The Wanderer's Guide To DE Shaving

[AimlessWanderer]

Cheers buddy

 

[niels]

Thanks for this awesome post, @AimlessWanderer! I'm just getting started on multi-pass shaving and had quite a bit of problems with it. Your post really helped.

I added my personal experience as a beginner below; perhaps it helps someone else who had similar problems as I did

Your article made me realize I had tunnel-vision on the BBS, doing WTG, XTG and ATG passes. It stopped doing that. I now focus on "taking of a little more each pass" and do as many passes as feels pleasant. I go WTG and maybe XTG a bit when it feels right. I enjoy the shaves a lot better now with minimal irritation. The BBS will come naturally once the basics are right, I feel

Consistency improves the shave
It may not yet be BBS, but I found the remaining hair-length is much more consistent across my face, and still a pretty darn close shave, even without the ATG. I never realised that consistency in remaining hair-length greatly improves the satisfaction of the shave! It just feels like a better "quality" shave.

Changes that really made a difference for me:

• I now do my multi-pass shaves in the evening, with maybe a single-pass in the morning. As a noob, this removes all the time-pressure while I'm learning and this enhances the enjoyment a lot.
• Secondly, I changed my prep. I found a shower did not soke all my hairs enough, especially on my chin. These changes really helped me:
  • I stopped using Shea-butter pre-shave. It was nice, but also blocked the soaking I noticed.
  • I make my lather before my shower so it's nice and ready and I make it a bit wetter as you advised.
  • I wash my face in the shower with natural soap to remove all oils that block the water from entering the hairs.
  • I apply lather immediately after the shower, but do not shave yet. Instead, I do my other things first. This allow the hairs to soke up the moisture of the wetter lather.
  • I rinse off after the 5-10 minutes for the rest of my routine. I re-lather and then begin my shave. Even my chin hairs are much softer now
• Thirdly, I set my Gillette Flathead with Feather blades to maximum aggression to make the angles easier. As you mentioned, I cannot use any pressure now, but I need to unlearn that anyway. Amazing how well the razor works without pressure: Improved the consistency by a lot and the angles really are easier.
• Fourthly, I stopped with the small strokes, as I was shaving patches multiple times with the soap (mostly) gone after the first stroke. I now do single, longer passes at a slower speed with no pressure and no repeats and minimal overlap. It is actually a lot quicker to shave this way I noticed

Result: No burn, much more consistent and a much more pleasant shave. Awesome!

I'm gonna check out your second guide now Thank you so much.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

Thanks for this awesome post, @AimlessWanderer! I'm just getting started on multi-pass shaving and had quite a bit of problems with it. Your post really helped.

I added my personal experience as a beginner below; perhaps it helps someone else who had similar problems as I did

Your article made me realize I had tunnel-vision on the BBS, doing WTG, XTG and ATG passes. It stopped doing that. I now focus on "taking of a little more each pass" and do as many passes as feels pleasant. I go WTG and maybe XTG a bit when it feels right. I enjoy the shaves a lot better now with minimal irritation. The BBS will come naturally once the basics are right, I feel

Consistency improves the shave
It may not yet be BBS, but I found the remaining hair-length is much more consistent across my face, and still a pretty darn close shave, even without the ATG. I never realised that consistency in remaining hair-length greatly improves the satisfaction of the shave! It just feels like a better "quality" shave.

Changes that really made a difference for me:

• I now do my multi-pass shaves in the evening, with maybe a single-pass in the morning. As a noob, this removes all the time-pressure while I'm learning and this enhances the enjoyment a lot.
• Secondly, I changed my prep. I found a shower did not soke all my hairs enough, especially on my chin. These changes really helped me:
  • I stopped using Shea-butter pre-shave. It was nice, but also blocked the soaking I noticed.
  • I make my lather before my shower so it's nice and ready and I make it a bit wetter as you advised.
  • I wash my face in the shower with natural soap to remove all oils that block the water from entering the hairs.
  • I apply lather immediately after the shower, but do not shave yet. Instead, I do my other things first. This allow the hairs to soke up the moisture of the wetter lather.
  • I rinse off after the 5-10 minutes for the rest of my routine. I re-lather and then begin my shave. Even my chin hairs are much softer now
• Thirdly, I set my Gillette Flathead with Feather blades to maximum aggression to make the angles easier. As you mentioned, I cannot use any pressure now, but I need to unlearn that anyway. Amazing how well the razor works without pressure: Improved the consistency by a lot and the angles really are easier.
• Fourthly, I stopped with the small strokes, as I was shaving patches multiple times with the soap (mostly) gone after the first stroke. I now do single, longer passes at a slower speed with no pressure and no repeats and minimal overlap. It is actually a lot quicker to shave this way I noticed

Result: No burn, much more consistent and a much more pleasant shave. Awesome!

I'm gonna check out your second guide now Thank you so much.

Great to hear you're making so much improvement, and thank you for the excellent feedback. It sound like you are eliminating a lot of the problems you had before, and I'm sure your comments will be helpful to other readers of this thread.

Thank you.

 

[Clay S]

Part One​

[snip]

Do check out The Wanderers Guide To DE Shaving Fred.

Thanks for the link, a very concise guide for beginning shavers that explains terms, ideas, and various concepts that isn't Draconian. i. e. hold the razor at 20 degrees and blah blah blah. Also goes to explain what might be causing various issues a shaver may be having!​

 

[Flintstone65]

This is EXTREMELY helpful. Thank you!!! Every time I think I've read/watched enough, I continue to learn even more from great posts like this. Now I've just got to start successfully applying it to my shaves.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

Thanks guys

 

[Mistermoo]

Just come across this truly excellent post and wish I'd found it a few months ago when I started. I've looked at a LOT of tutorials etc and this is by far the best I've found. It imparts so much great and genuinely helpful and practical advice and information in a way that's easy to understand. My eyes water with appreciation, Thank you.

 

[Twelvefret]

You all realize this man’s face is covers in hair do you?

 

[philcatc]

As a recent convert I found this one of the best articles on the key points to getting into DE shaving. Pressure and Angle are the my main focus areas to improve my technique.

Thanks for posting it.

 

[Stevie P]

Excellent thread. Very helpful and written in a very understandable way.

 

[ex-bugonaut]

After 50+ years of shaving I can say this is one of the best guides I’ve seen; it deserves a Sticky.
Just 1 for instance: debunking the shibboleth that one must aim for meringue-like peaks when making the lather.

 

[Twelvefret]

After 50+ years of shaving I can say this is one of the best guides I’ve seen; it deserves a Sticky.
Just 1 for instance: debunking the shibboleth that one must aim for meringue-like peaks when making the lather.

There is nothing amiss with meringue peaks in one's lather. We have to fight against settling using one person's opinions and preferences and applying it to shaving in general. I know this was not the OP's intent.

 

[Go-T]

Extremely well written and easily understood.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

Thanks guys, I appreciate your positive feedback

 

[20.9.20.15]

Great write up! I started shaving with a safety razor a little over a year ago and could have used this early on as I managed to find irritating shaves way too many times.

 

[ajkel64]

I have completely missed this and very informative it is. Thanks @AimlessWanderer for putting this all together. Very helpful to not only new wetshavers but to all shavers.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

Thanks guys!

 

[NHDave]

Fantastic write up! I don't know where this post has been as I certainly could have used it months ago. This is a must read for any beginner. Thank you for putting this important information in one place!

 

[It's Hedley]

I particularly like the advice of not going against the grain early in your wet shaving career and in my case, this was going against the grain on the neck. My neck would get so irritated. By going with the grain on the neck, my shaving has become much more enjoyable, less painful, and still DFS results!

 

[AimlessWanderer]

Thanks for the great feedback guys, and for giving this thread more exposure It's very encouraging that different people are finding different elements of the guide relevant to their own journey.