I shaved about 5 days growth during my first de shave a couple of weeks ago and there was a lot of drag/pull (probably due to bad technique as well as the hair length). Do you guys find the same when you've not shaved for a while? Should I have taken more care in the prep? Edit: Oh and I should mention that my facial hair isn't dense at all.
My guess is that your prep was off and the hairs weren't hydrated enough. I find some of my best (smoothest, closest) shaves are after I've skipped a day or two. 5-day's growth, however... you might need some clippering before actual shaving depending on your beard.
Why are you conversating about clipperization? A nice OC razor (or a straight) has no problem removing Sasquatch growth. A safety bar can get clogged up and take a little more attention, but is still doable without clipperization.
Having shaved many a man I have to agree... giving a hot towel shave on 5+ days growth can be very tricky if the man has thick, coarse hair. Often (but not always) if he has 5+ days on him a clipping may indeed be necessary for comforts sake!
I find anything beyond 2 days growth and an SE is needed. The hair is just too long and dense for my DEs to go through (unless its an open comb). So it may have been your prep and technique, but the growth would have definitely been a factor!
Spot On....Open Combs rock on longer hair....My Senator laughs at several days growth....My Schick can handle several days growth without a tug...and my Senator can do a BBS armpit shave after many months; in one pass....
if i didnt shave for 5 days my boss would have a stroke.....i can get by 3 days & then all i do is put in a new blade
hmm i did my first de shave 2 nights ago after not shaving for a week (i have thick and coarse hair) and i was able to shave without much drag/pull. Did u watch mantics vids as it helped me alot. Also i just did what he showed in the video doing short strokes and kept my wrist as straight as possible...
I often go a week or more without shaving and have no issues at all with pull. I use an OC Gillette and usually shave right after a hot shower to help moisturize my beard and it's so, so, SO much nicer with the DE than it was with my Mach 5 I used previously. It doesn't clog, doesn't pull, just works great. Last night I shaved for the first time in about a week and a half (was on vacation), and I didn't shower before hand, and it was a little more "pulley" than usual but nothing like it would have been with the Mach 5. Oh, and I have a fast growing, dense beard. My wife likes to say I have 5 o'clock shadow by noon. I'm certainly no expert, but I would say spend a little more time on prepping your beard before you shave it, if it's long, and you should be fine. Oh, one thing to note though, even with the OC I'm still having to rinse it out quite frequently. I get about two good strokes per side before I have to rinse, so maybe that's could be an issue too.
