Your Best Shaving Tips

If you're like me, you've picked up a wealth of information here on the board. So what are the best tips that have helped you achieve your best shaves?

Technique? Gear or "software" specific? Let's have 'em. Here's one:

TIP: Swallow and hold your breath to make your adam's apple "hide" - then shave right over it. (Credit to richmondesi)

Tip- you can cork new blades. (never knew this and wow it worked for me)

Kyle's prep, so easy a caveman could do it.

Make sliding motions instead of just pull straight up/down (aka the Gillette slide) at the first pass. Why this is better isn't too hard to tell, when you are slicing the bread or whatever it will be significantly better to doing a sawing motion than just press. Another good thing with that is that it makes the blade last longer, at least to me.

/A

When in doubt add more cream or soap to your brush.

Dont mill soap on your wifes grater or you will be severly told off and have a dishwasher full of bubbles!

...laughing so hard, I have tears in my eyes!

taffy said:

Dont mill soap on your wifes grater or you will be severly told off and have a dishwasher full of bubbles!

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Related soap prep tip: don't microwave Bay Rum soap. Whoa!

texbilly said:

Related soap prep tip: don't microwave Bay Rum soap. Whoa!

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Or tabac...smell was in my kitchen for a month. I didn't mind it but my wife did all I heard was "Matthew! This is a kitchen not a barbershop."

texbilly said:

TIP: Swallow and hold your breath to make your adam's apple "hide" - then shave right over it. (Credit to richmondesi)

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Excellent tip!
Just tried and true!
Thank you Bill!

Kyle's Prep.

Just thought of another bit of sage advice: don't "j-hook" with a slant! (credit to bit2)

texbilly said:

If you're like me, you've picked up a wealth of information here on the board. So what are the best tips that have helped you achieve your best shaves?

Technique? Gear or "software" specific? Let's have 'em. Here's one:

TIP: Swallow and hold your breath to make your adam's apple "hide" - then shave right over it. (Credit to richmondesi)

Click to expand...

I never thought of that trick with the Adam's apple. Wow! I always just slide the skin to the left and right of the area and shave around it. This sounds better and more reliable.

My tip is to know your beard growth pattern so you can personalize your shave accordingly.

BlackBard said:

I always just slide the skin to the left and right of the area and shave around it. This sounds better and more reliable.

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BlackBard - like many guys, that's exactly what I did for XX years. And I'm guilty of having never mapped my beard so thank for the reminder!

You can't have too many brushes or shave creams

If you think you have enough soap on your brush, load some more. I have never had a sub par or bad shave from having too much lather. Also don't hesitate to go back to the puck for more soap in the middle of a shave.

texbilly said:

Just thought of another bit of sage advice: don't "j-hook" with a slant! (credit to bit2)

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I did this fairly often with my slant, as my technique got better I stopped doing it.


How about, always make sure the head of the razor is tightened before you start shaving.

Learn to accept that sometimes the shave you have is the best you're going to get today, better to be a little rough than bright red or bleeding.

Also, the corner of a DE blade is not made for digging out individual hairs! Trust me on this.

Sullybob said:

How about, always make sure the head of the razor is tightened before you start shaving.

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That's a great tip, it reminds me of something I've learned on the forums. There are VERY FEW true "always" and "never" do's. Those two words get tossed around a lot, "Always soak Williams while you shower", "Never apply alcohol based products to your face"... We see them all the time. Always and never statements are, the great majority of the time, just tips that work for the poster. Take these statements as suggestions, not hard facts. You should, however, always do what works for you and never what doesn't, no matter how many people told you to never do it, or always do it a different way

BTW, Shawn has a valid always statement. A loose blade can cause some serious damage.

My tip: when trying to get the best possible shave get one set up and stick at it and your shaves will surely improve, once your where you want to be then you can start changing things and keep great results. Too much change in the beginning will not help at all.

Regards Grant

texbilly said:

TIP: Swallow and hold your breath to make your adam's apple "hide" - then shave right over it. (Credit to richmondesi)

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Nice! Never thought about that...