Can't seem to get BBS, shave getting worse?

[Angry__Panda]

So I started off, not watching some of the videos I should have and had quite a few nicks. So I took some time, sat down and watch some of Mantic's videos, read a lot of stuff on here and settled into a routine of doing 2 north to south passes and then a 3rd pass that was kind of a mixed bag, trying some different directions (though I mapped my face, I wanted to map it with the razor kind of). All the while I have been trying different blades (Feather and Dorco so far have been the two that have given me the feeling I wanted, have a couple others in the mail).

So, I have been shaving quite often and the north to south passes are great. When I switch it up to go either south to north or east to west/west to east it is all down hill from there. Right under my ears going east to west/west to east is against the grain and doesn't feel awesome (though if I do it I get BBS), so I stopped that, because let's be honest, this is about feeling good. South to north ends up not feeling very awesome on most of my neck as well. I just don't know where to go from here I guess.

Also, I use an alum block after a cold water rinse (that I dip in some cold water) and even when there are no nicks it stings, in another thread someone suggested I am taking off too much skin during the shave, but if I took any less I would look horribly unshaven lol. Today was the first day I didn't use it and I definitely have less of an after "sting." So I might end up getting some witch hazel to try that?

So that was the shaving method, let me give you some details that may or may not be important...

-I use hot water
-I bowl lather with creams...I have been going through my Geo F Trumper samples, Razorock XXX and TOBS Sandalwood.
-I use a Merkur Futur, till today I have kept it at 1, today I started on 1, adjusted to six for my second north to south pass, then had to adjust it back to 1.
-Just got a new badger brush (lathers great though the GFT Violet I used today might not have produced as good of a lather as my TOBS does)

If I left out anything please let me know and I will check this when I go on break at work or when I get home...I will end with saying that when I don't go the directions that don't feel as great the shave is great, not BBS, but it feels good and I haven't heard any complaints at work about being unshaven or anything.

[Ozgun]

I dont know your experience but if you are new to de's take your time, it takes some weeks or even months to master handling these. And at the beginning if you try for bbs you will mostly mangle your face. Futur is especially a high level of razor to advance because of its bulk and weight. It needs extra care on no pressure rule.

What I suggest you;

-face lather, its a better way to soften your whiskers
-use setting 3 or 3,5. 2 at the last pass if your skin is sensitive
-use blades like rapira, crystal, permasharp, gillette yellows
-do 3 passes, with the grain, xtg(chin to ear), xtg (ear to chin)

for best results, lather your face up with hot lather nicely, use the brush circularly, then rub your whiskers aggressively with your fingers for 30 seconds, clean your face with hot water, repeat the process. THEN relather your face and finally start shaving. These will help you to achieve a better shave.

But as I said before if you are a newbie, just focus on your technic and handling the razor, not the closeness.

[Grumpy_Bottom]

Rather than go full ATG, try a 45 degree pass, in each direction, with little to no pressure in those trouble areas. That helps me whittle down the stubble enough to go ATG on a touchup in my trouble spots without tons of irritation. It's not always BBS, but it gets me closer than trying to dive right into ATG

[njpaddy]

I don't really try for BBS, but it took me a couple of months to get consistently close shaves. There are a lot of variables involved: razor, blade, cream, angle & direction. With practice, you'll get there.

[StylinLA]

This is a tricky pursuit, and you need to stick with it. So many variables. Blades, creams, prep.

Be patient. I think it took me about 3 months to achieve a reasonable BBS shave. You are learning a new talent. There wouldn't be a whole website dedicated to it if this was quick and easy. There would a couple of Internet articles.

Personally, I think a lot of it is finding the right blade and learning the angles along with no pressure The no pressure and unlearning of the carts takes awhile. I may have just recently achieved the no pressure thing.

You learn something every shave and we love every shave. We're an odd bunch.

Got a rare two day growth and brand new Feather today. Can't wait!

[Bloomey]

Same happened to me, took a while but got there in the end. What did it for me was prep, I didn't prep enough. Now I make a point of:

1) Using a glycerin soap to wash my face (musgo real or proraso cutting edge) both the combo of hot water and glycerin helps to damage the facial hair and fatten up the bristles making them easier to shave off.
2) If I have the time using kyle prep with the cream/soap of choice to further soften the hairs.
3) If I don't using floid sandalor or hair conditioner, they work a treat.

What do you do in terms of facial prep? All the guys above have made excellent points too.

[Ozgun]

2) If I have the time using kyle prep with the cream/soap of choice to further soften the hairs.

What is kyle prep?

[StylinLA]

Kyles Prep detailed in link below. Vastly simplified, wash face, apply lather, massage lather into face with fingers for a couple of minutes, apply hottest towel you can stand for 2-3 minutes, rinse cream, reapply cream and shave. Very much softens up the whiskers.

http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/How_to_pre-shave_prep

[luvmysuper]

BBS is a result of a good prep, and good technique. Trying to obtain BBS as a "goal" of a given shave is looking for irritation and problems.
Try to work on the basics of getting the routine down, and BBS will show up on its own.

[Ozgun]

very similar to my technic, I only dont use any towel, I2m too lazy for that. :)

2 times lathering and massaging does it for me. Softens whiskers as corn tassels

[Kilgore]

for best results, lather your face up with hot lather nicely, use the brush circularly, then rub your whiskers aggressively with your fingers for 30 seconds, clean your face with hot water, repeat the process. THEN relather your face and finally start shaving. These will help you to achieve a better shave.

I'm going to try that tonight. Thanks Ozgun.
8 months in & I'm still learning new tricks.
Some solid advice. Panda one thing that helped
me greatly was letting my beard grow for a couple days
then, take a cotton ball to your face & you'll see the direction
of growth & stick to that as best you can.

[franz]

You can't achieve BBS. BBS achieves you.

I'm wondering about your N-S and S-N passes. Does your grain follow those directions? I know a pure N-S would be XTG or semi-ATG for me in some areas of my beard. Consider mapping or remapping your grain.

I'd stay away from anything ATG at this point, "obey the grain" and experiment with XTG on your second pass. Since you've only started recently, a CCS with no nicks or irritation should be your benchmark. Anything more than that is just gravy.

[Ozgun]

I'm going to try that tonight. Thanks Ozgun.

You're welcome bud, just dont forget to the this with hot lather and hot brush.

[StylinLA]

You can't achieve BBS. BBS achieves you.

I'm wondering about your N-S and S-N passes. Does your grain follow those directions? I know a pure N-S would be XTG or semi-ATG for me in some areas of my beard. Consider mapping or remapping your grain.

I'd stay away from anything ATG at this point, "obey the grain" and experiment with XTG on your second pass. Since you've only started recently, a CCS with no nicks or irritation should be your benchmark. Anything more than that is just gravy.

A lot of that is getting to know your own beard. I know I have areas of my heck that the growth is kind of NE-SW...so the WTG, ATG and XTG are relative to that.

[stevebowtie]

Forget BBS. Do thorough prep. Do two passes with the grain. Don't press on. Do use a very shallow angle. Don't be tempted to do any more passes to use up the spare lather. Don't go across or against the grain. Don't put anything on your face afterwards until your skin has had a chance to settle down. If you get irritation then don't shave the next day. If you have to shave the next day, use electric until your face has recovered. I've been trying to return to DE for a couple of months. Still get burned sometimes, but it's getting better.

[ehehat]

BBS is a result of a good prep, and good technique. Trying to obtain BBS as a "goal" of a given shave is looking for irritation and problems.
Try to work on the basics of getting the routine down, and BBS will show up on its own.

This

[neo_styles]

Echo on not trying so hard to get BBS. I'm a relatively new de shaver myself and found that I was using way too many passes and now force myself to use the right amount of prep and technique (or prepnique as I like to call it) and get the best shave I can in one pass WTG. BBS feels great and I'll be the first to admit it but it has to be earned.

In your case, I think the futur is way too aggressive for you. If you can, try to get a more forgiving razor and see if you don't find improvement. That and a little kyles prep and you'll be right as rain.

[PaqDan]

I'm going to try that tonight. Thanks Ozgun.
8 months in & I'm still learning new tricks.
Some solid advice. Panda one thing that helped
me greatly was letting my beard grow for a couple days
then, take a cotton ball to your face & you'll see the direction
of growth & stick to that as best you can.

+ 1 on this. Mantic talks about shooting for par. Learn the terrain of your face. It's kind of surprising how long it takes to set in. Also try and limit the variables in the beginning.

[Angry__Panda]

Alright, so I had a long drawn out reply all typed up and then instead of finishing my break I had to talk to my boss lol. So...Let's see if I can remember to answer everything and work on heeding the awesome advice in the thread.

First and foremost, a lot of the stuff I actually do heh. Didn't know it was Kyle's prep but I have watched quite a few videos from Geofatboy on YouTube and stuff like the "pre-lather" and massaging it into your beard is something I already do. I then wipe off the lather with a nice hot towel (honestly one of the best parts of my shave heh).

Next, thanks for the perspective of the BBS happens, and it is the "goal" not what to try to accomplish by forcing it. That honestly I think is almost as good as the words; "reduce the hair each pass, don't try to get rid of it all at once."

Couple of things I am going to try are some different settings on the adjustable part as well as using a much more shallow angle. I am thinking this might be my problem. I also have to say that I am pretty sure I am using zero pressure, but it can be hard to judge. For the moment I am going to stick with the Futur. If I found a razor on the BST forum that was super gorgeous and I had to have, I might switch heh, but for now I'll stick with my pride and joy heh.

Also, sorry if I gave the impression that I was going to give up any time soon. My face still has zero red bumps and zero ingrown hairs, that right there is reason enough to figure it out. I also don't quit, EVER. So don't worry on that front :) .

A few things to ask;

The talk of passes. Better to just do a two pass with the grain and then be done? Or do my north to south (which is basically with the grain except maybe two places) and then do some cross the grain...The one issue with XTG is the fact that under my cheeks I would be going ATG on either side with either east to west or west to east (the hair grows opposite ways on each side lol). I will attempt to draw a picture when I can to convey that point. So should I do a north south (with the grain) then a cross grain (going east-west on one side and west-east on the other)?

I guess the question is, on passes, where should I start, if I were starting from scratch?

And finally is there a like perfect place to see what the perfect lather should look like? I mean I have looked at countless videos and I can't tell if my lather is exactly as good as their's...Like maybe some super high rez pictures somewhere? I am wondering if occasionally my lather isn't up to par.

Thanks again to everyone, this is a really great resource to have when you can only get so far reading the wiki here and watching videos and such :) . I definitely look forward to perfecting this art with all of your help :) .

[king1976]

BBS is a result of a good prep, and good technique. Trying to obtain BBS as a "goal" of a given shave is looking for irritation and problems.
Try to work on the basics of getting the routine down, and BBS will show up on its own.

As stated above.
Also I saw that you aply alum after the shave. Alum is great indicator of shaving technique. If you feel that alum stings that's mean your technique was not excellent (you use much pressure or maybe razor was not apropriate one).
Many guys think that BBS comes with pressure but that's wrong aproach. Try to keep pressuere as low as possible. It's better option to do one more pass than to apply pressure. I am sure that BBS shaves will come with time.