Greetings and welcome to the forum. Happy to hear you're making progress and enjoying your wet shaving journey.
Don't forget to keep us updated.Just wanted to add a little update since I've had another handful of shaves since originally posting. Since then I've been using Soap Commander soap, the WSP finest badger brush, and the Bulldog handle on the R89. For me, the SC soap has made a huge difference in lather as compared to the Proraso I was using before, much more slick and protective. Also, the heavier weight and grip of the Bulldog handle has really allowed me to just focus on my angle and allow the weight of the razor to do the cutting without adding any additional pressure.
These changes alone (couple with me sticking to the Astra SP blades for now) have really already allowed me to cut back on the level of irritation on my lower neck, and my face in general feels much more comfortable than it did before. I'm absolutely loving the Soap Commander AFB, even the Nivea stuff leaves my face feeling oily/greasy but the Soap Commander absorbs completely and smells awesome, and the menthol give a nice cooling feeling for a few minutes that isn't too obnoxious.
I'll keep working on my technique and will report back again in another few days, it seems like each shave gets better and better.
Hello and welcome. Great to have you here.
For your neck, I would suggest beard mapping so that you know for sure which way the whiskers grow. Let your beard go for a couple of days and then feel the grain direction with ytour fingers. You may be surprised at what you learn.
Once grain is known, be sure to make first pass WTG. Second can be XTG or ATG.
Good luck.
For those sensitive areas I'd suggest very small short light strokes, with a very shallow angle. I learned my technique on those sensitive areas using mild razors and mild blades ie DE89, Gillette Tech and Derby blades. With those setups I can go as many passes as I need without irritation now. That enabled me to learn to do the same with sharper blades in less forgiving razors. My technique stays the same regardless of razor and blade now.
You Tube vids are good but then it's important to learn your own way. In my experience if you stick to trying to emulate someone elses shaving style you might not be comfortable. Contrary to what seems to be common belief there's no proper 'Universal' way to shave.
Also consider the cold water shave. It helped me no end.
Yup.
Prep the face as normal using either hot. warm or cold water. Then chill face and beard using cold water. Shave in the cold water.
Try experimenting with room temp, cold and bloody cold to see what suits you best. Shaving from ice cold requires a sharp blade.
Much is said about hydrating the beard and longish exposure to hot water. The idea is to hydrate and soften the beard but it also softens the skin which can lead to problems for some, myself included. Cold water shaving it seems, hydrates but stiffens the beard without softening the skin too much. Here's a wee experiment to gain some insight into skin condition....
Shave at night as normal, accepting less than BBS on the neck. In the morning without wetting the skin, feel that stubble on the neck missed last night. Now dry shave it off. Use a new blade, very shallow angle and very light, very short strokes. Cut WTG and XTG only. Be slow and tentative. You'll most likely find it comes off fairly easily with zero irritation.
I'm not suggesting that as a regular shaving technique, just an experiment to get a feel for your skin and shaving angles, soft touch etc. I'm also not suggesting hot water is wrong either, but I'm certainly secure in my belief that a long hot water prep isn't neccessary for a good shave.
**Shallow angle = Handle higher, Steep angle = Handle lower. For my neck I'm going so shallow the blade is only barely catching.
Very good process to let the healing kick in...keep us updated on your progress.Over the weekend I decided to let my face recover a little and restrained myself from shaving Saturday morning. Instead I shaved Saturday night which gave me a little over a day and a half worth of growth. I also wanted to try my hand at a Derby blade, thinking maybe I was applying too much pressure with the Astras and that's why I was getting irritated.
My experience with the Derby was horrible, very rough and tugging on my hair. I did one complete pass and decided I couldn't take it any more, put a fresh Astra back in. It was night and day difference, and with the new blade I really concentrated on applying barely any pressure at all for the second and third passes. On the second pass something just kind of hit me and clicked, and I knew exactly how the pressure and angle was supposed to be because it felt much different and far less irritating. I even felt comfortable enough to go ATG on my whole face, including my neck, which I never would have even thought about doing before with cartridge razors. Since I started wet shaving, this was the first time I really knew how close and comfortable a shave using proper technique can be.
Since then I've had 2 more shaves (took Sunday off to give me another day and a half before Monday morning) and both were equally close and comfortable, again able to go ATG on my third pass both times. Not only do I not have any additional irritation or razor bumps on my neck, the ones that were there previously are finally starting to heal up and go away. Needless to say, I'm extremely happy.