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Irritation

Do you experience irritation from shaving?

  • Yes ... regularly

    Votes: 6 10.9%
  • No

    Votes: 14 25.5%
  • Yes ... but rarely

    Votes: 35 63.6%

  • Total voters
    55

Tirvine

ancient grey sweatophile
I read various posts about causes of irritation and shavers noting nicks and weepers. Sure, over the years I have nicked myself, but I am not able to recall a straight edge or DE shave leaving my face or neck feeling irritated. As to nicks, I attribute the rare nick to using a blade with which I am unfamiliar carelessly. My first run with Feather was such an event, but I quickly figured it out and now love them (but wish they lasted longer). FWIW after shaving I always splash on an alcohol type after shave, EDT, or EDC. There is that bracing moment, but it passes almost instantaneously.
 
Thankfully rarely. It's usually when I try a soap and or blade that I am not familiar with.
My standard setup gives me superb shaves with no irritation.
 
I have very sensitive skin and can experience irritation from a variety of causes: brush burn, razor burn, poor quality soaps, specific scents, etc. However, through experience, I have found the combination of hardware, software, and shaving technique that minimizes irritation. Generally, I can shave with zero irritation, but sometimes I will experience minor irritation. My shave yesterday was with a soap that was not quite good enough, so I did get minor irritation. It has been quite a while since I experienced serious irritation. That was with some soaps that had scent notes that did not agree with my skin.
 
Very seldom and when I had, it was always due to lack of proper technique or experimenting with new razor/blade.

From time to time a few red pinpricks/bumps may appear on the left side of my lower neck next to my Adam's apple, just along the line where the whiskers start to grow. This is the one sole area where I need to be extra careful.

I do not experience razor burn, although I always finish the shave with alcohol-based AS splash.

I used to use alum block in the past and sometimes I'd experience redness, although not sure whether that was due to bad technique or alum itself. I've stopped using alum regularly long time ago, except for the better grip on my fingers.
 
I rarely get irritation. I usually do get it around my neck area, when I use sharp blades in adjustable razors at higher settings. If I were to use a less sharp blade like Shark etc, it's fine.
For sharp blades, I usually use my Edwin Jagger DE89 or Merkur 34C.
My blades also need to be smooth. Blades like Astra SP, Personna Lab Blue, Russian made Gillette 7 O'clock Super Stainless, Gillette Wilkinson Sword are awesome for me.
A good shower before shaving helps a lot. Good soaps and creams do contribute to a good irritation free shave.


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Since I started shaving with mild razors and sharp blades, I have not had any irritation at all. This has been the case most of this year. I had to let go of the idea of trying fun, aggressive razors. Takes out some of the thrill but makes my face happy.
 
I'm not quite sure how to answer this. Using a safety razor, I almost never get irritation. But I'm learning a shavette now, so all kinds of nicks and irritation. Less than a month ago when I started, but still enough to feel.
 
Since I started shaving with mild razors and sharp blades, I have not had any irritation at all. This has been the case most of this year. I had to let go of the idea of trying fun, aggressive razors. Takes out some of the thrill but makes my face happy.

Too often, people ask the question "Which razor, blade, hone, strop, soap or aftershave, etc. should I use?"? without ever describing their needs. Likewise, many people will respond to such questions listing their favorite products without ever describing the environment in which these products are used. It is like going into an electronics store and the sales staff is more interested in determining how much money you are willing to spend for a TV, computer, sound system, etc. and never ask how you plan to use the new equipment. Some people come away with purchases that are inadequate to meet their needs and others spend more money than they should have for things that they do not need.

Like you, I have tried a lot of razors and a lot of blades and soaps and other shaving equipment. However, it is now my practice to use a very mild razor (VDH/Weishi TTO) with a super sharp blade (BIC Chrome Platinum, Nacet, PermaSharp Super, or Dorco Prime Platinum) for my cleanup pass. I have found that this combination can give me a near-BBS shave with zero irritation in spite of my tough beard and sensitive skin. Do I recommend this for every shaver? Absolutely not; my needs fall toward the extremes of the normal distribution, whereas most people will fall within the normal range. I will leave it for others to decide whether this makes me special or weird. It could go either way.
 
I really don't feel much irritation. But I do have the occassional weeper when I am not paying close enough attention to my technique. Usually it is due to too much pressure. Fortunately it is not all that often anymore.
 
Too often, people ask the question "Which razor, blade, hone, strop, soap or aftershave, etc. should I use?"? without ever describing their needs. Likewise, many people will respond to such questions listing their favorite products without ever describing the environment in which these products are used.
Well said! Great point! 100% on the money!
 
I read various posts about causes of irritation and shavers noting nicks and weepers. Sure, over the years I have nicked myself, but I am not able to recall a straight edge or DE shave leaving my face or neck feeling irritated.

There was a fascinating thread here a week ago that did a poll on how frequently folks shaved. I was really surprised to learn that about half of the respondents only shaved 2-3 times per week. I suspect that this is a big x factor that many folks don't take into account.

Shaving twice a week with an R41 is not the same thing as doing that shave 7 days a week!
 
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There was a fascinating thread here a week ago that did a poll on how frequently folks shaved. I was really surprised to learn that about half of the respondents only shaved 2-3 times per week. I suspect that this is a big x factor that many folks don't take into account.

Shaving twice a week with an R41 is not the same thing as doing that shave 7 days a week!

This is a very accurate statement. I can have some great shaves with my current favorites which are Gillette New Deluxe, RazoRock Game Changer open comb 0.84, Gillette Old Type and Schone Open Comb. But I know that if I were shaving every day I would not be able to use any of these every day. Well, maybe the Schone, but even that one is questionable. More than likely I would resort to using a RazorRock Old Type or a Gillette Tech if I were shaving every day.
 
Unlike probably most people here - who tend to be more sensible than me - my approach has always been "I'm getting a BBS no matter what, but I'll do what I can to minimize the collateral damage". First I eliminated cuts, then I phased out the weepers, and now if I take my time and prep right, irritation is also a rarity. When irritation happens it's mostly due to rushing things or experimenting with a different blade / razor (which I feel driven to do every so often, even though I end up reverting to my standard set up every single time).
 

Tirvine

ancient grey sweatophile
There was a fascinating thread here a week ago that did a poll on how frequently folks shaved. I was really surprised to learn that about half of the respondents only shaved 2-3 times per week. I suspect that this is a big x factor that many folks don't take into account.

Shaving twice a week with an R41 is not the same thing as doing that shave 7 days a week!
Well, except for the odd backpacking trip I have shaved daily since the mid-1960s. If a particular blade or razor is the least bit irritating I do not push it. One pass and less than BBS beats ouch! I long ago settled on razors, blades, soap, and routine that are not irritating. I never change more than one thing at a time.
 

Chandu

I Waxed The Badger.
My hypothesis (for my sample size of 1, namely me as it pertains to irritation).

My most irritation free shaves came from a Muhle R41. I got more irritation from many mild razors. In my case I think mild razors can cause it if you try to get a close shave with them. You need to use a little more pressure to do so. I think that pressure creates a wave of skin that somehow gets the skin abraded more as the hair is shaved.

On the other hand a blade forward, efficient razor doesn't need any pressure to give a bbs, you feel the blade on the face and don't have any need for any additional pressure. I think you avoid the wave of skin thing.

When I borrowed my neighbors R41 for a month, comparing that to milder razors I would say the difference is this...
R41 any discomfort occurs DURING the shave, slight tugging at times, but once done your face is hairless and my skin felt as comfortable as if I had not shaved. Other razors were the opposite, super smooth, no blade feel during the shave, once done, there was some very mild or greater irritations depending on the razor.
 
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