Thread: Dry shave touch-up?

I finished my second str8 shave 2 days ago, and it went pretty well. I had just over a week's growth and was a little nervous about shaving when my whiskers were so thick and long. I did one pass WTG and one pass that was a XTG/ATG combination. I only got 2 or 3 small nicks and my shave seemed a bit closer than my first str8 shave. I had done 50 passes on the strop ahead of time, and the razor seemed even sharper than the first time I used it (it came honed and shave-ready when I bought it).

Any way, after finishing my second pass and rinsing my face off with cold water and drying it, I noticed a few stray whiskers here and there. In a moment of bravado, I decided to just clean up a bit with the razor on my dry face. I was surprised at how comfortable the razor felt on dry skin. I seemed to have a lot more control over it, and it seemed to be pretty effective for shaving off those strays. I could see what I was doing better without the lather and could more easily stretch my skin. Surprisingly, it did not seem to leave any burn or additional nicks behind.

Just wondering whether anyone else has done any dry shaving with a str8 and what your experience was. I certainly can't imagine doing a first pass dry, but as a final, touch-up pass, it seemed to work quite well.

Payne

I too have done as you chasing a few strays dry. I would however caution against doing this for a COMPLETE shave. I can only imagine the amount of razor burn left behind, not to mention the dulling to your edge that would be caused by the lack of lube.Just my 0.02...

I always clean up a few stray whiskers in just this manner. I wouldn't worry about dulling the blade at all, as your whiskers are still swelled up from water/soap/cream/whatever. You can easily get razor burn though. Best thing is to just avoid any long strokes with the razor. To date I've never got razor burn from cleaning up those 4-5 strays after shaving, and I do it every day. I have got a nick or two doing this, but it's pretty rare.

Just a note... DRY whiskers have the hardness of copper wire. So don't dry shave!

Blueghost... What are you smoking?


Nevermind. Looks like a moderator is already on it.

Originally Posted by randydance062449

Just a note... DRY whiskers have the hardness of copper wire. So don't dry shave!

agreed, DRY whiskers..... very bad. But a dry touch up immediately post shave. Works well for me.

Why not touch up with water?

It's in the Standardized Textbook of Barbering.

First pass with lather if the customer asks for the famous "Once-Over."

Second pass, against the grain, can be done with water from a bottle if the customer asks for a "Close Shave." Also, a second stropping is performed on the razor before beginning the second pass.

The clean-up mentioned in the original note is not a dry shave, but rather just a second pass.

A true dry shave would be dry skin with no prep. If you think this might work, all you have to do is try it once, and you will never do it again.

Originally Posted by toolarts

It's in the Standardized Textbook of Barbering.

First pass with lather if the customer asks for the famous "Once-Over."

Second pass, against the grain, can be done with water from a bottle if the customer asks for a "Close Shave." Also, a second stropping is performed on the razor before beginning the second pass.

The clean-up mentioned in the original note is not a dry shave, but rather just a second pass.

A true dry shave would be dry skin with no prep. If you think this might work, all you have to do is try it once, and you will never do it again.

Very interesting. So does this mean that old school barbers didn't lather on the ATG? When I clean up whiskers it isn't completely dry, my face is still wet from the shave and stray whiskers are still prepped for the shave. But this seems to be indicating that barbers used to use JUST water on the entire second pass.

I do it all the time. if your razor is sufficiently sharp, it's not a big deal.