How close, is close enough for a visually clean shave?

DFS was always adequate for me at work. However the boot camp standard was another matter. I think the D.S.'s may be responsible for coining the term BBS.

 

Two passes, DFS get me professionally acceptable. I go for the BBS shave on the weekends when there is no pressure. Funny, a lot of guys post this as a hobby. It's now a way of life for me. The me time I get is berry important and fun. Especially if I can listen to a Mets game while doing so.


Spiez

 

I agree totally. I enjoy taking my time and having me time.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

 

If it feels good it looks good. A few whiskers here and there won't be noticed.

 

Sometimes it doesn't even look like I shaved immediately after I finish. I have a dark beard that is especially dense in the goatee area and even if I use a cartridge to cut below the level of the skin, I can still see the faint shadow of facial hair. My skin is ridiculously sensitive unfortunately so I can't go against the grain in most areas, nor can I ever achieve a BBS shave. I still always push myself to annihilate my mustache because I hate having a dirty looking upper lip, but the result is always irritation with plenty of nicks and it still always looks like I didn't shave my mustache at all.

 

DFS for me. I have a light beard and DFS on me looks like BBS. I actually don't like the way BBS feels.

 

If it still looks good when you're in your late afternoon meeting, then it was close enough.

 

I seldom get to BBS on my neck, despite doing 3 passes and going AGG. Having said that, no one has ever noticed, not even my wife and infact, sometimes people comment on how neat my beard looks and how straight my neckline is. Apparently, getting a nearly perfectly straight neckline on yourself is a difficult thing. (Even though all I do is match it to my jawbone.)

 

I'm growing a beard for winter at present, but when I shave I do one pass with touch ups. I have pale skin and a relatively thick, dark beard. My face can't take multiple passes. The times that I got what I think was BBS weren't worth it- my face needed more than a day to recover and I ended up really scratchy. I do the best I can with the passes my face can endure.

The answer to your question can only be answered by you. Only you have your face, and you know your job expectations.

EDIT: related questions- what does your boss say? What does your significant other say? I know I've shaved close enough when my wife allows me to kiss her.

 

The difference between BBS and DFS is all in the feel. I feel much better with a BBS shave.

 

For me BBS and DFS are matters of feel. Both "look" acceptable for an office environment, wedding or going out on the town. The difference for me is the stubble feel after the shave and amount of effort involved in accomplishing each one.
BBS is completely smooth everywhere. While with DFS there maybe some slight stubble feeling on certain parts of me face.
DFS is much easier and quicker for me to accomplish. BBS takes more time, effort and concentration it also runs a higher risk of irritation or nicks which are unacceptable for me. A large part of my reason for giving up the cart and going the "traditional" shaving route was comfort both during and after the shave. I've found that a little disappointment in my shave smoothness is much easier to live with than an irritated,nicked face after my shave. So DFS is my norm and a perfectly acceptable shave for me.

 

There is a brick building in Westwood Village; local business area supporting UCLA. It used to have an italian barbershop who singed your hair before a final dusting of talc. Next door was an english haberdashery with marvelous ties in an era of Apache Scarves. Upstairs was a cosmetic surgeon with back entrance for celebrities. Now it is the David Geffen playhouse; the Holloywood
name who dated Cher before coming out and promoting this 3 day stubble look.
The italian barber gave me my first shave. He said a fine shave stops where hair meets skin and no further. I think if he could hear all this BBS, DFS business he would mutter the italian equivelent of BS between sips of expresso as Caruso played.

 

When you're on a forum dedicated to discussing the particulars of an activity that 99% of men just consider a daily chore that they never even think about, I think that the finer details tend to become a point of discussion much more often. I never made any of these distinctions or paid much attention to my shave before getting involved with safety razors and finding these forums, but it's fun to discuss the particulars since there's only so much you can keep saying about the same soaps, razors, and blades. I sure wouldn't mention any of this to my barber or any other person who didn't bring it up first since I know that I would sound a bit weird talking about a CCS, BBS, DFS, RAD, BAD, or any of these other abbreviations that we have here!