How many times do you get BBS?

[Sledge]

How many times in a month do you try for and end up with a TRUE BBS shave... and i dont just mean the majority of your face with the exception of a few small spots, i mean so BBS you couldnt find a whisker by searching your face with a microscope... PERFECT BBS shave... not a single hair left above skin line... know what i mean?

[jbcohen]

If I did not get BBS each and every time, I would look for another shave method.

[TraderJoe]

9x / 10

[IsaacRN]

I wish i could say at least half...but hey....its a learning curve

[qhsdoitall]

Quite often unless I'm testing blades or razors. I tend to be more cautious and back off a tiny bit from BBS.

[Sledge]

i get very close every time... i mean VERY close... few hairs, and not very log... usually ones that grow in unusual angles that you normally dont shave.... if i wanted to get 100% BBS, i think my skin would look like tanned leather after being scraped over some granite for about an hour.. and only because so many angles have to be shaved over that i would need like, a 6 pass shave.... last nights DE shave was actually great... i used honeybee spas old spice shave soap, a futur loaded with a red personna (had at least 2 shaves put through it already) and finished with some old spice A/S... all in all? 2 alternate passes, with one extra pass on the ATG (so 2 ATG passes total) and 1 small touchup pass.... very little irritation, and the only whiskers left behind were the randomly growing ones... or the ones under my chin that are growing sideways, and are hard to get a good angle on.

[IsaacRN]

We are talking...when you go against the grain you dont feel squat right...because now im feeling bad how low my numbers are :P

[Mottern Man]

Never.

I don't want it.

Me geting that close causes problems.

I am a close but comfortable kind of guy.

[Sledge]

im with mottern... id love to get it BBS 100% of the time... but, it takes work that my skin is not going to enjoy to get it....

and to isaac, yeah i mean you couldnt find a whisker poking up after your shave if you were paid $1,000,000 to do so... i mean completely BBS... not one hair above skin line.

[Sledge]

and dont feel bad, to be totally honest... i think some peoples idea of BBS is different than others... not saying JBcohen is lying, or doesnt know what BBS is, but i didnt expect ANYONE to say 100%... if he does? then congrats... im envious lol but i wouldnt be too shocked if he either misread, or blew past the description of the thread and answered based on the title alone... i could be wrong though :) and like i said cohen, if you DO get a completely 100% BBS shave each and every time? congrats... wish my hair would let me do that lol

thats the whole reason i did this poll... because i cant seem to get it 100% unless i hack my face up pretty good... i wanted to see how many people really achieve that... and so far, the numbers are reflecting much like i had assumed they would...

[Mottern Man]

You also have to take in acount some folks have light beards, I am not one of them.

[Sledge]

what do you mean? watering down A/S helps with heavy beards? mine isnt HEAVY heavy... but its not light either...

[Mottern Man]

what do you mean? watering down A/S helps with heavy beards? mine isnt HEAVY heavy... but its not light either...

I think you confused yourself with another thread. :rofl

For BBS some folks just have real light, thin beards (baby faces to start with).

So these people will have BBS shaves. sometimes no matter what they do.

[crackstar]

with the kind of heavy beard and sensitive skin combo I have, I try to get that so-called "BBS" only twice a week. This morning, I did it, but I'll wait a few days before I do it again.

[Sledge]

yes i did.... sorry LOL im so tired this morning i could easily walk into the CEOs office and just crash out without giving much of a damn about the recourse... im just that tired... but yeah the biggest problem areas i have with irritation and lack of BBS shaves are the parts that are heaviest....

[jbcohen]

100 % of the blades I have in the medicine cabinet are samples. Many of the blade brands that I have sampled give me BBS right of the bat so if a blade brand can't do that right out of the box its not really worth my time, so I never hold back on any blade no matter what it is. But seriosuly if I did not get BBS I would not be shaving this way.

[drP]

Either i have 100% BBS shave, or i don't shave at all; it's all or nothing.
For me, classic wetshaving is ALL about BBS, completely zero irritation shaves, every day of the week except for saturdays, when i pass....

[Sledge]

not even a single hair to be felt even while pressing rather vigorously through the roughest patches on your face? congrats...

[Scorpio]

It's all about maintaining BBS not getting BBS for me. Shaving as close as I do with straights there is not much left the next morning so I just restore the prior day shave to BBS again. I do take a day off on the weekends.

Raf

[Infotech]

I've had one BBS shave with my Merkur HD and a Merkur blade when I first bought it back in January. I remember not having a 5 o'clock shadow until about 7 PM..:cool: Oddly, my shaves went down hill from there and I had to stop shaving with a DE for awhile because of the irratation. Now, I'm getting to the point where my shaves are getting as good as they were with my MACH3 but with a little irratation.

[Sledge]

minus the shadow part, your shaves are similar to mine... for a while i was getting horrid irritation, i actually dreaded the aftermath to my DE lol but then i tried a straight.... suddenly my DE isnt so bad LOL i shaved with it again last night, and i was shocked at how fast i was able to do it (confidence in my technique) and how good it felt afterwards... im sure with months of practice, my straights will offer the same benifit.

[peacefrog]

I have to do a little bit of extra work to get BBS. I usually don't bother, partly because I shave at night so it's not like I'll be impressing anyone (except my wife, I guess) with how close my shave is. But sometimes I'll do what it takes just for the pleasure of it.

[Sledge]

i try to get close simply so i dont have to worry about a horrendous prickly face by the following morning... i shave at night as well... but, for instance, last night i shaved, and at this very moment the only hair i have peeking out is the ones under my chin... guess those just grow fast lol but the rest of my face is still pretty bare..

[DMS]

Assuming that we're applying the "can't feel anything anywhere, even against the grain on the neck" standard as true BBS, I have to go with rarely.

I'll go for that shave and run a slight risk of ingrown whiskers for special occasions, and the best way for me to get that level of perfection is a straight razor shave followed up with a DE sideways ATG on my neck. That combination of razors and technique gives me a better shave than either of them can by themselves.

Damn-near-BBS is another story, and I have to have that every time I shave in order to be satisfied.

[qhsdoitall]

I'm like a lot of the other guys. Heavy beard and sensitive skin. BBS is achievable but I have to be real careful with the final cleanup pass since it has to be ATG to get BBS on me. I have to feel every patch by hand with a constant layer of lather reapplied by hand after each blade buff path has been cleared.

[Straight Arrow]

Once in a great while I do a BBS shave for one of two reasons: 1) I have an evening appointment that I need to look good for and I know I won't have time to shave in the late afternoon, or, 2) I just feel like doing a BBS. Neither of these conditions occur very often. It's usually 2 WTG passes and I'm good to go. BBS is mainly for baby butts. ;)

[Sledge]

see, for me, i feel... "ill groomed" if i have whiskers poppin up... and if i do nothing but WTG passes my face will feel like i took a pair of clippers to it with the smallest guard attached... small, short, not very visable... but visable... and VERY prickly... im considering JUST doing ATG passes... maybe a XTG before... because WTG (in my opinion) only does enough if you have gone a few days without shaving.... for me, its beginning to seem like a waste of lather... lol

[Smedley]

The only time I've gotten close to that was when a barber gave me a straight shave, and even then he didn't know the grain of my beard 100% and there was a patch at the end of my jaw below my ear that I could still feel whiskers on if I rubbed at the right angle.

If the question was, "How often do you get a very close comfortable shave where the whiskers are only barely noticeable when you rub ATG?", then my answer to the poll would have been different. :D

[Mottern Man]

The only time I've gotten close to that was when a barber gave me a straight shave, and even then he didn't know the grain of my beard 100% and there was a patch at the end of my jaw below my ear that I could still feel whiskers on if I rubbed at the right angle.

If the question was, "How often do you get a very close comfortable shave where the whiskers are only barely noticeable when you rub ATG?", then my answer to the poll would have been different. :D

In that case 100% :D

[TstebinsB]

In that case 100% :D

+1

I get BBS in three passes pretty easily with either the HD, Slant, or Progress. If I don't, know I didn't properly prep my skin and lather and/or I was rushing. I say this nonchalantly now but it took me almost a year of DE shaving to get to this point.

Edit: On my neck I only do two passes: WTG and ATG.

[madmedic]

If I was sensible ......and stuck with the blades I know.....I could probably get a 100% success rate.....but I just keep trying new blades. That is the risk taken for the fun of Wet Shaving....and also one reason I have not experimented too much with the straight!

[Smedley]

[/B]

In that case 100% :D

Me too compadre. ::

[Woknblues]

I go for BBS about once a month. I too have that heavy beard, mine also goes in about 6 different directions. To get BBS, I need to spend more time than the 15 minutes that I allot for myself for a shave. sometimes, conditions are right for it. For some reason, I usually get that occasional BBS on my Sunday night shave (I am usually a night shaver, as my student status permits it), after my Saturday hiatus. I am more concerned with looking decent, and having a smooth, comfortable shave than shooting for the BBS.

[jbcohen]

Someone correct me if I am wrong, but my suggestion to woknblues would be a red tip Super Speed.

[Scorpio]

I would like to see what Wok does for shave prep before I make a recomendation on a razor and or blade.


Raf

[qhsdoitall]

I would like to see what Wok does for shave prep before I make a recomendation on a razor and or blade.


Raf

Ditto, equipment recommendations come last.

[Woknblues]

well gents, since you asked...

I have use an HD and a feather or a derby.

technique:

hot towel Tx for 2 minutes
warm lather of a MB soap or a T&H cream
4 pass reduction, WTG, XTG, XTG, ATG, w/ re-lather in between each pass, that 4th pass is oh so gentle.
Ending with hot towel, then cold rinse, then balm or splash depending on tightness.

Like I said, I shoot for a BBS once a month really, preferring to go with a completely smooth and comfortable end product, rather than the irritation that will show about 25-50% of my BBS shaves. I just seem to irritate the heck out of myself going for BBS. I would simply love to go BBS every time, but so far, getting one easy has eluded me. I might like to check out that red tip.. Leisureguy has also suggested a slant, as I recall. I might just have to pick up both and try! :D:D

When I go for that BBS, I usually finish with 2 ATG passes, instead of just one. That seems to get all the hairs, but then it brings on the irritation. I might also add that I really think that I need to try witch hazel. I have been forced to change my aftershave of choice, nivea ASB for a nivea "fast absorbing" balm that is way off from the white cap stuff. 100% of the time, I feel the desire to have a stinging/bracing effect from my aftershave, rather than a balm, but I use balm because I know I need healing/ moisture. Bah, I don't know. My current shaves are about 10,000 times better than my old multi blade / can o goo days, but I just marvel at the gents who can crack out a BBS with no fuss.

[jbcohen]

This is only my oppinion. I think that the HD makes a good starter razor but not a good long term one. I base this statement on the opinions that members of another forum have convinced me of. They sort of convinced me to think the way they do. :angry037

[Mottern Man]

This is only my oppinion. I think that the HD makes a good starter razor but not a good long term one. I base this statement on the opinions that members of another forum have convinced me of. They sort of convinced me to think the way they do. :angry037

JB, I am probably going to give you the best advice I have ever given anyone.

Think for yourself! (you will be better off that way) ;).

[qhsdoitall]

JB, I am probably going to give you the best advice I have ever given anyone.

Think for yourself! (you will be better off that way) ;).

+1 Shaving is very very YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary) and IMHO (In My Humble Opinion). I have read and tried many things and there are a number sof things for me that go very much against mainstream opinions.

[Mottern Man]

This is only my oppinion. I think that the HD makes a good starter razor but not a good long term one. I base this statement on the opinions that members of another forum have convinced me of. They sort of convinced me to think the way they do. :angry037

I will explain my point, Have you ever used a Merkur HD?

If so state your opinion on it and not the masses. If not get an HD and form one or stick to what ya know. ;)

[fritz]

I voted in the 61-99% range, because almost nothing is 100%... BUT, I expect a BBS on every shave, and usually get it. (Well, I guess I have to confine that to my usual shaves. If I'm testing a new blade brand or a different prep technique or something, or there's some other unusual circumstances, then I realize it might not be BBS.) But just generally speaking, I know that I can get a BBS shave if I simply do what I know I need to do to get it.

[jbcohen]

95% of the blades I have in the medicine cabinet are samples and if I do't get BBS from each and every one I will never use that model blade again. All shaves are 100%BBS.