Bad Shaving Advice

Happy New Year, DFS! As a bunch of forum users, you know just how much shaving advice is out there. We're inundated with it in every thread, in every FB group, in every shaving blog. All of it is well-intentioned, but some of it is just plain bad. So today we're taking down some of the most common and widely accepted bits of shaving advice. These are the four big shaving tips that I think suck. Some of the reasons might surprise you and maybe - just maybe - ditching these tips will help you with your own shaves.


P.S. You'll probably disagree on some of these (I bet I know which one). If so, good! Let's talk about it.

Watched the video and actually agree with all 4 points. None are new thoughts and your points have all been stated in forums and known by those with enough experience to know better. Unfortunately there will always be someone new coming along and asking for help which will be followed by some well intentioned bad advice and hopefully some good. Only new thing I learned from your video is you've got a REALLY cool lamp

Watched the video and actually agree with all 4 points. None are new thoughts and your points have all been stated in forums and known by those with enough experience to know better. Unfortunately there will always be someone new coming along and asking for help which will be followed by some well intentioned bad advice and hopefully some good. Only new thing I learned from your video is you've got a REALLY cool lamp 

I would sure hope our Super Mod doesn't learn much from a video like this!

Watched the video and actually agree with all 4 points. None are new thoughts and your points have all been stated in forums and known by those with enough experience to know better. Unfortunately there will always be someone new coming along and asking for help which will be followed by some well intentioned bad advice and hopefully some good. Only new thing I learned from your video is you've got a REALLY cool lamp 

I would sure hope our Super Mod doesn't learn much from a video like this!

Super Mod is a generic title applied to all Mods.....nothing super here  Very nicely covered all 4 articulately though

Watched the video and actually agree with all 4 points. None are new thoughts and your points have all been stated in forums and known by those with enough experience to know better. Unfortunately there will always be someone new coming along and asking for help which will be followed by some well intentioned bad advice and hopefully some good. Only new thing I learned from your video is you've got a REALLY cool lamp 

I would sure hope our Super Mod doesn't learn much from a video like this!

Super Mod is a generic title applied to all Mods.....nothing super here  Very ? cely covered all 4 articulately though

We all think you're especially super. <3

Shane: you nailed it.
And Dave, you are Super

my flame suit is on....

bad advice - recommending 'mild' razors to newbies. there's literally hundreds of mild razors and most on the market would probably fall into this category. instead, I'd rather have someone start with a medium or aggressive razor to help narrow down their sweet spot quicker.

my flame suit is on....

bad advice - recommending 'mild' razors to newbies.  there's literally hundreds of mild razors and most on the market would probably fall into this category.  instead, I'd rather have someone start with a medium or aggressive razor to help narrow down their sweet spot quicker.

100%. Goes nicely with point #4.

my flame suit is on....

bad advice - recommending 'mild' razors to newbies.  there's literally hundreds of mild razors and most on the market would probably fall into this category.  instead, I'd rather have someone start with a medium or aggressive razor to help narrow down their sweet spot quicker.

100%. Goes nicely with point #4.

yep...I actually posted my point while listening to your video in the background. I hadn't gotten to your point #4 yet before I submitted that post.

Shane, I definitely agree with you about #3 (number of passes and always with, across, against the grain is not written in stone) and will certainly accept your expertise on #4 (sensitive skin=mild razor) as I do not have overly sensitive skin and have razors that run from mild to aggressive.  (I'm not a fan of the term 'efficient' as it isn't helpful.  Every razor should be efficient, as in gets the job done.)  As for #1, I was told to let the weight of the razor be the pressure so I always took the no pressure rule to mean no extra pressure.  I have both heavy razors and very light aluminum razors and find that almost no extra pressure works on my two to three pass shave.  More pressure tends to get used as a blade has had a few uses but with new blades even my lightest razors come through with little or no pressure.  Again, you're the expert and this is just my opinion but for #2 I don't think a sample pack is a  bad idea, particularly for someone new to DE shaving.  You mention that one should practice technique, even with the same blade.  However, there are some truly awful blades out there (Zorrik Stainless are dreadful for me) that no amount of technique will help and may discourage a person new to wet shaving from continuing.  A sample pack of five or ten blades is a very inexpensive way to see if it is, indeed, the blade while at the same time working on that technique. 

These are just my thoughts so feel free to punch holes in them.