A couple of questions I haven't had answered yet.

[clyde72]

I saw a couple of comments in the "Why are you wet shaving thread?"
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/472108-Why-are-you-wet-shaving and asked a couple of questions that have not been answered. I re-quoted and bumped the thread but sill have not gotten any response, so I though I'd just start a new thread and see what happens.

"Cart shaving is not wet shaving? If shaving involve water is not wet shaving? It's really matter number of blades?"
I thought any type of shaving that involved water; foam, cream or soap and a brush; and some sort of razor, razor blade or razor cartridge was wet shaving. Am I wrong?

"Next because multi-pass gave better shave results, and couldn't do multi-pass with multi-blades."
Why can't you do multi-pass with multi-blades? I currently am doing multi-pass with a Mach 3. Should I not be doing this for some reason?

 

[Luc]

To answer your first question, it's a point of view. I think that cart shaving is wetshaving. Like using an injector is still wetshaving.

For the second one, if that works for you, that's fine. You can multi-pass with multi-blades. I am not aware of any rules against it. The idea of the multi blades is to avoid multiple passes. Now, it doesn't mean that it was intended to only be a single pass and that you can't do it. Some do 6 passes with their DE...

 

[ackvil]

To answer your question, wet shaving is when you make your own lather with soap or cream and water. I don't call shaving in a shower with an electric or using foam from a can "wet shaving" - but that's just me. You are right: you can wet shave and still use a cartridge. That's why I don't use the term wet shaving. I call what I do traditional shaving. To me traditional shaving is wet shaving and using a DE, SE, injector, or straight razor.

You can do multi-passes with a Mach 3. However, every time you make a pass with a four or five bladed razor it's as if you are doing four or five passes. No doubt irritation, ingrown hairs, etc. may well result.

 

[tlweinbe]

take this for what it's worth: I'm a relative newb to the wet shaving world. 4 months or so.

Wet Shaving to me is all about process. Your mileage may vary, but when I think of the term, I think of the process of a personalized, enjoyable shave.

Compare and contrast this with mass market shaving with those plastic cartridges. To shave with a mass market cartridge is about purpose, not process. To me, cartridge shavers just want to whack the stubble off, wipe off their faces, and get on with the day.

Technically speaking, I suppose you could use a plastic cartridge razor with the wet shaving process. I may offer an analogy.
I am a cyclist. Road bikes are just like DE and Straight Razors: built for a very limited market, highly specialized, and acquisition disorder is part of the gig. You could, technically, show up for a 100 mile Century ride on your wife's beach cruiser and nobody is going to say a thing. It's still cycling, and it meets the need for a bike. But it isn't really what cycling is about among devotees.

Could you therefore do multi-pass shaving with a cartridge razor? Same answer: sure you could. If you use good wet shaving technique, you could use a cartridge in multiple passes. No real issues here, you could and there's nothing terribly exciting about it.

I think it comes back to why you shave. Wet shaving and three pass beard reduction is all about the process and enjoying a somewhat leisurely and pleasurable activity verses just lathering up out of a can and whacking the weeds out of a sense of purpose.

That's just me. I know there are some very strongly held opinions out there about the plastic stuff.
Remember, friends don't let friends shave with plastic crap. Life's too short for cartridges.

 

[DaltonGang]

I've never liked the term "Wet Shaving". I used "Vintage Shaving", to describe how we shave.

 

[tlweinbe]

I've never liked the term "Wet Shaving". I used "Vintage Shaving", to describe how we shave.

I dunno, the wet shaving name really describes what my counter, mirrors and everything else gets covered with when I shave.
Geez louiz, do I get water all over everything or what?

I do appreciate the vintage shaving moniker however. What we do definitely is a nod towards a different time and place.
I am just hoping that time and place comes back to the mainstream.

 

[Badger Believer]

What we do definitely is a nod towards a different time and place.
I am just hoping that time and place comes back to the mainstream.

It's definitely more popular and more visible than just a few years ago, but isn't part of the appeal the fact that it's NOT mainstream? Maybe that's just me, but the fact that our method of shaving is a bit of an anachronism means we're rebelling, even if just a little, against the commercial cynicism of mainstream shaving. If DE shaving went mainstream, that little act of rebellion would be meaningless.

 

[TexLaw]

As you've noticed, there is no broadly accepted definition of "wet shaving," although the closest you probably could get would be (a la [MENTION=29847]ackvil[/MENTION]) "when you make your own lather with soap or cream and water." Also, the razor really has nothing to do with it.

There is nothing wrong with making multiple passes with a multi-blade cartridge. I've done it with a Mach 3, even ATG. It's no big deal with a light enough touch.

 

[takeshi]

"Cart shaving is not wet shaving? If shaving involve water is not wet shaving? It's really matter number of blades?"
I thought any type of shaving that involved water; foam, cream or soap and a brush; and some sort of razor, razor blade or razor cartridge was wet shaving. Am I wrong?

Nope (aside from the foam). Wet shaving and carts are not mutually exclusive. Some choose to use the term to mean shaving with an SE, DE or straight but one can wet shave with a cart. Some also use safety razor to mean DE or SE but carts are safety razors as well.

It's definitely more popular and more visible than just a few years ago, but isn't part of the appeal the fact that it's NOT mainstream?

Everyone is not identical. I don't choose how I shave based on how others shave. I shave using what works best for me. How others shave is irrelevant to me. If it's part of the appeal to you and others then that's certainly valid for those of you that find it to be so.

 

[clyde72]

Thanks for the responses guys!

I dunno, the wet shaving name really describes what my counter, mirrors and everything else gets covered with when I shave.
Geez louiz, do I get water all over everything or what?

+1 on that!!

 

[Badger Believer]

Everyone is not identical. I don't choose how I shave based on how others shave. I shave using what works best for me. How others shave is irrelevant to me. If it's part of the appeal to you and others then that's certainly valid for those of you that find it to be so.

Fair enough. More so than how others shave being relevant, for me it's more a matter of being able to walk right past the shaving aisle in supermarkets/drugstores knowing that I'm not falling for the latest gimmick and they're not getting into my pocket. That adds a little extra something to the satisfaction DE shaving provides, but again, that's just me.

 

[CBLindsay]

I think ackvil probably said it best (and TexLaw agrees). But I also saw some other good points made. personally I never thought about shaving as being "wet" or "dry" (really if there is a "wet" then there must be a "dry" right?), I just kind of did it. I DID see it in terms of tools used (cartridge, DE, electric and so on) but never used to think of the soaps in this process. I just put canned foam with cartridge, brush and puck with DE and pre-electric powder with electric.

I find the statement "Cart shaving is not wet shaving" to be a little arrogant on its face as well as ignorant. Sometimes you will see people make statements like this because they themselves are recent converts to DE and they want to feel more enlightened, seemingly at the expense of those who are still using cartridges. As ackvil pointed out the term "traditional" is probably a more appropriate descriptor of the style of shaving that employs the use of a brush to build lather. Traditional shaving allows for any number of "tools" to be used to used for the actual shaving. Many here on the forum agree that better prep and a proper lather will result in a superior shave even if you continue using cartridges. I have seen many recommendations to stick with or return to cartridges if the DE is causing irritation. The one common theme I see however, is that they will always recommend using the cartridge with the fewest number of blades possible (Mach 3 is often mentioned, as are versions of various 2 blade cartridges).

In terms of multiple passes using multi-blade cartridges goes...If the multi blade cartridges worked as well as advertised nobody would NEED multiple passes right? Truth is I never got the results I wanted without multiple passes. BUT having learned from "traditional" shavers that no pass should ever occur without lather, I would expect less irritation if you were to apply lather between passes. Cartridges allow for a less refined technique (because the head self levels) but a light enough touch will ensure you get less irritation too.

I have also read that Barbasol canned cream can be made more useful by adding a touch of water to it before smearing it on. Apparently that helps to achieve a more desirable slickness. So in a pinch, even canned stuff and a fresh Mach 3 will provide a traditional shaver a great shave. (see what keeping an open mind about everything can achieve)

 

[Shiloh]

I've never liked the term "Wet Shaving". I used "Vintage Shaving", to describe how we shave.

As a "vintage" shaver (shavee?) I concur with your use of terminology. All my razors are also vintage, too.

 

[CBLindsay]

Fair enough. More so than how others shave being relevant, for me it's more a matter of being able to walk right past the shaving aisle in supermarkets/drugstores knowing that I'm not falling for the latest gimmick and they're not getting into my pocket. That adds a little extra something to the satisfaction DE shaving provides, but again, that's just me.

Yeah I proudly avoided all of the latest gimmicks and fads for the last 10 years ...then adopted the 'ol traditional shaving as a way of shaving and promptly acquired one of every scent soap known to mankind, a dozen different blade types (because the wrappers look cool), a closet full of aftershaves and a drawer of vintage (used) Gillette razors. But I didn't fall for any gimmicks! Nah, really I am having a blast doing it all and I wake up eager to get my shave on and that is why I do it. If a vibrating Fusion with infrared flashlight handle made me this happy I'd be all over it.

 

[bberg100]

Having experience a few dry shaves - a disposable Bic and no water/goo/cream/etc., means a "wet shave" has liquid involved, does not matter if it came from a can or a soap puck. We sometimes get really hung up on definitions here.

 

[BSAGuy]

By definition, wet shaving is any shaving that is not dry, i.e. electric.

A shaver can take as many passes as he wishes with any razor, be it single edge or multi.

 

[Pepin]

I have never liked the term "Wet Shaving". I prefer to call it (using DE, SE, and straight/shavettes) "Traditional Shaving".
Seem like a better way to describe how we shave.

 

[Badger Believer]

I find the statement "Cart shaving is not wet shaving" to be a little arrogant on its face as well as ignorant.

+1

After switching from canned cream to making lather with soap and a brush, I continued to use carts for 10 years. Would naysayers claim that's only "semi-wet"? Where is the line in the sand? Why do we need one? Shaving involves more than one variable, and not all of us who found traditional, DE shaving switched them all at once.

 

[Cash_Stronomer]

1:
If you don't drop a battery into, or plug in your razor, you're wet shaving.
2:
Multi pas either works or doesn't on it's own regardless of the razor. I personally just do a single pass everyday, but that said sometimes I want that perfectly smooth shave, so I just hold the razor the other way and do a second against the grain. Good enough for me.

 

[ks6c]

I've been wet shaving for more than a dozen years, now - the first 10 as ackvil has described, with AOS creams, badger brush, and carts. I never considered aerosol cream as being "wet", though maybe I should consider just the pre-shave hydration ritual as qualifying. No big deal for me.

As for multi-passes with carts, I'm doing some math. My face sees a blade 3 times with a traditional WTG>XTG>ATG DE shave, but would see a blade 15 times - 15 times! - if I did the same 3 passes with a 5 blade cart (and no cart in 35 years of trying ever accomplished its task in a single pass). I feel razor burn a'comin'.....