Hey guys. Just to preface this, I've been wetshaving for about a month and a half. I use a Merkur 180 Long Handle, Proraso, Edwin Jagger Best Badger Brush, and the Walgreens blades, which I believe are rebranded Personnas.
So recently I've been doing three passes: ***, XTG, ATG. This has been working fairly well but I've been getting a little bit of irritation. I assumed this was just a technique issue, but really hasn't been getting all that much better. Well, today I decided to back off on my routine a bit because I'm going out tonight, still had a little irritation leftover from yesterday, and wanted to give it a chance to heal. As such, I only did the first two passes.
Well, my face doesn't seem to have changed much at all since before I shaved. It looks a little bit... better... but that might just be a result of the repeated application of Proraso, plus Witch Hazel and aftershave. Looking in the sink afterwards, I see very little hair floating, and I think all that's there is really just stuff I chopped off my sideburns by mistake.
Is it possible that my first two passes aren't actually doing anything? They definitely used to, but now that I've added an ATG pass and started getting much closer shaves, is it possible that my beard actually isn't growing back to a level where it's long enough to be cut with a WTG pass on the next day? If that's the case, then I definitely want to vary up my routine; doing two passes that do nothing but add extra irritation to my face doesn't seem very smart, and it could actually be the reason I've been getting irritation lately. What should I do, though? Change them to being more aggressive XTG passes (ie closer to ATG)? Drop them entirely?
Also, is it possible that this just means I need a more aggressive angle on those first two passes? A sharper blade?
Thanks for any help.
So recently I've been doing three passes: ***, XTG, ATG. This has been working fairly well but I've been getting a little bit of irritation. I assumed this was just a technique issue, but really hasn't been getting all that much better. Well, today I decided to back off on my routine a bit because I'm going out tonight, still had a little irritation leftover from yesterday, and wanted to give it a chance to heal. As such, I only did the first two passes.
Well, my face doesn't seem to have changed much at all since before I shaved. It looks a little bit... better... but that might just be a result of the repeated application of Proraso, plus Witch Hazel and aftershave. Looking in the sink afterwards, I see very little hair floating, and I think all that's there is really just stuff I chopped off my sideburns by mistake.
Is it possible that my first two passes aren't actually doing anything? They definitely used to, but now that I've added an ATG pass and started getting much closer shaves, is it possible that my beard actually isn't growing back to a level where it's long enough to be cut with a WTG pass on the next day? If that's the case, then I definitely want to vary up my routine; doing two passes that do nothing but add extra irritation to my face doesn't seem very smart, and it could actually be the reason I've been getting irritation lately. What should I do, though? Change them to being more aggressive XTG passes (ie closer to ATG)? Drop them entirely?
Also, is it possible that this just means I need a more aggressive angle on those first two passes? A sharper blade?
Thanks for any help.