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Free Talk Friday - December 26th, 2025
(sub.wetshaving.social)
Talk amongst yourselves.
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this post was submitted on 26 Dec 2025
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WetShaving
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My year in review
There are no gold medals for fast shaves :)
Maybe we can change that? Have you seen any Donald Youngner (Wet The Face) videos? Fastest shaver in the West, I'd say!
He is quick once the lather is made, but he uses a single edge razor safety razor. Sean Stapelfeld likes to challenge himself to do very quick shaves with a straight razor. A lot more danger there. My normal 3-pass shave with a straight razor from initial lathering through a quick cleanup is 12 to 15 minutes. I find this allows me to enjoy the shave without thinking about the time it takes. If you want to, it is pretty easy to time-optimize your shaving process. Again, it is more about fitting it into your schedule than anything else.
I feel like bowl->face is a natural progression for a lot of people, myself included. Even sgrdddy, who if you've never heard of him has a reputation for ridiculous bowl lathers (if you're reading, I love you sgr), has ventured into face lathers.
I still have 3 bowls that I just can't make myself mail away.
I realised that I told a colossal lie. I do own shaving bowls, but I don't use them. My aunt who is into ceramics made me three bowls. Two were too small and did not have a high enough edge, the third one is just about right. And it's a beaut! Even so, I don't use it. I find face lathering saves me some time.I think I'll take a photo of it for my New Year shave. It's literally one of a kind, which makes it feel special. The first shave bowl that I had had high edges, but was rather narrow so when I got my Yaqi 26 mm brush it had little room to work a good lather. I gave it away to a friend, along with some shaving gear (including my R89), but I don't think they're really using any of it. It's a pity, but I'm not going to ask it back. Ok, rant over!
Sounds like a great year in wetshaving for you! IMHO, face lathering (or head lathering in my case) is vastly superior to using a bowl. I was always bowl lathering because I believed it was more traditional. A Reddit challenge made me try out face lathering and I was an instant convert: being able to adjust things on the fly much quicker, having the most direct feedback of the lather quality on my skin, finally enjoying the process of building the lather with my brush instead of using it just like a paintbrush and last but not least fewer things to store in the bathroom.
Good point about using the brush more. I never understood the purpose of all the swirling on the face, but it makes sense when face lathering: it helps build the lather (makes it possible in the first place, in fact), and in the process, works the lather into the hairs and lifts the hairs up.
That's right! It makes you appreciate your brush way more.