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Daily shaving with sensitive skin

Good day fine sirs! I've recently had a revelation regarding my wet shaving routine and wanted to share with the group. I've been doing this whole DE wet shaving thing for about a year and a half now, and up until recently, I haven't been able to shave daily without irritation due to my extremely sensitive skin. Through much trial and error, improving my shaving, and my lathering technique, I believe that I have finally "cracked the code" on what works FOR ME! As always YMMV, but for the first time since I began wet shaving I'm able to get CCS to BBS every single day. The absolute most important piece of the puzzle IMO is NOT going for BBS EVERY single day. For the longest time, I tried to get every whisker whacked from every direction. This is do-able on occasion or after one's face has had a couple of days to recover, but in reality, we don't NEED a BBS shave every day. Sure it'd be nice, but for some of us (myself included,) it's just not feasible or comfortable to do a 3-4 pass shave every day, even with proper techniques. What I've started doing is shaving a single WTG pass EVERY day with my R41 with a sharp blade (Polsilver Super Iridium, Feather, Permasharp Super, etc.) While the results are not as smooth in comparison to a 3-4 pass shave, when done on a daily basis, it is sufficient for a pretty CCS. The key factor for me is the aggressive razor/blade combination. One pass with a DE89 or 34C with a Derby will not yield a smooth face, but the R41 is aggressive/sharp enough to mow down most whiskers on a single pass. Every OTHER day I will do my standard 3 pass shave with the same razor/blade combination, but because my face essentially had a day off on the previous one-pass day, it's ready to be shaven those additional passes. I'm sure that something like this has been posted on here before, but I haven't read anything like it, so I thought I'd try to put my .02 in for guys that might be having similar issues with shaving every day. This probably doesn't apply to guys with rawhide-tough skin, but for us other guys I thought it might help. [emoji106]

Summary of what I longwindedly said above:

Use an aggressive razor/blade combination
Don't go for BBS every day
Use proper technique of course!
 
I agree with avoiding BBS as the goal everyday but the two pass shave with less aggressive blades/razors seems to fit the bill for me. I just finished testing PolSilver and they really chewed me up a bit. YMMV!

-Stephen
 
I agree with avoiding BBS as the goal everyday but the two pass shave with less aggressive blades/razors seems to fit the bill for me. I just finished testing PolSilver and they really chewed me up a bit. YMMV!

-Stephen
I can see how that milder razors/blades+two passes would be effective for some as well. Strangely enough, I have the best results from either one pass or three. With two (or an unnecessary four) passes I tend to get the most irritation. In the case of two passes, I think it's because there's JUST enough whiskers left above the skin to induce ingrown hairs. This is of course my completely unscientific opinion. With three passes (the third being against the grain) the entire whisker is gone. Four passes are just overkill when it comes to an R41 IMHO. I might do a LITTLE cleanup around my chin and/or jawline, but three pretty much gets me to BBS 90% of the time.

As far as the Polsilvers go, don't give up on them! I tried them when I first got into wet shaving with my Merkur 23c long handle and didn't much care for them. After trying a multitude of different blades with my R41, Polsilver Super Iridiums may very well be my favorite. Nearly as sharp as a Feather, but MUCH smoother and longer lasting. You hit the nail on the head when you said, "YMMV!" Truer words were never spoken!
 
I have sensitive skin too, and that's some good info there!
I won a R41 in a PIF and I'm a little nervous about using it, to tell the truth, but you have given me a boost of confidence about trying it.
I couldn't recommend the R41 enough! I was a little apprehensive when I first got mine too, but as long as you RESPECT it you'll be fine. There's a bit of a learning curve with it, but as long as you use proper technique (NO pressure,) it will yield as close of a shave as you can get from a DE razor. I highly suggest using a steep angle (handle nearly parallel to your face, plate/top cap perpendicular,) and short strokes. It is NOT a smooth shaving razor in that it feels like it's shearing your whiskers in a hateful manner, but your face will tell the tale. Nothing gets closer, period IMHO. Of course YMMV and all that jazz.
 
In my opinion, there's no real need for multiple passes when shaving every day. A well executed single pass will do the job just fine. We must not forget that in essence, drawing a sharp blade over human skin does not do it any good.
 
I love a one-pass with my Schick E2 Injector. This gives me a smooth CCS bordering on DFS. Aces!

In my opinion, there's no real need for multiple passes when shaving every day. A well executed single pass will do the job just fine. We must not forget that in essence, drawing a sharp blade over human skin does not do it any good.

I usually go for a 1 1/2 passer! the 1/2 being on my neck.
I'm glad to hear that others are using similar methods to mine. I'm not sure why, but when I first joined B&B I felt like I should be doing a full four pass shave every morning, and that if I didn't I was a slob lol. Maybe there are guys out there that can tolerate that, but I'm certainly not one of them. I'm really excited to be shaving every day though, if for no other reason than to use up the multitude of soaps that I've accumulated haha! 👍
 
With sensible skin, you need to know when to stop. This whole routine should be enjoyable and irritation is not fun.

I've had this realisation too since starting shaving with straights this year (which I find work well when treated in this way for my sensitive skin). It has become easier with time to know that point where the shave is done and put the razor down, rather than trying to chase a BBS every single day.

Good points, thanks for sharing!
 
Thanks for positive responses guys! I've learned all that I know about wet shaving from this board, so I figure I should try to help contribute to the discussion when I can!
Another helpful tip for us sensitive skin types, is a COLD water rinse after a shave. It helps my skin a lot.
I'm a big fan of the COLD water rinse as well. My post shave routine is:

Warm water rinse
Cold water rinse
Alum Block all over
wait a minute or two while I clean up my mess
Cold water rinse again
Aftershave Splash
 
Another piece of advice I can give as someone who has sensitive skin is to really try out a bunch of different blades. I'm in the military so I need to have a good shave every day at work, I probably wouldn't get away with a single pass shave.

When I started wet shaving I went through around 7 or 8 of the more highly recommended blades in a sampler pack I received. Of the ones I tried I settled on Astra SP as my favorite of the bunch. I used those for a few months with decent results, but was still getting irritation on my lower neck. A little while ago I decided to branch out and try some more blades, one of which was Voskhod. They made all the difference in the world. I didn't really know what "smooth" or "comfortable" meant until I tried these blades, I thought I did, but Voskhods were above and beyond everything else for me and my face.

I'm not saying Voskhods are your answer because of the whole YMMV things, but I do recommend giving them a try in addition to as many different blades as you can. You may think what you are using now is sharp/smooth/comfortable or whatever other adjective you want to attach to them, but there may be something out there that really changes your opinion on the matter.
 
Another piece of advice I can give as someone who has sensitive skin is to really try out a bunch of different blades. I'm in the military so I need to have a good shave every day at work, I probably wouldn't get away with a single pass shave.

When I started wet shaving I went through around 7 or 8 of the more highly recommended blades in a sampler pack I received. Of the ones I tried I settled on Astra SP as my favorite of the bunch. I used those for a few months with decent results, but was still getting irritation on my lower neck. A little while ago I decided to branch out and try some more blades, one of which was Voskhod. They made all the difference in the world. I didn't really know what "smooth" or "comfortable" meant until I tried these blades, I thought I did, but Voskhods were above and beyond everything else for me and my face.

I'm not saying Voskhods are your answer because of the whole YMMV things, but I do recommend giving them a try in addition to as many different blades as you can. You may think what you are using now is sharp/smooth/comfortable or whatever other adjective you want to attach to them, but there may be something out there that really changes your opinion on the matter.

I couldn't agree with you more! Finding the right razor/blade combination is one of the most important aspects of a great shave. I, too, have gone through quite a few different blades and razors in my quest and actually have about 85 of 100 pack left of Voskhods. They are an EXCELLENT blade, but they just don't shine in my #1 razor: The Muhle R41. If I WAS going to go the route of mild razor/especially smooth blades, then my Merkur 23c/Voskhods would certainly fit the bill. The thing is, I'd have to shave two or three passes with that combination to get anywhere close the the shave that I get from a single pass with my R41/Polsilver Super Iridiums, and for MY face that's just not as comfortable on a daily basis.
 
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