Paying off a defect

[grysar]

The most valuable lesson of my trip to Montreal: I've finally learned to effing shave.

While over at capfox I used a bit too much shaving cream (to his and kamalloy's) amusement. I tend to make a bit more of a mess because I'm paranoid about shaving. I'm paranoid about shaving because I was really bad at it and tend to have a terrible shave and/or several nicks.

So, on hearing my explanation capfox passed on a piece of advice he had gotten from bannoubunkacoby. Namely, don't press when you shave, just shave the same are repeatedly.

That has done the trick. It took a bit of work In the areas where I had more fuzz it's hard to move the razor at all without pressing. However, the end result was a much closer shave and no nicks.

I assume many people knew this already, but it does make me annoyed at razor commercials which show people using the razor in ways that don't work for me at all. Anyhow, this actually makes my life a bit easier. If I needed a close shave, my general technique was to just do it enough hours before an event that I had time to heal. Nicks don't really hurt, but actively bleeding tends to undercut a professional appearance.

Comments

[ninjadebugger.livejournal.com]

Wait, you trusted ads?

[grysar.livejournal.com]

Heh, no.

Dad taught me to shave when I was 16 or so. At that point, one or two strokes basically did the job. Simple enough really.

As I got older my chin hair got darker and/or thicker and it got a lot more challenging. That combined with the fact that light strokes are just hard to do when I've got a bit of fuzz.

So it wasn't a matter of trusting the ads so much as the fact that they reinforce the small number of stroke mindset. Many of the ads are transparent BS, I just didn't realize the way they were BS.

[ninjadebugger.livejournal.com]

See, there's your problem. Your dad taught you to shave. If you'd tried learning on your own, doing whatever seemed to work best, you'd have been a lot better off. =P

[grysar.livejournal.com]

I don't think that's the problem so much as the fact that I learned back when I had an easy to shave beard. I think I would have come across the same method on my own.

I tend to put more emphasis on the light strokes being hard when I had real stubble. That meant that the technique just didn't feel right and so required more systematic experimentation to find.

[arterich.livejournal.com]

When I first learned how to shave I was an oddity in that I shaved dry. I even shaved dry throughout most of college since I was never really looking for a close shave. It wasn't until around college graduation that I began using shaving creame. And even then I used only a thin layer.

[grysar.livejournal.com]

How many strokes does it normally take for the tougher patches of skin?

[arterich.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, I don't think I have any particularly tough patches. Usually I'll go over an area once or twice using very light pressure.

[amalthya.livejournal.com]

Nicks don't really hurt, but actively bleeding tends to undercut a professional appearance.

You are horribly punny. *attacks with with a QUATTROBLADE (whatever that is)*

[grysar.livejournal.com]

That was unintentional, but I'm glad I said it. ^_~