Ouchy! Daily recovery…

[old_pine]

Been lurking on here for some months now and I’ve finally pulled the trigger! I’m so happy to hang around with all of you

Now, I’ve seen the SOTD threads and I’ve seen a lot of questions about reducing irritation and ingrown hairs but… I haven’t seen a “recovery of the day” thread. You know, for those of us that are taking a day or five off because we went on autopilot ATG or didn’t align a Feather blade properly.

I would like to think that there are more of us out there that are in recovery mode! Idk if this is a dumb idea or not, but I figured I would take a stab at it…

Days since accident: 2
Summary: had to shave for family pics, went on autopilot and just obliterated my face. Twas a mixture of not paying attention, being in a rush, and using what I believe to be a bum blade…

ROTD:
Cold water, some Witch Hazel with Rose Pedal (0% Alc.), and a little Nivea Post Shave Balm…

Face is still a little raw but I can rub my hands against the grain with only minor ouch factor. Hoping later today or tomorrow I can do a very mild shave

 

[rbscebu]

I guess I am one of the chosen. I have rhinoceros hide like skin, silken whisker and SR shave daily - or more often if I can think of any excuse.

 

[gpjoe]

Welcome.

You don't really indicate your experience level but if you are new to DE shaving, a quicker, safer shave will become second nature in time.

Having said that, I've only been at it for about 15 months and can now get a near BBS on autopilot. However, I only shave every other day which allows my face to "recover", if needed.

I rarely nick myself with a DE but getting near BBS requires a bit of razor work which can lead to over-shaving at times. A day off and my face is always ready.

If I had to shave every day I would likely shoot for a two-pass DFS rather than risking irritation from over-shaving my way to BBS.

 

[old_pine]

Welcome.

You don't really indicate your experience level but if you are new to DE shaving, a quicker, safer shave will become second nature in time.

Having said that, I've only been at it for about 15 months and can now get a near BBS on autopilot. However, I only shave every other day which allows my face to "recover", if needed.

I rarely nick myself with a DE but getting near BBS requires a bit of razor work which can lead to over-shaving at times. A day off and my face is always ready.

If I had to shave every day I would likely shoot for a two-pass DFS rather than risking irritation from over-shaving my way to BBS.

I hear ya! That’s usually my daily ritual: just a 1.5 or 2 pass shave and no irritation or nicks or anything! I haven’t been at this for a long time (4 months), but I’m to the point where I can autopilot WTG and XTG every day!

My issue was that I rarely go ATG and the mix of needing improvement with that particular skill and being in a hurry got me good

My main intention for starting this thread was to learn from folks and share experiences when we do happen to have an irritating shave! Plenty of threads on how to prevent it, but I feel like no matter how seasoned one is, every once in a blue moon we’ll get a bad one lol

 

[Dave himself]

Hi and welcome to B&B.

I've only been traditional wet shaving now for around two years. It's not very often I have a bad shave now, but I sure can remember some of the bad one's I had at the start.

I would say most of my bad shaves have been a case of over shaving. My remedie was to just rest my face. Sometimes it took as long as a week before I would take a razor to my face with fear of doing more damage than I had.

 

[old_pine]

Hi and welcome to B&B.

I've only been traditional wet shaving now for around two years. It's not very often I have a bad shave now, but I sure can remember some of the bad one's I had at the start.

I would say most of my bad shaves have been a case of over shaving. My remedie was to just rest my face. Sometimes it took as long as a week before I would take a razor to my face with fear of doing more damage than I had.

Thank you!

So question for you and @gpjoe, at what point did you start going ATG? If y'all are so inclined, could you also share your general knowledge on that? i.e. mild or aggressive razor? blade characteristics? particular soap qualities?

 

[Jay21]

Welcome to B&B. This is a great place with many kind and generous people willing to help. They have helped me more than I can begin to count.

I’m still finding my way. Some days I have great shaves without any irritation, but some days I turned my face into hamburger. Obviously, my technique is a bit inconsistent.

Here’s what I picked up along the way that has helped me:

1) forget chasing BBS. It’s a pipe dream that only a few chosen can achieve without irritation.

2) forget shaving against the grain. This is a recipe for irritation. In fact, shaving against the grain seems to be a technique that has only gained popularity recently. Historical shaving instructions either didn’t mention it or said to not do it.

Since it sounds like you were getting good shaves without going against the grain, that would be my advice.

 

[NickCutlip]

Welcome to the forum !!

 

[old_pine]

Welcome to B&B. This is a great place with many kind and generous people willing to help. They have helped me more than I can begin to count.

I’m still finding my way. Some days I have great shaves without any irritation, but some days I turned my face into hamburger. Obviously, my technique is a bit inconsistent.

Here’s what I picked up along the way that has helped me:

1) forget chasing BBS. It’s a pipe dream that only a few chosen can achieve without irritation.

2) forget shaving against the grain. This is a recipe for irritation. In fact, shaving against the grain seems to be a technique that has only gained popularity recently. Historical shaving instructions either didn’t mention it or said to not do it.

Since it sounds like you were getting good shaves without going against the grain, that would be my advice.

I truly truly appreciate this! It seems like everywhere I read it says "WTG, XTG, ATG" but my experience has been better leaving it at WTG, XTG, (somtimes) XTG again.

I think I got a little big for my britches and wanted to looks a certain way for family pics (or maybe I was just looking for an excuse to shave ATG LOLOL).

I'm going to stick to what I know and enjoy the journey! Again, I appreciate the kind advice.

 

[Manye]

Welcome to the community

 

[Jay21]

I truly truly appreciate this! It seems like everywhere I read it says "WTG, XTG, ATG" but my experience has been better leaving it at WTG, XTG, (somtimes) XTG again.

I think I got a little big for my britches and wanted to looks a certain way for family pics (or maybe I was just looking for an excuse to shave ATG LOLOL).

I'm going to stick to what I know and enjoy the journey! Again, I appreciate the kind advice.

You're welcome. This is very much a YMMV activity. Some people do get BBS while shaving against the grain. I am of the opinion that most people can certainly shave against the grain, but it will cause irritation. In fact, on my face, shaving against the grain with one of the most "easy" and "mild" DE razors, the Henson AL13, turned my face into a bloody crime scene. This is because a lot of my hair grows flat on the skin, so lifting the hair for against-the-grain shaving is a tough order. If your hair does this as well, I'd advise skipping against the grain. However, if your hair does grow more or less straight out from the skin, and you want to attempt against the grain, make sure you have plenty of lather, massage it in against the grain to lift the hair, and then take a very shallow angle and ride the cap of the razor. If I do this, I can mostly achieve against the grain with minimal irritation, but the small increase in results isn't worth the extra effort and the possibility of blood and irritation isn't worth the risk.

The Venn diagram required for successful, irritation-free against-the-grain shaving is too much for most people to achieve.

 

[OkieStubble]

It really is, just all about focusing on enjoying the experience of the journey.

Overtime, you will come to realize, your best shaves?

Will be when you are not overly focusing and trying so hard every single shave?

To have your best shave.

Welcome to B&B.

 

[gpjoe]

Thank you!

So question for you and @gpjoe, at what point did you start going ATG? If y'all are so inclined, could you also share your general knowledge on that? i.e. mild or aggressive razor? blade characteristics? particular soap qualities?

Boy that's a good question. My first shave was one pass, WTG, using a drugstore TTO with unbranded blades. I escaped with a couple of minor nicks but my face felt like it was on fire.

The only blades I had ever used prior to that were multi-blade carts, and I'm sure I pressed waaaay to hard with the DE razor. I waited several days for my face to recover and gained a greater understanding of "light pressure".

To that point I had never shaved ATG with any razor, and after my first DE shave experience I was in no real hurry. Still, I was still getting very nice 2-pass shaves (WTG, XTG), so I waited a bit to go ATG.

Now, I've settled on mild DE razors, with my favorites being Gillette Techs and my Timeless 68SCL. I also grab my Feather ASD2 and Razorock 68P on occasion. The blade I use doesn't seem to matter much, though I tend to avoid those with a reputation for being exceptionally sharp or mild, and stick with mid-tier blades (I have 700 Astra SP).

Typical shave now is a 3-pass shave (WTG/XTG/ATG) with touchup for a near BBS. I've abandoned the idea of true BBS after realizing that my face won't tolerate the amount of touchup required to get there. A more aggressive razor might do it with less work but I'm satisfied, and still getting the best shaves of my life.

Lately though, I've been gravitating to open blade razors - shavettes and straight razors - which can be quite interesting for a beginner when shaving ATG.

 

[old_pine]

You're welcome. This is very much a YMMV activity. Some people do get BBS while shaving against the grain. I am of the opinion that most people can certainly shave against the grain, but it will cause irritation. In fact, on my face, shaving against the grain with one of the most "easy" and "mild" DE razors, the Henson AL13, turned my face into a bloody crime scene. This is because a lot of my hair grows flat on the skin, so lifting the hair for against-the-grain shaving is a tough order. If your hair does this as well, I'd advise skipping against the grain. However, if your hair does grow more or less straight out from the skin, and you want to attempt against the grain, make sure you have plenty of lather, massage it in against the grain to lift the hair, and then take a very shallow angle and ride the cap of the razor. If I do this, I can mostly achieve against the grain with minimal irritation, but the small increase in results isn't worth the extra effort and the possibility of blood and irritation isn't worth the risk.

The Venn diagram required for successful, irritation-free against-the-grain shaving is too much for most people to achieve.

I love that idea of the Venn diagram, certainly sounds like there is a steep diminishing return curve when you (or me) try to go against the grain. To be honest, I have been really impressed by some shaves and they were never ATG. Thanks again!

Boy that's a good question. My first shave was one pass, WTG, using a drugstore TTO with unbranded blades. I escaped with a couple of minor nicks but my face felt like it was on fire.

The only blades I had ever used prior to that were multi-blade carts, and I'm sure I pressed waaaay to hard with the DE razor. I waited several days for my face to recover and gained a greater understanding of "light pressure".

To that point I had never shaved ATG with any razor, and after my first DE shave experience I was in no real hurry. Still, I was still getting very nice 2-pass shaves (WTG, XTG), so I waited a bit to go ATG.

Now, I've settled on mild DE razors, with my favorites being Gillette Techs and my Timeless 68SCL. I also grab my Feather ASD2 and Razorock 68P on occasion. The blade I use doesn't seem to matter much, though I tend to avoid those with a reputation for being exceptionally sharp or mild, and stick with mid-tier blades (I have 700 Astra SP).

Typical shave now is a 3-pass shave (WTG/XTG/ATG) with touchup for a near BBS. I've abandoned the idea of true BBS after realizing that my face won't tolerate the amount of touchup required to get there. A more aggressive razor might do it with less work but I'm satisfied, and still getting the best shaves of my life.

Lately though, I've been gravitating to open blade razors - shavettes and straight razors - which can be quite interesting for a beginner when shaving ATG.

Thanks for sharing your journey thus far. I like the idea of “mid” blades. I tried a Personna Platinum today and really enjoyed it!

Also, be safe out there with the butcher knives straight razors and shavettes! I’ll be curious to hear more on that once that part of the journey has begun!

 

[Galibier_Numero_Un]

I love that idea of the Venn diagram, certainly sounds like there is a steep diminishing return curve when you (or me) try to go against the grain. To be honest, I have been really impressed by some shaves and they were never ATG. Thanks again!

Thanks for sharing your journey thus far. I like the idea of “mid” blades. I tried a Personna Platinum today and really enjoyed it!

Also, be safe out there with the butcher knives straight razors and shavettes! I’ll be curious to hear more on that once that part of the journey has begun!

+1 on the Personna.

Being a noob with minimal experience, I hesitated to chime in. I've been disciplining myself to making one change at a time - experimenting with a blade sample pack and keeping my one razor (a Henson +) and Cella soap constant.

I'm amazed at how many changes folks make at one time. I don't know how one can hone their technique this way.

I waited on blade experimentation until I felt I was getting a handle on lathering (Muhle 25mm STF & AP Shave Co. 22mm Synbad). The last two weeks this has stabilized. I noticed that if my lather is too dense, my razor hydroplanes and I compensate with a bit too much pressure.

So much to learn ;-)

The stock RK blades were OK for 2 shaves (possibly 3).

Astras enforced a heightened awareness of a light touch - sharper and rougher than the RKs.

Next up - Feathers. Yup, 1st shave had me stropping the blade with my face (ouch). 2nd shave was better, and the third showed signs of degradation. No thanks.

Next up - Personna Platinum (the German, Israeli Reds). Bingo! The three best shaves I've had in this 10 week DE experiment. The Personnas were marginally less sharp the the Feathers, but orders of magnitude smoother. Now THIS is what people are talking about!

I'm sticking with these for at least two more blades, as my face needs a rest from this masochism otherwise known as blade trials.

... Thom

 

[FarmerTan]

Welcome, and to paraphrase a few others upstream: just enjoy the journey for a bit.

I've been at this a little bit now, and I've decided that the only thing ATG does for me is to irritate my skin and keep me from shaving the next day.

 

[BobT]

I learned to wet shave long before I had whiskers. My dad would stand me on a stool so I could see in the mirror and lather me up then give me one of his safety razors without a blade and guide me through scraping off the lather. Dad's routine was WTG above the jawline, XTG for the jaw line and mostly AGT for the neck and chin with touch ups here and there as needed. Dad was very patient with the process and eventually I started doing everything on my own. Usually this was only a Sunday morning event for me, during the week by the time I got up dad would already be ready to go to work. I really never knew any other way to shave and in fact never thought about it until I stumbled across this forum. I got away from wet shaving during my Navy years and had largely abandoned it until recently. I have always followed dad's training and very seldom did I ever have a nick or weeper. I can shave in 5 minutes or so and get a decent shave WTG, XTG and ATG. If I take the time to really enjoy the experience I get a DFS in 15 or 20 minutes. I guess I should add that I wear a moustache and goatee, a bit like cheating! My favorite razor is dad's old Red Tip but I recently bought a '58 Tech and it's a really nice razor, I use it a lot during the week when I don't have as much time to shave as I would like to. I have never really tried to get a BBS shave but might one day. I guess the point to my ramble would be to go slowly and let the razor do the work, if you need a little touch up, re-lather that spot and go slowly, a good razor and a good sharp blade requires very little pressure to do it's job. Don't be afraid to use your non razor hand to stretch your skin if you need to.

Above all, don't give up! A good wet shave is one of life's great pleasures to me. Take your time, take a day off if you need to let your face recover but eventually you will get where you need to be for a DFS. I still remember dad splashing the Old Spice after shave into my 5 year old hands and patting it on my cheeks all those years ago, I felt 10 feet tall when I walked out of the bathroom!

 

[BigJ]

Welcome aboard!

I am a daily shaver who rarely takes a day off, so cannot really answer your question.

 

[Eric_75]

Hello and welcome!

 

[old_pine]

I learned to wet shave long before I had whiskers. My dad would stand me on a stool so I could see in the mirror and lather me up then give me one of his safety razors without a blade and guide me through scraping off the lather. Dad's routine was WTG above the jawline, XTG for the jaw line and mostly AGT for the neck and chin with touch ups here and there as needed. Dad was very patient with the process and eventually I started doing everything on my own. Usually this was only a Sunday morning event for me, during the week by the time I got up dad would already be ready to go to work. I really never knew any other way to shave and in fact never thought about it until I stumbled across this forum. I got away from wet shaving during my Navy years and had largely abandoned it until recently. I have always followed dad's training and very seldom did I ever have a nick or weeper. I can shave in 5 minutes or so and get a decent shave WTG, XTG and ATG. If I take the time to really enjoy the experience I get a DFS in 15 or 20 minutes. I guess I should add that I wear a moustache and goatee, a bit like cheating! My favorite razor is dad's old Red Tip but I recently bought a '58 Tech and it's a really nice razor, I use it a lot during the week when I don't have as much time to shave as I would like to. I have never really tried to get a BBS shave but might one day. I guess the point to my ramble would be to go slowly and let the razor do the work, if you need a little touch up, re-lather that spot and go slowly, a good razor and a good sharp blade requires very little pressure to do it's job. Don't be afraid to use your non razor hand to stretch your skin if you need to.

Above all, don't give up! A good wet shave is one of life's great pleasures to me. Take your time, take a day off if you need to let your face recover but eventually you will get where you need to be for a DFS. I still remember dad splashing the Old Spice after shave into my 5 year old hands and patting it on my cheeks all those years ago, I felt 10 feet tall when I walked out of the bathroom!

I love this! I appreciate you sharing your story!

Here is the wild thing… the whole story of why I got into wet shaving revolves around having my first kid! I used to shave when I was younger with some 16 blade super guard deluxe blah blah blah but I would always have irritation. Days after he was born (Valentines day this year) I was really wanting to be able to shave so that my whiskers wouldn’t rub against his head. I literally just googled “shaving no irritation” and bam I was on the trail. Got my first razor that week and as I’ve continued I now realize that I cannot wait to show him when he’s older! If it’s alright with you, I’ll try the same method that your dad used! Seems like an awesome bonding time and a great opportunity to boost his competence and confidence! Again, thank you!!