Hi gents, new to the forum and world of DE shaving.
Apologies for the long detailed post but am looking to cover all bases up front.
So I recently got into DE shaving after originally starting out with cartridge like Mach 3 pretty much all my life with no real issues apart from some irritation or tugging at times due to dull blades or the odd ingrown hair here of there until about the last 4 years where I have been using a Phillips one blade, which has been sort of ok, leaves my skin a bit dry/flaky never a close shave but ok enough for my lifestyle apart from the costs of the blades.
So I decided to get into DE shaving for a smoother cheaper (haha $300 and counting!) shave. I've had maybe about 4 or 5 shaves over 3 or 4 weeks but this hasn't gone well for me I think.
I am now suffering from many ingrown hairs on my cheeks, some on my neck and multiple red sore bumps on my face after wet shaving. Most ingrown is just past the edge of the goatee line.
I have thick beard hairs, pili multigemini (double hairs growing from the same shaft). I feel some hairs like to just grow flat on the face and start to dig in creating some of the bumps and some just seem to get trapped under the skin, grow sideways and wont grow out.
My current shave items are:
My routine is usually a shower then a shave, I lather in a bow, and work the lather into the face scrubbing it in with the brush to try and soften and lift the hairs, I have also used a TOBS sample as well. I use very light weight with the razor, short strokes, did an extremely light pressure shave too to see how this would work for me, as much minimal blade angle riding the cap and then adjusting down till just blade contact to be as gentle as possible still got ingrowns and red sore bumps on face, I haven’t tried the pulling on the skin the opposite way technique much, maybe once or twice, use alum at the end of every shave and wash off with cold water, use the Proraso After Shave Balm, moisturise face everyday, tried cold water shave, warm water, I've do a 2 pass shave or so of WTG and XTG or a 2 - 3 pass shave of just WTG. Same result. Bumps appear and ingrowns start. My lather is of whipped cream consistency, I don't shave areas without lather, I need multiple passes to get the hair shaved as usually the first pass barely removes the hair.
I use Shaveworks cool fix after shaving and then morning and night as directions but it doesn't seem to do anything, tea tree oil seems to help with the bumps reducing but I am unsure how ingrowns will be with it as I have only used it for 2 days so far. At this stage I will go back to the Philips one blade for now to stop destroying my face.
What seems to be my issue here? Do I need a more aggressive razor? Slant? Adjustable? Is my technique in angle lacking or is there something else going on here?
Appreciate your time and help in reading this.
Apologies for the long detailed post but am looking to cover all bases up front.
So I recently got into DE shaving after originally starting out with cartridge like Mach 3 pretty much all my life with no real issues apart from some irritation or tugging at times due to dull blades or the odd ingrown hair here of there until about the last 4 years where I have been using a Phillips one blade, which has been sort of ok, leaves my skin a bit dry/flaky never a close shave but ok enough for my lifestyle apart from the costs of the blades.
So I decided to get into DE shaving for a smoother cheaper (haha $300 and counting!) shave. I've had maybe about 4 or 5 shaves over 3 or 4 weeks but this hasn't gone well for me I think.
I am now suffering from many ingrown hairs on my cheeks, some on my neck and multiple red sore bumps on my face after wet shaving. Most ingrown is just past the edge of the goatee line.
I have thick beard hairs, pili multigemini (double hairs growing from the same shaft). I feel some hairs like to just grow flat on the face and start to dig in creating some of the bumps and some just seem to get trapped under the skin, grow sideways and wont grow out.
My current shave items are:
- Merkur 34c
- A what I think is terrible Percy Nobleman brush, was listed as boar hair turns out its synthetic which I will change to a Semogue boar if I decide to continue DE shaving
- Proraso Shaving Soap Bowl: Red
- Proraso After Shave Balm: Protect
- Proraso Alum Post Shave Stone
- A blade sampler pack of
- Astra Superior Platinum Double Edge Razor Blades (5)
- Astra Superior Stainless Double Edge Razor Blades (5)
- Derby Extra Double Edge Razor Blades (5)
- Feather Double Edge Razor Blades (5)
- Gillette 7 O'Clock SharpEdge Double Edge Blades (5)
- Gillette 7 O'Clock Super Stainless Double Edge Blades (5)
- Personna Super Stainless Double Edge Razor Blades (5)
- Treet Platinum Double Edge Blades (5)
- Shark Super Chrome Double Edge Blades (5)
- Shark Super Stainless Double Edge Blades (5)
- & Shaveworks The Cool Fix Ingrown Hair Treatment
My routine is usually a shower then a shave, I lather in a bow, and work the lather into the face scrubbing it in with the brush to try and soften and lift the hairs, I have also used a TOBS sample as well. I use very light weight with the razor, short strokes, did an extremely light pressure shave too to see how this would work for me, as much minimal blade angle riding the cap and then adjusting down till just blade contact to be as gentle as possible still got ingrowns and red sore bumps on face, I haven’t tried the pulling on the skin the opposite way technique much, maybe once or twice, use alum at the end of every shave and wash off with cold water, use the Proraso After Shave Balm, moisturise face everyday, tried cold water shave, warm water, I've do a 2 pass shave or so of WTG and XTG or a 2 - 3 pass shave of just WTG. Same result. Bumps appear and ingrowns start. My lather is of whipped cream consistency, I don't shave areas without lather, I need multiple passes to get the hair shaved as usually the first pass barely removes the hair.
I use Shaveworks cool fix after shaving and then morning and night as directions but it doesn't seem to do anything, tea tree oil seems to help with the bumps reducing but I am unsure how ingrowns will be with it as I have only used it for 2 days so far. At this stage I will go back to the Philips one blade for now to stop destroying my face.
What seems to be my issue here? Do I need a more aggressive razor? Slant? Adjustable? Is my technique in angle lacking or is there something else going on here?
Appreciate your time and help in reading this.