I think, after many many years on and off trying to get a BBS shave, I think I've finally come very close to achieving it...
My technique was always (in my mind) pretty decent, I managed to not destroy the edges of my razors with stropping, and so on so forth, but I've never actually come close to the hallowed goal of BBS, Heck, even a DFS to me was always somewhat stubbly when I rubbed my fingers atg. however, this morning's shave I did something different, (well, two things different, but I'd get to that part later)
Simply put, I pre-lathered my face with a well known brand of Water Based Slippery Stuff that I just "happened" to have on hand, then lathered up, surprise surprise, I seemeed to have the Best two pass shave I've ever had, DFS with a majority of BBS, even my ATG seemed to just smoothly happen, I didn't even have to use half the pressure I usually seem to do, the blade just floated across my face and hair fell off...
Of course, this could possibly be because I sat down for an hour last night with polishing compound rubbed into a strip of old denim turned into a paddle strop and just had at it... Truth be, I think my stropping technique was not bad, nor were my honing technique, it's just that my hone setup might not be quite fine enough to put a shave ready edge on my razors.
Still, Two pass shave, WTG then ATG on a two day stubble, and I just seem to have landed the eagle. Gonna see if it's a fluke next shave, but still, couple of small nicks and BBS in places
Okay, so maybe the lube wasn't required, but hey, twas an experiment...
My technique was always (in my mind) pretty decent, I managed to not destroy the edges of my razors with stropping, and so on so forth, but I've never actually come close to the hallowed goal of BBS, Heck, even a DFS to me was always somewhat stubbly when I rubbed my fingers atg. however, this morning's shave I did something different, (well, two things different, but I'd get to that part later)
Simply put, I pre-lathered my face with a well known brand of Water Based Slippery Stuff that I just "happened" to have on hand, then lathered up, surprise surprise, I seemeed to have the Best two pass shave I've ever had, DFS with a majority of BBS, even my ATG seemed to just smoothly happen, I didn't even have to use half the pressure I usually seem to do, the blade just floated across my face and hair fell off...
Of course, this could possibly be because I sat down for an hour last night with polishing compound rubbed into a strip of old denim turned into a paddle strop and just had at it... Truth be, I think my stropping technique was not bad, nor were my honing technique, it's just that my hone setup might not be quite fine enough to put a shave ready edge on my razors.
Still, Two pass shave, WTG then ATG on a two day stubble, and I just seem to have landed the eagle. Gonna see if it's a fluke next shave, but still, couple of small nicks and BBS in places
Okay, so maybe the lube wasn't required, but hey, twas an experiment...
