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"The No Pressure Mantra Is Misleading. Some Pressure Is Beneficial For A longer Lasting And More Efficient Result." Discuss.

Agreed, pressure has its place, though it tends to be circumstantial.

For example, when using a feather artist club SS, and shaving against the grain on my neck, I'll lay the razor almost flat and apply moderate pressure, utilizing the little bump at the end of the razor. I get far better results doing this than the ~25° barely and pressure, thing.

Like Space monkey said, the "no pressure" slogans are maintained to help the less experienced realize that many shavers use more pressure than they should, which remains valuable, overall, to the community. Highly experienced shavers will knows it's absolutely not universal... though I do wish we would do away with the "weight of the razor" thing, as it's much too rigid a factor
 
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Use no pressure is a mantra, to help new shavers and those developing their technique. Most beginners, myself included add tons of pressure and don't even know it. Many reduce pressure and are still adding too much. I went through several phases of thinking I had reduced pressure, only having to reduce it more. I swore I was at the lightest I could go, but then had a couple more levels of light touch before my technique was good enough to use more aggressive razors. I had to keep reminding myself "no pressure" to train my muscles to not add so much. It took a long time, but eventually I got to a light touch.

The discussion about no pressure comes up every couple months and is rather pedantic. Nobody is saying to let the razor fall off your face. No/low/light pressure is all to try to help folks develop good technique. Sometimes they will need to think "no" pressure to even lighten up at all. They don't think they are adding pressure at all, yet they are adding way too much. It is like a long-jumper chanting "fly" in their mind to visualize leaping off the line and soaring over the pit.

I think this is key. Some newer DE shavers are applying much too much pressure and the advice of "no pressure" is simply to tell them "less pressure than you think would work" or "less pressure to the point you think you're applying no pressure". The pressure is perceived pressure, which will vary by user, not actual pressure. It's advice on how to think about things, not what to literally do.

DE shaving was sort of an epiphany and I took to it immediately my first time but I've seen multiple posters on various forums having problems with cutting themselves up and it's obvious they're pressing the razor onto the skin way too much. "no pressure" means "no do that".
 

Phoenixkh

I shaved a fortune
This isn't exactly on topic but for me, it's related.... If I want a close shave, some light pressure is involved... As a result, I do get some alum feedback... Others who use alcohol based aftershaves would experience the same thing....

I don't get it when people post they have zero alum sting. I can tell if I've overdone it... I don't get a sting then... I get serious pain. <eg>

I've only been at this for a couple years now, so perhaps I'm still ignorant. I've never had a goal of having zero alum sting as a sign of a good shave. I try to get a shave lasting 12 hours. I don't want to feel any whiskers anywhere when I put on my slick Metro Gel, post shave. With my old man, grey and coarse, whiskers, I won't get that without applying some degree of pressure.... and I always get a nice (to me) alum sting. Just enough to let me know, that was a nice shave.
 

thombrogan

Lounging On The Isle Of Tugsley.
I don't have any studies to back that up!

Given our peers are fellow shaving junkies, having peer-reviewed studies would be horrible.

I cannot speak for @Goblin (he needed only one paragraph about rugby to disabuse me of such presumptions), but I suspect the “negative pressure” he mentions would be along the lines of having a 67g Fatip Grande perform a downward motion and providing enough upwards-directed pressure so only a fraction of its staggering 67 grams is part of its blade’s whisker-smiting momentum.
 

Mr. Shavington

Knows Hot Turkish Toilets
This isn't exactly on topic but for me, it's related.... If I want a close shave, some light pressure is involved... As a result, I do get some alum feedback... Others who use alcohol based aftershaves would experience the same thing....

I don't get it when people post they have zero alum sting. I can tell if I've overdone it... I don't get a sting then... I get serious pain. <eg>

I've only been at this for a couple years now, so perhaps I'm still ignorant. I've never had a goal of having zero alum sting as a sign of a good shave. I try to get a shave lasting 12 hours. I don't want to feel any whiskers anywhere when I put on my slick Metro Gel, post shave. With my old man, grey and coarse, whiskers, I won't get that without applying some degree of pressure.... and I always get a nice (to me) alum sting. Just enough to let me know, that was a nice shave.
An absolutely zero burn shave is definitely possible. But I’ve only managed it with straight razors, or using a straight razor for the first two passes and then a DE razor to clean up the trickier areas. And I am not even very experienced or adept with a straight razor.

I got to the point where I could do this every time (but, as I say, still very far from expert with this equipment). And I stopped shaving this way precisely because I felt dissatisfied with having zero aftershave burn, and having my skin feel exactly the same as it did before the shave - it seemed all wrong to me and I felt cheated.

Strange, no?

I think it would be very difficult to have zero aftershave burn doing three full passes using only a DE razor. It’s those floppy tinfoil blades. But maybe some people here can contradict me. I usually get some burn, and hardly what I would call sting, but perhaps it is possible to do better.

Anyway, to return to the point of this thread, I advise against pressing a straight razor into your face. That’s not a good thing to do. And doesn’t this also suggest that using added pressure with a DE razor isn’t the optimal technique? Why should it be different? Logically the best shave comes from flattening the skin surface (e.g. stretching), and using pressure with a razor will depress the skin surface and make it less flat.
 
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thombrogan

Lounging On The Isle Of Tugsley.
I’ve gotten plenty of stingless shaves with safety razors and I’m a ham-handed doofus. Usually from following your advice, @Mr. Shavington , or that of @AimlessWanderer

It’s never no pressure, but the less pressure I can use to get my desired result, the less aftershave sting I get.

load up the Queen CD and let it rip

Nothing more heartbreaking than hearing an iconic bass guitar intro and having it turn out to be “Under Pressure” by Queen featuring David Bowie when the core of your very soul was aching for “Ice Ice Baby” by Vanilla Ice.
 

Mr. Shavington

Knows Hot Turkish Toilets
I’ve gotten plenty of stingless shaves with safety razors and I’m a ham-handed doofus. Usually from following your advice, @Mr. Shavington , or that of @AimlessWanderer

It’s never no pressure, but the less pressure I can use to get my desired result, the less aftershave sting I get.



Nothing more heartbreaking than hearing an iconic bass guitar intro and having it turn out to be “Under Pressure” by Queen featuring David Bowie when the core of your very soul was aching for “Ice Ice Baby” by Vanilla Ice.
Cool. I still always feel some amount of burn or warmth from the aftershave. But when I used a straight it was the same as applying aftershave to a completely unshaved face - no sensation at all. Even though my skin is very sensitive (ultra pale, thin, Scottish skin that never sees sunshine).

But I didn’t like that. I like to feel something to tell me I’ve shaved.
 
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I was just thinking about this the other day. There are areas, like my chin area and sides of mouth, where I do need to be a little more aggressive, use a very-so-slightly pressure (not into the skin, but rather downward on the surface of skin), and if the razor is efficient, it should be less strokes to get there and therefore no irritation.
 
I think "judicious" is the key word here. It's dictated by the razor, the blade, and the topography.

”Judicious” is an impressive word, but how do you explain that in practical terms to a newbie who might have been dragging a cartridge razor for years across his face with considerable force?

I prefer to tell people to reduce the pressure (and for me “pressure” is only the force that acts perpendicular to the skin) until they find that the reduction of pressure no longer brings an improvement in the shave.

You could summarize it by saying “If you thought you used minimum pressure, try to use less the next time to see whether that brings an improvement.” That way, a shaver should eventually arrive at the sweet spot.


Regarding the resistance against drawing the razor along the skin, if you want to call that “pressure” that’s up to you, but I find that term misleading in a context that essentially describes a pulling motion.


But it’s a large, wide world and there is plenty of space for different interpretations.


B.
 
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My advice to a grandson that was wanting to learn to shave with a DE razor, was to use just enough pressure to remove the lather. And if using a decent razor, and good blade, the whiskers would come off with the lather.
And I'm fairly well sure that he isn't seeking a BBS shave yet, just a bloodless one. 🤭
 
I have been trying to get three-pass shaves with much/most of my face BBS AND with no feedback and zero burn. I'm trying to not even get warmth or a tingle. That's a high bar. I can do it with some of my razors some of the time. For me, it seems to work best with a very, very light touch and a rigid blade.
 
”Judicious” is an impressive word, but how do you explain that in practical terms to a newbie who might have been dragging a cartridge razor for years across his face with considerable force?
I mean, I wouldn't, because I don't have the patience to describe in 1000 words what could be demonstrated in 30 seconds in person. Others do, and I'm glad, because that's one of the things that makes this forum great.

I don't think it's all that complicated. Judicious is the difference between driving the blade into the skin (bad) and providing just enough force to engage the guard and cap to let them work (good). Depending on the topography, that might be very little pressure indeed (say, on my cheeks), or just a little bit more pressure (say, on my neck hollows).

But I never used much pressure even when I used cartridges, it was pretty obvious that it actually didn't produce a closer shave, just more exfoliation.
 
I’ve gotten plenty of stingless shaves with safety razors and I’m a ham-handed doofus. Usually from following your advice, @Mr. Shavington , or that of @AimlessWanderer

It’s never no pressure, but the less pressure I can use to get my desired result, the less aftershave sting I get.



Nothing more heartbreaking than hearing an iconic bass guitar intro and having it turn out to be “Under Pressure” by Queen featuring David Bowie when the core of your very soul was aching for “Ice Ice Baby” by Vanilla Ice.
I've learned to enjoy 'Under Pressure' even if I only came to that song through 'Ice Ice Baby'. That bass slaps either way :)
 
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