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What Did You Learn From Your SR Shave Today?

rbscebu

Girls call me Makaluod
Practice what you preach!

We often hear and say, when SR shaving, your pressure against the skin should be as light as possible, just enough to remove the lather. This morning I decided to just concentrate on that - my pressure against the skin.

For this shave, I chose my Ralf Aust "6/8” (it's really ⅞) full hollow. This SR has one of my better edges off of pasted balsa. I matched this up with a Palmolive Classic (Germany) stick face lather with a Chinese synthetic.

I went through my normal three-pass shave; WTG, XTG+fool's pass and XTG in the opposite direction. What I changed in this shave was to concentrate almost solely on removing the lather and trying to not cut any whiskers.

The result was a total surprise to me. When wetting my face between each pass and rinsing at the end, I noticed that I failed to achieve my aim. My whiskers were being cut closer than I would normally do!

My thoughts are that, over time, I have been subconsciously increasing the razor's pressure against the skin. This morning's shave brought me back to what we preach.

The results of this shave were the closest and most comfortable shave that I can remember. The closeness was even noticed in my difficult areas, jaw lines, neck and lower chin.

Try it. Try to shave just the lather off and not cut your whiskers.
 
My thoughts are that, over time, I have been subconsciously increasing the razor's pressure against the skin. This morning's shave brought me back to what we preach.

The results of this shave were the closest and most comfortable shave that I can remember. The closeness was even noticed in my difficult areas, jaw lines, neck and lower chin.

Try it. Try to shave just the lather off and not cut your whiskers.
I too have found it a constant battle to avoid creeping up to higher pressures. Not the pressures I was slicing my moles with when I was a rank newbie, but still, more pressure than I'd like.

My impression so far is that the sort of strategy you're describing works better, the more hollow the razor is. For kamisoris (basically quarter hollow in practice, I've read), if I try that sort of "negative pressure" strategy, I don't get as close a shave. I am better off striving for zero pressure. But for full hollows, I think you may be onto something.
 

rbscebu

Girls call me Makaluod
I too have found it a constant battle to avoid creeping up to higher pressures. ....
Even with over 800 daily SR shaves, I am still susceptible to increase pressure creap. It is just taking longer now to happen. Maybe once I get to 2k or 3k SR shaves, it will become a thing of the past.
 
I’ve been back and forth on alum. I’ve gotten to the point where I get next to no feedback on my shaves and it is no longer detrimental to a good post shave feel. After taking a break from it I’ve concluded that it doesn’t offer any real benifit to the post shave either. It’s just an extra step.
 

rbscebu

Girls call me Makaluod
I’ve been back and forth on alum. I’ve gotten to the point where I get next to no feedback on my shaves and it is no longer detrimental to a good post shave feel. After taking a break from it I’ve concluded that it doesn’t offer any real benifit to the post shave either. It’s just an extra step.
I only use alum to stem bloodletting. I hadn't used it for so long that last year I put it away. Very next shave it was needed again!

Since then, I have again never needed it. I'm thinking of putting it away again. I'm a slow learner.
 
Today I realised a 3/8 razor is just too small for me. I have no problem with 4/8 or 9/16, even a "well used" 4/8 honed down to 7/16 is useable, but 3/8 is just a step too far.

I realise some you fine gents use honed toothpicks, and good luck to you, but not for me.
 
Today I realised a 3/8 razor is just too small for me. I have no problem with 4/8 or 9/16, even a "well used" 4/8 honed down to 7/16 is useable, but 3/8 is just a step too far.

I realise some you fine gents use honed toothpicks, and good luck to you, but not for me.

I would consider myself in the same camp as you. 9/16 is as small as I will go personally.
 
I learned that a round point can still nick you when doing a little cleanup right at the corner of your mouth/lip area!
 

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I've learned that after 4 SR shaves, that SR shaving is difficult. And is alot more work. I am questioning what the payoff is over DE shaving. I am a long way from getting a DFS or BBS smooth shave.
 
You are doing better than I did at that point. It took me 25 shaves before I managed to shave my whole face and not have any nicks. I got my first reasonably close and blood free shave at No. 67. After that things got considerably better. Different people take different times to progress, but I think it would probably take most people at least 30 shaves to start getting good results.
 
I've learned that after 4 SR shaves, that SR shaving is difficult. And is alot more work. I am questioning what the payoff is over DE shaving. I am a long way from getting a DFS or BBS smooth shave.
What seems like a lot of work now will become joyful later. At least, that's what happened to me. I got through the first 15-20 SR shaves on pure determination to make it work. Sometime in there, I got hooked, and now I would never shave any other way.
 
I've learned that after 4 SR shaves, that SR shaving is difficult. And is alot more work. I am questioning what the payoff is over DE shaving. I am a long way from getting a DFS or BBS smooth shave.
This is so familiar. Everyone can say, "It's a journey", but it's your feet treading the path. I'll just echo those above and say that it absolutely does get both easier and better.

While I'll acknowledge that SR shaving isn't for everyone, I truly believe that many give up too quickly. This is one of the of those skills that takes practice and experience. That means investing time and "sticking with it".

Back in the day when an SR was the only option, everyone went through this learning curve and thought nothing of it. Worth remembering in today's "instant gratification" society.
 
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