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Skin irratation no matter what! Please help

Ron R

I survived a lathey foreman
Stop shaving at least 2-3 days..

You have many ingrown hairs. The red big pimples.!!!
Do something for your ingrown hairs... (Dermatological intervention !!)

Once you get rid of the ingrowns you may continue reading about the shave routine suggestions;

1- I suggest to NOT shave after the shower

2- Use pre shave oil once just before the shave and wash your face. The oil residue may decrease the quality of your lather (protectiveness). I highly recommend to not use pre-shave oil !!!

3- Never apply ATG on your face. Do not try to achive BBS. Just stick to DFS (at least 2-3 years) which is better for you.

4- If the brush irritate your face during the face lathering, use bowl lathering method

5- Don't shave daily. 2-3 Days growth will be better for you.
That is good sound advice and I agree you have ingrown hairs from the photo's presented.
What I suggest before every shave possibly is take a worn out tooth brush and dry brush gently to allow the hairs to work their way out wards. Stay away from multi bladed cartridges because your will regret it from those pictures.
The ideal shave possibly is a CCS or DFS and don't chase the BBS until you figure what is going on. Some folks have sensitive skin and you might fall into this area and are prone to ingrown hairs.
Try a 2 pass shave that WTG + XTG and that's it until you see what happens, less irritation for sure.
A nice inexpensive razor that will give a good shave is a Razorock SLOC and it is more a tame mid range and I get DFS range with it or closer and its hard to cut yourself and if you do nick your self its your technique that needs improving. You should still feel slight whiskers and that is ideal IMO.( Click on pictures to enlarge)
............DFS...........................................................1days growth.....................................BBS................................
DFS whiskers looks like 1.5 hrs later..jpg
One days growth of beard (2).jpg
DFS.bbs  just after a shave! (2).jpg

Here is a thread I did on a ingrown hair that drove me bonkers! I used my USB microscope while getting to it and flipping the hair out of the flesh. It might help hopefully!
 
Lots of great advice above.

My only addition, let your facial hair grow out 2 to 3 days or more and map the growth. Hair can grow in funny angles on the neck, and may not follow a traditional north to south orientation that we commonly shave in think it’s with the grain.
 
Those are tricky spots that I struggled with too. My advise is to reconsider the direction of the first pass. You may find that S-N or W-E is more in line with your beard map. You may also want to stretch the skin. Try a two way stretch.

My issues didn’t fully resolve themselves until I switched to a straight razor. Not to say that it can’t be done with a DE or SE but I have to be very careful with those. A few days is ok but after that problems can creep in. With a SR I can shave everyday as many passes as I want. No issues.
 
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Ravenonrock

I shaved the pig
It may seem counter intuitive, but I really limit the product that goes on my skin. Water and quality soap, that’s it. There is a lot of different stuff that is going on your already sensitive skin, making it more difficult to tell if a certain product could be one of the culprits. As others have suggested, give it a break for a bit. Everybody’s skin type and routine is unique, simplifying things worked for me. Hope you find a solution and some relief.
 
This is a good point. Products can often be the culprit or at least a contributing factor. I’ve learned that I’m actually pretty sensitive to soaps. About half of them don’t work out and cause irritation. Try a few soaps and see what works. A lot of people will say to stick with your current set up and dial it in. It’s good advise but if you suspect a soap to be causing irritation (itching or burning by the end of the shave) it’s best to swap it out.
 
First, welcome to B&B Dante.

There are certain places that are very difficult to get a BBS shave on. For many, it's the mustache area, chin, and neck. The chin and neck present a problem because unlike most cheeks they are not flat and it is difficult to maintain the right angle for the razor.

Irritation usually is caused by poor blade angle and too much pressure on the razor. No matter how light the razor is, NO PRESSURE. The neck is a tricky area to shave because keeping the right blade angle and little pressure is a challenge. The usual advice is to let the weight of the razor do the job - not put pressure on the blade. To put that in action I have found that using the two fingers and my thumb to hold the razor with another finger resting on the tip of the handle. This results in holding the razor very lightly with no pressure on the razor. You want to hold the razor as lightly as you can without it falling from your hand. I have found that using the right grip on your razor goes a long way in keeping pressure off of the blade. The wiki deals with holding a razor and may help you. You may have to click on each photo to load it.

For information about blade angle, look here in the wiki.

Some additional suggestions.
  • Be sure your lather has sufficient water in it. This makes your shave smoother.
  • Be sure your face is sufficiently hydrated whether you use warm or cold water. If your face is wet before you apply lather for each pass, IMHO, your shaves will be better.
  • Take a washcloth and dip it in cold water and then place it on your face after your last pass
  • Use WH on your face after you do step 3 above. Use an aftershave balm that is a good moisturizer.
  • At night, before retiring apply a good quality moisturizer to your face. I use CeraVe but there are other good ones out there, too. Look for a product that has ceramides and hyaluronic acid.

Thanks alot man. Will try to focus on my blade angle and release the pressure. I tend to forget that the blades are sharp af and I don't need any pressure to shave, just good angle.I'm pretty much a newbie, just did like 8 shaves to this day with DE razor.
I'll try to upgrade my hold of the blade as well. Thanks for the wiki link!

Yeah, I wet my face before each lathering,so it can glide. A lot of people here suggested me to not use pre-shave oild and I think this might be the problem as well.

Stop shaving at least 2-3 days..

You have many ingrown hairs. The red big pimples.!!!
Do something for your ingrown hairs... (Dermatological intervention !!)

Once you get rid of the ingrowns you may continue reading about the shave routine suggestions;

1- I suggest to NOT shave after the shower

2- Use pre shave oil once just before the shave and wash your face. The oil residue may decrease the quality of your lather (protectiveness). I highly recommend to not use pre-shave oil !!!

3- Never apply ATG on your face. Do not try to achive BBS. Just stick to DFS (at least 2-3 years) which is better for you.

4- If the brush irritate your face during the face lathering, use bowl lathering method

5- Don't shave daily. 2-3 Days growth will be better for you.

Yeah I still have a little bit of an acne to this day, so that is the red pimples you see. Skin irritation and bad shaving is not helping it too much to be honest haha. What a coencidence - On monday I decided to contact the best dermatological clinic in my country (it's in my town, which is great haha) to have a consultation on my skin problems (oily nose and forehead, blackheads on nose, acne on my neck and dry skin there). I hope it will help me improve my skin quality and shave.

Not to shave after a shower? Why's that? I though I need to open up the pores and clean them out in order to not get any kind of infection.

You are not the firsto ne suggesting to not use a pre-shave oil. I'll try to get rid of it and we'll see.

I'll try to skip the ATG for some time, unless until the dermatologist helps me with my skin.

I lather in the bowl, then I just "paint" the lather to my face".

Now I shave every 2-3 days when shaving ATG, because I have very sparse hair which grows very fast. I look like an idiot with like 3-day stubble on my face. And I look like an idiot after a shave. I guess I looke like oneall the time haha.

Thanks for your answers btw! Might help me.


I switched to cold water shaves and it entirely fixed my skin irritation issues. My skin seems much more able to take things if I don't heat it first. I shave with a straight, which is supposed to be the gentlest method.

I was getting general inflammation, though. The only time I got razor bumps was early in my shave journey, when I was using way too much pressure with the straight.

Cold water shave? Could you elaborate on that a bit for me please? Not using hot shower, just rinse face with cold water, apply lather, shave, rinse with cold water, aftershave and good to go? The pores will not open up this way tho, right? Isn't it a bit of a risk of some kind of infection or irritation? And do you cleanse your face before this?

Thanks for the alswer tho, I'll try cold-shower method next time to see the difference.

It's unfortunate, but some people just have very sensitive skin!

A few things worth trying out:

1. Try cold water shaving.

2. Don't count on the lather to "soften" your beard. Apply and shave as soon as possible. Slickness decreases exponentially with time.

3. Try a more watery lather, almost to the point where it starts dripping off your face. You will feel the slickness difference.

4. Get a different milder razor. Yours have positive blade exposure ie the blade edge extends beyond the imaginary line between the top cap and safety bar, might be a small gap, but exposure makes more difference than blade gap.

5. As others have said, low pressure.

6. Shallower cutting angle, you want to slice as much as you can, not scrape.

7. Try a different aftershave. This may be controversial, but I find antiseptic properties of an alcohol based aftershave better for irritation on the long run, even if it burns a bit.

Of course, wait a few days before shaving again.

The 3rd one recommending cold water shaving haha, now I'm really curious. Could you explain the process a bit please (cleansing yes/no, etc) Will I get BBS with this one method?

Oh, nice advice. I found out that the slickness of my cream sucks (I though I mix the lather wrong) but it might be letting it to sit on my face for like 2 minutes. I'll try to put lather and start shaving right away.

Yeah, that's the reason I posted the picture - to get an opinion on my blade. Would you recommend Muhle R89 or Merkur 33C for me? Are those milder razors? And honestly... Mild x Aggresive razor - what exactly does it mean for my shave? That with milder razor I will not get that smooth shave? Or just that it is milder/aggresiver to my skin? If it's that case, why would people use aggresive blade?

Thanks for your contribution, you are very helpful!

It could be a combination of things causing your irritation.

I would take a break from shaving for a few days to let your neck heal.

You should only need enough pressure to keep the blade in contact with your face. On the rare occasion I use an aluminium handled tech (about 35 grammes or so) I have to remind myself not to use too much pressure.

You could also be using the wrong angle, leading to scraping your beard. Using a DE razor, you are in control of maintaining the angle. I would suggest "riding the cap". This means start with the razor handle at right angles to your face and slowly lower the handle until you see or feel the blade touch your face. That way you should be cutting the hair and not scraping the hair.

You might benefit from using your non shaving hand to pull or stretch the skin to give the blade a flat surface. This technique is used by straight razor users, but it also applies to DE. It helps with keeping the angle of the blade constant.

As @ackvil said, you might want to change how you hold the razor to help control the pressure.

Good luck.

Yeah, the break is much needed obviously haha. The weird thing is that my neck gets better in like 2 hours and nowthere is like 3 bumps visible on my neck and nothing else. It improved over the day and over night by lke 90%. Weird.

Riding the cap will be the next thing I try. I guess I use the wrong safety razor and wrongangle with too much pressure.

Yeah I always stretch my skin with my hand to get it super straight. The result is still the same haha.

Thanks very much sir!

Another vote to give the Henson AL13 a try. They are fantastic razors with no irritation. Also pay attention to your soap or cream or lotion. Shaving can open the skin up to irritation from things that normally wouldn’t cause an issue.

I'll try chainging one thing at the time to see what causes it. My biggest bet is the wrong razor and wrong shaving technique.

@DanteB, first of all young man, not all hope is lost and welcome to B&B! 😀

Many good suggestions above already. I'll start with the obvious: that razor right there, that belongs to trash-can.

With a gap like that and that blade angle, no wonder it gives you irritation-no-matter-what.

You have some great TOBS cream, nice brush, your prep is fine. The culprit is that Chinese scraper, piece of garbage.

You don't have to spend hundreds of € / $ / £!

If I were you, I'd get a mild/moderate RazoRock DE or SE razor. One of the best/smoothest ones is SLOC and it costs around $25. The aluminum Hawk is another mild, yet efficient shaver. The classics like Merkur 34c or Muhle/EJ 89 will do you justice, too.

These are tried and tested safety razors that you cannot go wrong with. The new King C Gillette, is essentially the 89 head on a longer handle. You can buy it in any supermarket nowadays. Blades are excellent, too.

You're 24, your beard is visibly not coarse and your growth is sparse. You can (still) shave with anything.

Give yourself a week off from shaving or two weeks, as those nasty red bumps need to heal properly, otherwise it will never be good. It won't heal by just skipping 1 or 2 days. Be patient.

Nothing wrong with shaving before shower, millions of guys do it that way. Some of us prefer it the other way round. Both methods work just as fine, as long as your whiskers are properly hydrated/softened. Beware though, not to make your skin overly supple. Excess use of oils and moisturizers and whatnot will make your skin overly soft and prone to dmage.

Keep it simple!

Wash face with warm water or take a shower, lather up and shave. You do not need any pre-shave oil or cream. With top notch product it will add no benefit. Again, your TOBS cream is excellent, it's all you need. Warm rinse, cold rinse. Splash or balm and you're done. If your skin is dry/sensitive, avoid products with high %-age of alcohol, use balms instead. If your skin is oily, avoid balms, use splash.

Keep us posted!

Hello sir! Thanks for the kind greeting.

Alright, will throw it away haha.

I just tried to order it because it did cost like 5$ and ithad good reviews. I knew I will have to buy something more proper,but I honestly didn'T want to spend like 40€ on something I'll use once and then be like "naah, this ain't for me".

Now I know I enjoy DE shaving, I'll buy a proper one. So going with the R89 or C33 is a good thing for my skin in your opinion? I don't know why, I like longlasting classic companies with historyhaha.

Alright, will try to keep things simple. As guys suggested in the upper answers, I'll try coldshave and I'll try to skip the pre-shave oil entirely.

Don't worry,my skin fears the alcohol-based products like an evil fears cross haha. My skin on the neck is dry, so I use balms.

Will do sir! Thanks for your help!


Get an experienced barber to shave you and see what happens.

Yeah I was honestly thinking about that. May give it a try and see what happens.


The time to acquire a good technic, i suggest you like others wrote earlier to stop shaving the time your face came to normality.
For some weeks do only one pass shave. For my experience pre-shave and wich hazel give me redness like those you have. I only use soap or cream and balm after cold water rinse.

Will try to skip the pre-shave balm. Witch hazel is in the post-shave balm, thei rritation is already there before I use the balm haha. Doyou cleanse your face before shaving or just using water?

Welcome to B&B

That razor has a large gap, may be too aggressive for your skin... The posts above are giving solid advice, they are not steering you wrong. @DaveHStone listed the RazoRock DE, I concur with those razors. The RazoRock Game Changer .68 is a very good mild razor.

Hello, thanks for that! I'll try some other blade. Is Mühle R89 or Merkur C33 mild enough for me? I'd like to stick to those brands.

I concur with SteelSchaben above. First give yourself a couple days off and in the meantime order a new razor, RazoRock DE, RazoRock GC .68, Muehle R89 or something else in that catagory. I also would do away with the oil pre shave. If you feel you need something, try a pre shave soap, I use Stirling unscented Pre Shave Soap and it seems to help me. I have also used Crown Pre Shave gel and Proraso White Pre Shave. I wash my face with my bath wash then before I am ready to quit showering I use the Stirling and let it set for a couple minutes before rinsing off. Then after drying off, I shave, first wetting my face, making my lather in a bowl with a brush then painting my face. TOBS is nice, but I found some soaps I prefer for better slickness. Stirling, particularly their Mutton Tallow line and their regular soaps, Barrester & Mann and Arianna & Evans are my go to's. Between passes I only rinse my face with the water in the sink. After my shave I do a cold water rinse, use unscented Witch Hazel, Nivea Unscented Shave Balm and then an after shave usually an EDT.

I also might mention trying a blade sampler pack. Not sure if I missed it but what blade do you use? That also could be a source of your irritation, besides the razor.

I'll dump the oil, will tryto shave without it and we'll see.

I use wilkinson sword. Is it alright? The problem is that none of the stores in my country sells sample pack (***?) so I have to try one by one like an idiot. and the offer of blades is not that big honestly. Thanks for the help tho!

That is good sound advice and I agree you have ingrown hairs from the photo's presented.
What I suggest before every shave possibly is take a worn out tooth brush and dry brush gently to allow the hairs to work their way out wards. Stay away from multi bladed cartridges because your will regret it from those pictures.
The ideal shave possibly is a CCS or DFS and don't chase the BBS until you figure what is going on. Some folks have sensitive skin and you might fall into this area and are prone to ingrown hairs.
Try a 2 pass shave that WTG + XTG and that's it until you see what happens, less irritation for sure.
A nice inexpensive razor that will give a good shave is a Razorock SLOC and it is more a tame mid range and I get DFS range with it or closer and its hard to cut yourself and if you do nick your self its your technique that needs improving. You should still feel slight whiskers and that is ideal IMO.( Click on pictures to enlarge)
............DFS...........................................................1days growth.....................................BBS................................
View attachment 1309944 View attachment 1309945 View attachment 1309946
Here is a thread I did on a ingrown hair that drove me bonkers! I used my USB microscope while getting to it and flipping the hair out of the flesh. It might help hopefully!

So many acronyms I don't know I spent like 20 minutes reading your post cuz I had to go through the acronym dictionary haha.

Yeeah I guess I'll have to dump the ATG completely, at least for some time untill my dermatologist dowsn't deal with my skin problems (acne, dry skin, oily skin, blackheads etc). Thanks for your help tho!

Lots of great advice above.

My only addition, let your facial hair grow out 2 to 3 days or more and map the growth. Hair can grow in funny angles on the neck, and may not follow a traditional north to south orientation that we commonly shave in think it’s with the grain.

I've mapped my growth already and it f*cking sucks. On my neck right below the chin where I have the most sensitive skin the beard goes sideways, so when I want BBS shave, I have to go ATG which is also along my throath, which is curved, so I just can't get smooth shave there without irritation. On one cheek it goes down, on the other it goes to the side. It just sucks. I unfortunately know my beard pattern and I hate it haha.

Those are tricky spots that I struggled with too. My advise is to reconsider the direction of the first pass. You may find that S-N or W-E is more in line with your beard map. You may also want to stretch the skin. Try a two way stretch.

My issues didn’t fully resolve themselves until I switched to a straight razor. Not to say that it can’t be done with a DE or SE but I have to be very careful with those. A few days is ok but after that problems can creep in. With a SR I can shave everyday as many passes as I want. No issues.

I tried to shave with a shavette before (but the middle screw unscrewed itself, fell into the sink and I was too lazy to pick it from the pipe under the sink, so I ordered the DE razor haha. The irritation with my shavette wasn't that bad, I just cut myself sometimes unfortunately, because I did use bad products (foam in can, alcohol aftershave etc.) I didn't enjoy it too much. Now thanks tosafety razor I have proper products (I hope so haha) and when I'll decide to diassamble the hosing under the sink and pick up the screw from my shavette, I will give it a try again, with proper products this time.

It may seem counter intuitive, but I really limit the product that goes on my skin. Water and quality soap, that’s it. There is a lot of different stuff that is going on your already sensitive skin, making it more difficult to tell if a certain product could be one of the culprits. As others have suggested, give it a break for a bit. Everybody’s skin type and routine is unique, simplifying things worked for me. Hope you find a solution and some relief.

Do you cleanse before shaving? Yeah that's logicall, I'll dump the pre-shave oil completely and give it a try without it.

Yeah, you are right. I guess there is no "ultimate solution" for all wetshavers. I gotta find my own little path through this world withou skin irritation and razor bumps haha. Thanks for your contribution tho, much appreciated!

This is a good point. Products can often be the culprit or at least a contributing factor. I’ve learned that I’m actually pretty sensitive to soaps. About half of them don’t work out and cause irritation. Try a few soaps and see what works. A lot of people will say to stick with your current set up and dial it in. It’s good advise but if you suspect a soap to be causing irritation (itching or burning by the end of the shave) it’s best to swap it out.

I'll try to change one thing per one shave (cold shave, razor, products,...) and see what is the problem. Thanks tho!
 
Hello sir! Thanks for the kind greeting.

Alright, will throw it away haha.

I just tried to order it because it did cost like 5$ and ithad good reviews. I knew I will have to buy something more proper,but I honestly didn'T want to spend like 40€ on something I'll use once and then be like "naah, this ain't for me".

Now I know I enjoy DE shaving, I'll buy a proper one. So going with the R89 or C33 is a good thing for my skin in your opinion? I don't know why, I like longlasting classic companies with historyhaha.

Alright, will try to keep things simple. As guys suggested in the upper answers, I'll try coldshave and I'll try to skip the pre-shave oil entirely.

Don't worry,my skin fears the alcohol-based products like an evil fears cross haha. My skin on the neck is dry, so I use balms.

Will do sir! Thanks for your help!
You're more than welcome! 😀

The old adage - you get what you pay for.

That said, there are countless inexpensive products that will do a wonderful job, both hardware and software wise.

I like classics too, but the fact is most of the top-tier artisan hardware (razor) producers are fairly new, some have been around for just a couple for years.

I'm assuming you're in the UK? If that's the case, I'd get the Edwin Jagger DE89 for starters or King C Gillette, as it essentially has the same head and costs less, yet it's a "classic", it's a Gillette. I think these would be excellent. Perhaps, get a blade sampler to experiment.

As for the cold shave, I know some swear by it, but IMHO, the hell will freeze before I adopt that routine.

Warm (not HOT!) water is the optimal solution to hydrate whiskers and not irritate the skin.

Bottom-line: when all is said and done, TECHNIQUE will account for a great shave more than hardware and software. The lightest of touch is what you want. As someone suggested earlier - just remove the lather, and the whiskers will be gone before you know it. Never push or press against the skin.

Good luck!

P.s.: I'd stick with TOBS, it is an excellent product.
 
You're more than welcome! 😀

The old adage - you get what you pay for.

That said, there are countless inexpensive products that will do a wonderful job, both hardware and software wise.

I like classics too, but the fact is most of the top-tier artisan hardware (razor) producers are fairly new, some have been around for just a couple for years.

I'm assuming you're in the UK? If that's the case, I'd get the Edwin Jagger DE89 for starters or King C Gillette, as it essentially has the same head and costs less, yet it's a "classic", it's a Gillette. I think these would be excellent. Perhaps, get a blade sampler to experiment.

As for the cold shave, I know some swear by it, but IMHO, the hell will freeze before I adopt that routine.

Warm (not HOT!) water is the optimal solution to hydrate whiskers and not irritate the skin.

Bottom-line: when all is said and done, TECHNIQUE will account for a great shave more than hardware and software. The lightest of touch is what you want. As someone suggested earlier - just remove the lather, and the whiskers will be gone before you know it. Never push or press against the skin.

Good luck!

P.s.: I'd stick with TOBS, it is an excellent product.

Yeah, that's true haha. I honestly don't see much difference between the brands and razors. Nowhere on the internet none of those manufacturers give away the info about the razor gap, razor exposure etc. which is the most important, so it's just like try and fail In the end you will have 10 safety razors at home and only using one when you finally find it, right? That's exactly what I don't want to do tbh haha.

Do you think that the Edwin Jagger DE89 would be good for my type of skin? Is it more aggresive or mild razor? And what is the definition of "aggresive razor" or "mild razor"? Can I get smooth shavewith the milder ones?

I'm from the Czech Republic btw. But I'm happy that you don't notice my not-so-rich vocabulary and faulty grammar so that you think I'm from the UK haha.

Thanks for your help!
 
Yeah, that's true haha. I honestly don't see much difference between the brands and razors. Nowhere on the internet none of those manufacturers give away the info about the razor gap, razor exposure etc. which is the most important, so it's just like try and fail In the end you will have 10 safety razors at home and only using one when you finally find it, right? That's exactly what I don't want to do tbh haha.

Do you think that the Edwin Jagger DE89 would be good for my type of skin? Is it more aggresive or mild razor? And what is the definition of "aggresive razor" or "mild razor"? Can I get smooth shavewith the milder ones?

I'm from the Czech Republic btw. But I'm happy that you don't notice my not-so-rich vocabulary and faulty grammar so that you think I'm from the UK haha.

Thanks for your help!
I thought you MIGHT BE located in the UK, since you have used the GBP in your comments, rather than USD or EUR... not that it matters anyway 😎

You've now essentially asked me 3 times whether I think EJ DE89 will be a good razor for you and so, I will say it one last time:

YES

For definitions, PLS do some search on the forum or simply Google it!

Bottom-line: any razor will give you a close shave, but not every razor will provide a smooth shave. Well, obviously.

Personally, I prefer mild-to-medium razors paired with an extremely sharp blade.
 
Tons of great advice in this thread! I suggest two things as you work through your options:
#1. Change one thing at a time.
#2. Map your beard to understand what you are doing with each pass, especially in the problem areas.
 
Cold water shave is simple in concept: you don't shave right after a hot shower, and you use cold water throughout.

My own personal version is: splash water on face, lather, wet a towel (cold water), wrap around face, wait 3 minutes, rinse off lather, re-lather, shave.

I do use hot water to get the lather off after the shave, since it doesn't matter at that point.

Also cold doesn't have to mean "what comes out of the tap at 6 in the morning in a New Hampshire house in February." I live in a hot climate, and it's more like almost lukewarm.
 
I take a shower before shaving. I was using wich hazel when i was irrited and this stuff is not adapted for guy like me who have sensible skin. I suffer from rosacea so my skin is very sensible. Also dont forget blades have their sharpness peak with the first 2 shaves and become smoother in the following shaves. I do between 8 (shark, feather) and 12 (merkur) shaves with same blade before change it.
 

musicman1951

three-tu-tu, three-tu-tu
Welcome to B&B.

Lots of possibilities here. I suspect if you start with DaveHStone's razor recommendations the biggest one might disappear. I would also get either a blade sampler or make your own by selecting a handful of popular blades to try.

No matter which razor or blade you use, if you have the wrong razor angle and too much pressure you're on the road to irritation. You've already mentioned that you're using too much pressure, which is frightening as most beginners think their pressure is light enough - until they finally try less and the light bulb goes on.

If you feel you need more pressure that indicates:
A bad fit between razor and face/beard, or
A bad razor angle, or
A bad fit between blade and face/beard - although that would be my third choice.

When you get a better razor and you feel you need more pressure try a slightly different blade angle (move the handle closer to your face, or away). Generally your best bet is to ride the cap more (if you ride the cap too much the blade will lift off your face, then roll it down until it starts to cut).

A little experimentation is in order to find out which blade works best, and which technique tweak shows an improvement. Less pressure is the easiest one and is available immediately.

You want a close shave but you don't want to shave every morning. That's a tough one to solve. I'm pretty sure no matter how close the shave is on shaving day by the middle of the next day it's not going to look anything like a close shave. You might want to try two passes of WTG every day (assuming it gives you no irritation).

Find out what works for you and enjoy. Pain is absolutely not a required part of the process.
 
I thought you MIGHT BE located in the UK, since you have used the GBP in your comments, rather than USD or EUR... not that it matters anyway 😎

You've now essentially asked me 3 times whether I think EJ DE89 will be a good razor for you and so, I will say it one last time:

YES

For definitions, PLS do some search on the forum or simply Google it!

Bottom-line: any razor will give you a close shave, but not every razor will provide a smooth shave. Well, obviously.

Personally, I prefer mild-to-medium razors paired with an extremely sharp blade.

I just wanted to be sure 😁 Thanks for that. I will do my research. If you say that EJ DE89, Mühle R89 and Merkur 33C are simmilar in terms of aggresivness, I will go for one of those I guess.

What about my blades? Wilkinson Sword is good to pair with medium-mild razor like the three mentioned? Or do you generally suggest to use sharper blades with milder razors? I will try to get the sample pack once my proper safety razor arrives and I dump the skin-scraper I just have, but I'm just curious 😎


Cold water shave is simple in concept: you don't shave right after a hot shower, and you use cold water throughout.

My own personal version is: splash water on face, lather, wet a towel (cold water), wrap around face, wait 3 minutes, rinse off lather, re-lather, shave.

I do use hot water to get the lather off after the shave, since it doesn't matter at that point.

Also cold doesn't have to mean "what comes out of the tap at 6 in the morning in a New Hampshire house in February." I live in a hot climate, and it's more like almost lukewarm.

The "what comes out of the tap in 6 in the morning" made my day, thanks for that! 😂
I'll try to experiment with water temperature. It might be true I use a bit hotter than I should. Thanks for your advice sir!

Welcome to B&B.

Lots of possibilities here. I suspect if you start with DaveHStone's razor recommendations the biggest one might disappear. I would also get either a blade sampler or make your own by selecting a handful of popular blades to try.

No matter which razor or blade you use, if you have the wrong razor angle and too much pressure you're on the road to irritation. You've already mentioned that you're using too much pressure, which is frightening as most beginners think their pressure is light enough - until they finally try less and the light bulb goes on.

If you feel you need more pressure that indicates:
A bad fit between razor and face/beard, or
A bad razor angle, or
A bad fit between blade and face/beard - although that would be my third choice.

When you get a better razor and you feel you need more pressure try a slightly different blade angle (move the handle closer to your face, or away). Generally your best bet is to ride the cap more (if you ride the cap too much the blade will lift off your face, then roll it down until it starts to cut).

A little experimentation is in order to find out which blade works best, and which technique tweak shows an improvement. Less pressure is the easiest one and is available immediately.

You want a close shave but you don't want to shave every morning. That's a tough one to solve. I'm pretty sure no matter how close the shave is on shaving day by the middle of the next day it's not going to look anything like a close shave. You might want to try two passes of WTG every day (assuming it gives you no irritation).

Find out what works for you and enjoy. Pain is absolutely not a required part of the process.

Thank you for the welcoming!

I understand that perfect angle and pressure is number one priority to not get razor burn and irritated skin, then the razor and blade itself are less important but still very much and after all of that it matters on the routine and products. As I said, I'll try "ride the cap", I'll try to let the pressure go and try to adjust the angle a bit, buy a new razor and blades sample pack, dump the pre-shave oil and try a bit colder water. Every shave will be one change and we'll see.


Thanks to you all for your advices! You helped me very much. I'll try to update you all what helped me in the end (if something really will haha). Shaving used to be the neccessary part of "being a man" for me but thanks to wet shaving with safety razor I learned to enjoy the routine and process so much, that I'm looking forward to have a shave even tho it ends up in a razor burns and irritated skin. Can't wait to enjoy the routine without irritation.
 
I just wanted to be sure 😁 Thanks for that. I will do my research. If you say that EJ DE89, Mühle R89 and Merkur 33C are simmilar in terms of aggresivness, I will go for one of those I guess.

What about my blades? Wilkinson Sword is good to pair with medium-mild razor like the three mentioned? Or do you generally suggest to use sharper blades with milder razors? I will try to get the sample pack once my proper safety razor arrives and I dump the skin-scraper I just have, but I'm just curious 😎
EJ DE89, Muhle R89 and King C Gillette DE share identical head. I'm not sure about the Merkur 33C. So, choose whichever is a better deal / has more appeal to you. YMMV.

Wilkinson Sword blades are absolutely fine. Get a sampler pack, play around, see what you like best. No one can decide that for you. Your face is yours. We all have different preferences. In your early stage of this journey, I'd stick to a no-extremes rule.
 

musicman1951

three-tu-tu, three-tu-tu
Every shave will be one change and we'll see - sounds very reasonable. It sounds like your on the right path and you will definitely figure it all out before too much longer.

I'd just like to add that one of the variables is you. Even after all these years I am still perfectly capable of having a bad day. You might want to consider two days for each variable - unless they are really going wrong in a hurry - then stop mid-shave. The same with trying blades. If the first two strokes are simply terrible stop immediately and change the blade. Sometimes you get a blade with a bad edge, sometimes a blade is just wrong for you. Save those for another try a year from now.
 
EJ DE89, Muhle R89 and King C Gillette DE share identical head. I'm not sure about the Merkur 33C. So, choose whichever is a better deal / has more appeal to you. YMMV.

Wilkinson Sword blades are absolutely fine. Get a sampler pack, play around, see what you like best. No one can decide that for you. Your face is yours. We all have different preferences. In your early stage of this journey, I'd stick to a no-extremes rule.

Oh, I didn't know that they share identical head, what the hell? They are different brands.

I Just ordered Mühle R89 then, thanks for that!

I tried to shave now. Without applying hot water, only like slightly warm, almost body temp. I skipped the pre-shave oil and I tried the "ride the cap" thing. I even stopped applying pressure, I just did let the razor "do it's thing" with it's own weight, and it worked pretty well, but the blade did skip my skip much more. That's the main reason why I had to "push" a bit before. The thing is that I cleanse my face before every shaving. Should I not cleanse before shave? Or what is the common "rule" with this? I think that cleansing make my skin more rubber-ish and that's the main reason why I used the pre-shave oil to minimise the blade "skipping" on my skin. The irritation went like 40% better tho, I guess the main issue was the pressure and angle. I hope that when I switch to proper razor like the Mühle, it will get even better.

I have slightly suspicion that the aftershave might be causing the problems as well. After the shave it was like 80% better than before but when I applied aftershave, the irritation did get worse. It might be the "time delay" or the after-shave itself. I'll try the alcohol-based one I had previously and see the difference. Now I have to deal with the rubber-feel skin so the blade will not skin. Any tips?
 
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lasta

Blade Biter
Oh, I didn't know that they share identical head, what the hell? They are different brands.

I Just ordered Mühle R89 then, thanks for that!

I tried to shave now. Without applying hot water, only like slightly warm, almost body temp. I skipped the pre-shave oil and I tried the "ride the cap" thing. I even stopped applying pressure, I just did let the razor "do it's thing" with it's own weight, and it worked pretty well, but the blade did skip my skip much more. That's the main reason why I had to "push" a bit before. The thing is that I cleanse my face before every shaving. Should I not cleanse before shave? Or what is the common "rule" with this? I think that cleansing make my skin more rubber-ish and that's the main reason why I used the pre-shave oil to minimise the blade "skipping" on my skin. The irritation went like 40% better tho, I guess the main issue was the pressure and angle. I hope that when I switch to proper razor like the Mühle, it will get even better.

I have slightly suspicion that the aftershave might be causing the problems as well. After the shave it was like 80% better than before but when I applied aftershave, the irritation did get worse. It might be the "time delay" or the after-shave itself. I'll try the alcohol-based one I had previously and see the difference. Now I have to deal with the rubber-feel skin so the blade will not skin. Any tips?

Hi Dante,

All these years I've never tried any pre-shave oil! Something about soap + oil seems contradictory to me, but you be the judge.

Rubbery skin usually means your lather is still not slick enough. Try more soap and more water, don't skimp on either.

Pre-shave cream helps alot with slickness too and to me makes all lathers equal. If you don't have any like the Proraso/Noxzema, try applying a thin layer of your existing soap/cream on your face, bowl lather then wipe the lather over the first layer. I swear the extra unlathered layer helps with slickness.
 
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