE for cleanup.

Now, after about 370 straight shaves, my shaves are still improving. I still experience "that was my best shave ever" on a frequent basis.

The evolution of my ability to hone and personalize a razor's edge, for my whiskers and skin, is a big part of this.

 

[BBS Kirk]

I started cut throat shaving last month and it has been a fun ride. I’m on shave 40 or so and I can get a good shave daily. I have also taught myself how to hone, which I’m glad I did at the beginning. It is rewarding putting one’s own edge on the razor and getting a silky smooth shave.

 

[kamp]

I started out with straight shaving when I got a 3 week holiday, daily shaving with my straight (a 7/8 full hollow roundpoint Herder)
after that 3 weeks I was getting after the 3 passes I do (wtg, xtg, atg) almost as clean as with my DE.
I think it took me another 3 months altogether to get as clean if not more then with my DE.
Now I shave already 8 years mostly with my straights (I think about 90%) and my collection grew to about 50 razors.

Also 4 years ago I started in the Honing rabbit hole and it is very grativing if you can make a edge yourself and have a very nice shave with it. A very nice addition to our little hobby (my wife thinks it funny i can get exited about a new stone or razor, but every one got something else i guess).
In all that time i only had 4 times a square point got me the rest was mild weepers so not that bad for 8 years (knock wood).
I think all it takes is consistancy and keep at it in the end it will click and you will get there.

 

[Tomo]

Having recently joined the 100 club, I’m happy to pile in on this old thread.

For me the first 5 shaves were pretty bad. No blood, lots of irritation. The razor was not sharp. Felt very awkward. Scared.

Started honing with films as a complete novice and the 5-10 shaves got a lot more comfortable but not very close. Started to work out a way to get at all areas. Building confidence.

After 10 shaves I was getting SAS shaves with only isolated irritation. Cheeks were starting to get very smooth. Quietly confident of not slicing my face off.

At 20 shaves I brought in the diamond pasted balsa. Game changer. Blade was suddenly extremely sharp. Big improvement on the irritation front. Starting to get comfortable with the razor in both hands. Can start to glimpse the light at the end of the tunnel. Trying to not to get cocky.

30 shaves, big breakthrough. Deadly sharp edge on the blade now, CCS all the time, mistakes and irritation are getting very rare now. I can do this.

50 shaves. Consistently great shaves. Routine bedding down well. Pretty comfortable with both hands now. Still very slow.

50-100. Picking up minor improvements here and there. Finding ways to deal with the trouble spots. Becoming totally comfortable with the off hand. Starting to prefer the SR to DE. Getting a little faster but not much.

100 shaves. Really happy with this way of shaving. Great, consistent results. Really comfortable daily shave. Every stroke has become a well rehearsed routine now. Unlikely to go back to DE for home shaving. Still improving. Really refining the blade angle and sweep of the strokes. Starting to get BBS days where there’s hardly any stubble the next day. Starting to feel at one with the blade.

 

[Jakebullet]

I think it depends how you shave. If you have a beard or goatee and you just do your cheeks You could learn that in a few shaves. The time comes in learning the difficult bits. I’m talking about going atg on your chin and top lip, learning to do that well is very tricky, I’m 550 shaves in and still learning about shaving those areas.

 

[ZeroMinusOne]

So reading on here it’s been said that it takes 100 SR shaves to get proficient at SR shaving. So are your first 50 getting your act together? What do you get better at from 50-75? Or 75-100 for that matter?

Took me about 3 months to finally stop cutting myself and get great shaves.

 

[xmacro]

With 9+ years of DE shaving with feather blades under my belt, it's taken about 3-4 straight razor shaves to stop cutting myself; learned a lot about blade angle & pressure during that time, so it really shortened the learning curve

Shave 1: terrified of cutting my own throat, 3 bleeders
Shave 2: learning blade angle, 3 bleeders
Shave 3: 90% of facial blade angle figured out. Still figuring out the blade angle around jaw and chin, 2 bleeders
Shave 4: ok, think I'm good now. Light and slow, same as a new feather DE blade. Still struggling around against the grain around the lips, and shaving on the non-dominant hand side, but otherwise fine. 1 bleeder

 

[rbscebu]

@xmacro you are going great. Another 20 to 25 and you will then realise why SR shavers enjoy it so much. From then on you will think that it can't get much better - but it does!

Welcome to the gentlemanly art of SR shaving.

 

[global_dev]

yup, i think people don't understand what the 100 exactly means. it only takes a few to get going and then the continued refinement you experience is what most are talking about. Everytime you refine the edge, refine the shave and refine the lather, it's an experience.. you know you've felt something like it before, but not exactly, usually a bit better, it's noticeable, but sometimes there's an edge that you feel could use a tweak.

then you use a edge that shaves well, but it's "lifeless", has no personality. It's a bit sad to me.

 

[Raymond Luxury Yacht]

Personally I think it’s more about frequency than number. IMO 30 shaves in 30 days will refine your technique more than 100 shaves over a year.


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[Jakebullet]

Personally I think it’s more about frequency than number. IMO 30 shaves in 30 days will refine your technique more than 100 shaves over a year.


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That’s a good point, daily practice makes a big difference.

 

[RookieGuy]

The 100 number seems to be a universal constant. First 100 of many things are supposedly the worst. As if 100 is a good number to represent building technique and muscle memory and confidence. I seem to remember from psychology class many years ago that numbers that end in 0 or 5 can be mental hurdles. And 10, 100, 1000, etc are bigger jumps with that one extra digit. This is only conjecture, but I'm wondering if 100 shaves isn't more of an illustration for enough shaves that it's no longer shaving with a straight (or shavette in my case) than 100 being a hard and fast number like 90 days at a new job before being eligible for benefits.

 

[Gamma]

I think counting shaves is counter-productive.
Just shave, work at getting better. Get 'there' (wherever the heck that is) when you get there. There is no rush, there is no race, there is no competition. Focus on progression, not perfection.

 

[ajduplessis]

It takes a lifetime to master, just keep going and enjoy the journey.