What's new

Need Danger Zone Advice

Hello Fellow Shavers,

I began wet shaving in December 2022. Like a newbie I got sucked into the equipment aspect which distracted me away from the process. However, I am amazed at how comfortable the below list of razors could be in order of preference.

1. Gillette Tech 1940s variant
2. Fatip Piccolo Gentile
3. Karve CB with B-plate

Razors no longer in use:

1. RazoRock Game Changer .68 OC and .84P
2. RazoRock MJ90a
3. Merkur 34c
4. Karve C-plate (this one is a close call but I like the B better)

I have determined I prefer mild razors where I get consistently great shaves with no irritation. Comfort is more important than efficiency, even though I target a one pass shave as a method to go easy on the skin. The alum block produces almost no tingling. But my one weakness is the chin area, where my danger zone is right below the lip, and then the area on top of the chin. I have a dead zone with almost no hair in between those two upper and lower zones. But when I get to this area my knees get weak and I start to sweat and I get inconsistent shaves, sometimes it is smooth as butter while other times it is tugging like a war. I try to glide lightly with zero pressure but the blade feels like it gets hung up sometimes. Even with a bad shave in that area, I still do not get irritation but the shave is just not comfortable and makes me dread it for the next time. I always go WTG, one pass only, with spot touchups during my entire shave. I am not in a BBS vision quest since I like a fashionable 5 o'clock shadow.

Rookie mistake is I keep changing blades and razors so I have no idea which combination is good. I have figured out that my optimum blade life is two shaves as my blade redline is during its third use when things become uncomfortable. It could be my prep too which is:

1. Wash face with warm water and mild exfoliating soap. Sometimes I shower prior.
2. Apply pre-shave oil to the danger zone
3. Wet face and brush on my bowl prepared lather

My hair growth is not particularly heavy, where I start looking pretty ragged around 48 hours. My whiskers are normal as in not peach fuzz or linguine but still pretty stiff.

Anyways, thanks for reading and any advice you can offer as I appreciate your barber wisdom. Happy shaves!

dangerzone.jpg
 
Rookie mistake is I keep changing blades and razors so I have no idea which combination is good. I have figured out that my optimum blade life is two shaves as my blade redline is during its third use when things become uncomfortable.
I would return to the RazoRock Game Changer 0.68 and Merkur 34C as both those razors can achieve the shave you want; it's a shame you put them on the BST so soon.
It's the blades that are more critical because they do the cutting and ride the skin. Razor technique is also very important.
I did not find any benefit in pre-shave products but good lather preparation makes a difference.
 
Great advice above!

Let me stress three points that may help:
1. Skin stretching, including ‘bull frogging’ (filling cheeks with air), moving your head and stretching your skin.
2. Try combining you preferred ‘mild’ razor with a sharp blade.
3. Change only one thing at a time.

Stick with this and you will get the results you want!!
 
Are you stretching your skin by poking your tongue into the danger zone?

Great advice, at least it works for me, and lot of other good suggestions.

Hello Fellow Shavers,

I began wet shaving in December 2022. Like a newbie I got sucked into the equipment aspect which distracted me away from the process. However, I am amazed at how comfortable the below list of razors could be in order of preference.

1. Gillette Tech 1940s variant
2. Fatip Piccolo Gentile
3. Karve CB with B-plate

Razors no longer in use:

1. RazoRock Game Changer .68 OC and .84P
2. RazoRock MJ90a
3. Merkur 34c
4. Karve C-plate (this one is a close call but I like the B better)

I have determined I prefer mild razors where I get consistently great shaves with no irritation. Comfort is more important than efficiency, even though I target a one pass shave as a method to go easy on the skin....

Your path is very similar to mine. After one year, I've settled on (primarily, not exclusively):

Techs
Karve CB with "B" plate
Feather ASD2
Razorock 68P

...and sold:

Razorock 84P
Merkur 34c
(among others)

The Merkur just didn't work for me and for some reason was finicky about angle, and the 84P didn't offer me anything more than I needed vs the 68P.

I typically do a 3-pass shave, and my sensitive areas are also similar: mainly the chin and moustache area. I still do three passes, but carefully and with a very light touch.

As indicated (and suggested by @silverlifter) I use my tongue to push out and flatten the area between my lower lip and my chin. After two passes WTG it is nearly DFS. If I want to get closer and my skin isn't irritated at that point I will go back for a light ATG pass.

For me, the "trick" is knowing when to quit.

All I would suggest is to stick with it, try to use one razor and one blade, and before you know it everything will fall into place.
 

musicman1951

three-tu-tu, three-tu-tu
My first suggestion is to shave every day. A successful one pass shave with good feedback from your alum block would seem to indicate that you can handle it. I suspect that will considerably reduce the tugging.

You definitely want to experiment a bit with skin stretching and trying different shaving directions.
 
Some great tips from everyone, thank you.

@spacemonkey42 I am not ready nor willing to dive back into the hardware black hole as I just pulled myself out

@know1special that is a good idea, along with the tongue poke that @silverlifter suggested

@Invicta I still have the .84P and 34c is not sold yet but I don't want to go back to them at this point as I really like the Tech and Fatip, if I can get the blades dialed in. The .84P will go on the BST next though.

@Guido75 I go N-S in the danger zone but I do W-E on the jawline, which works fine, so maybe I can extend that stroke across the chin. That has some potential.

@BigJ your number 3 is the most intuitive troubleshooting rule I have violated because of all the choices which I got overwhelmed. As for number 2, I did use a fresh Kai blade in the Tech and I did have some tugging on the chin but it was bearable and it was a consecutive day shave. The "bullfrogging" is a cute idea, will have to try that one!

@gpjoe I am also trying to be really careful to not overdue the shaving as to not stress the skin, thus my 1.5 pass self-imposed rule. If it is not perfect, I can get it the next shave and as @musicman1951 suggests, maybe an everyday or 5 days per week schedule would be beneficial. I will shave again today which makes it 3 days in a row.

Thanks everyone!
 
Last edited:
I tried the bullfrog and tongue-in-cheek tips and they were helpful for sure once I found the right puff level. Going E-W across the chin was good too. Again, no irritation or tingling with the alum and this is three shaving days in a row. For one full pass, I get a pretty good close shave. It is not perfect but is darn good.

Another thought I have is perhaps I am not counting my passes accurately and my touch ups are more than a mere touch up thus why I only get two to three shaves from a blade?

The Gillette Tech with an Astra SP blade (thank you B&B exchange) was used. This week has been all Tech but with different blades (Astra, Derby, Kai), each one fresh. I really am liking the Astra.

Thanks again for the great tips.
 
Top Bottom