Shaving and Self Reflection I imagine we’re all over the spectrum when it comes to how we individually feel about our wet-shaving journey. Some have yet to find their groove, others like to constantly tinker, and others are pretty pleased with where they’re at. Regardless of where you may fall in this spectrum, a reflective person always looks for that one thing that’s keeping them from perfection. A year or so back, I discovered that one thing, for me, was a nearly pathological pursuit of the BBS shave. BBS: The Great White Whale Honestly, getting a Baby-Butt Smooth shave isn’t difficult. For almost 30 years I have walked away from my shaves with skin that felt smooth as a baby—a baby that has been playing with acid… and has been swimming in lava… and has set itself on fire. Turns out, I was a bit OCD when it came to removing my facial hair; if I could feel it (if I even thought I could feel it), I wasn’t done shaving. Like Captain Ahab chasing the White Whale, I would recklessly chase after that perfectly smooth face, and (also like Ahab) I would ultimately suffer when I caught up to it. Back in my cartridge days the razor burn would sometimes get so bad I’d develop irritation, inflammation, and micro-blisters around my lips that would keep me from shaving for a week or more. Thankfully, wet shaving put an end to the blisters and swelling—but it’s not magic. I would still obsessively worry and scrape at areas that were clearly crying uncle, and suffer through the resulting irritation. Baby-Butt Steps About two years ago I did bit of reflecting and came to a realization: I feel very little irritation after my first two passes. Granted, it’s not BBS, but it doesn’t… hurt. “Huh,” I said. “That’s odd.” Then proceeded to follow my scorched-earth shaving policy for the remainder of that year. But the seed had been planted, and I finally asked myself… What if I just… stopped… after two passes? This is probably a no-brainer for most of you, but as a life-long sufferer of no-brain syndrome it came as an epiphany. The plan? I would stop after two passes, do some minor touch-ups around the thick, wiry, frustratingly sensitive goatee area, then live without razor burn forever. The plan was foolproof—and it failed right at the get-go. If anything, my shaves got worse. Those darned touch-ups were killing me. I’d look myself right in the eye and say, “You’re just touching up,” but in reality I was pretty much stretching my touch-ups into another randomly chaotic pass, often without the benefit of additional lather because that would signify a third pass—which, clearly, I was NOT allowing myself to do. After about a month of that nonsense, I did some further reflecting and imposed the final stricture—TWO passes. NO touch-ups. For ANY reason. That finally did the trick. After a few months of acclimating, I learned to live with, then appreciate, the DFS and CCS shave. Fast-forward to present day. I have, since, started to allow myself three passes again, but find I’m inclined to walk away from a shave the second things start to go sideways. As a result: Irritation is a rare occurrence instead of a constant companion I can shave daily and no longer need “recuperation days” I spend far less time on my shaves Most importantly, I look forward to shaving. I even get the occasional BBS shave. Not always, but now I don’t feel like I need to… and I’m okay with that. So what’s the next that-one-thing for me? Blade questions. Ones that will probably result in a GEM blade showdown, me breaking down and finally trying out the Feather Hi Stainless DE blade, and a final decision as to whether or not my SE 1912/MMOC razors will permanently replace my (almost forgotten) Parker Variant in a SE/DE battle to the death. What about you? What is that one thing about shaving you'd like to change or improve?
Very good grasshopper. Find what works for you and go with it. Long ago I realized if I tried to do more than two passes on my neck, it gets ugly fast. From then on it was two passes. Over the years by experimentation or mistake, my two pass shaves have become about as good as they could be. I am mostly bbs with a comfortable, irritation free shave. It looks like you have passed a big hurdle with wet shaving. As you continue, your skill will continue to increase and you will have fantastic 2 pass shaves. Next I would pick a razor, the micromatic, and use it for a few months straight. Put all the other ones away and just fine tune your muscle memory for it. It gets boring but really helped me in dialing in my skills. You will get fantastic shaves. Enjoy.
Wow! It's like someone gave you a backstage pass into my mind. There are 3 gem blades I'm trying to decide on, and the plan is to use each one for one month straight... using the same razor. Since the MMOC still runs a tad wild on me sometimes, I figured this would be a nice three-month opportunity to tame her a bit. Affirmation. It's a wonderful thing
