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Still getting irritation. Help!!

Hi all,

I have been wet shaving for 3 or so years and shave around twice a week. I do two passes (with and across grain) and minor touch ups, and use razors including the Karve (B plate), Rockwell 6C (3 plate) and Executive Shaving Outlaw (standard head). I prep with a shower and sometimes a pre shave, then post shave I use lucky tiger followed by a balm (proraso white or Bart’s balm usually).

I have tried to ficus on beard mapping, the right angle and pressure etc, and have tried several different blades, BUT no matter what I do, I STILL get a red neck for a few hours post shave. I rarely cut myself and my skin doesn’t hurt as such, but I just can’t seem to beat the redness.

I love the ritual of wet shaving ( I bowl lather) and really want to persevere but starting to get frustrated! Any magical advice or further tips would be very much appreciated. Help!!!

Thank you
 
First thing is get yourself a twin blade cart with a pivoting head and do everything the same. Then you'll learn where the problem lies.
 
You could try to shave your neck without stretching it. Other thing i do is just shave the area once and be done with it. Those two things have really helped limit the irritation and ingrown hairs around my collar area.
 
From the symptom it sounds like razor burn to me.

Make sure your lather is rich enough to provide the needed slickness. Also, for most DE razors, you need to make sure not to use pressure and to find the correct angle.
 

Ron R

I survived a lathey foreman
Hi all,

I have been wet shaving for 3 or so years and shave around twice a week. I do two passes (with and across grain) and minor touch ups, and use razors including the Karve (B plate), Rockwell 6C (3 plate) and Executive Shaving Outlaw (standard head). I prep with a shower and sometimes a pre shave, then post shave I use lucky tiger followed by a balm (proraso white or Bart’s balm usually).

I have tried to ficus on beard mapping, the right angle and pressure etc, and have tried several different blades, BUT no matter what I do, I STILL get a red neck for a few hours post shave. I rarely cut myself and my skin doesn’t hurt as such, but I just can’t seem to beat the redness.

I love the ritual of wet shaving ( I bowl lather) and really want to persevere but starting to get frustrated! Any magical advice or further tips would be very much appreciated. Help!!!

Thank you
Well, you have to change something up if you want to remove irrititation on the neck area and no doubt you have tried a few different routine changes trying to find the optimum routine.
I use to shower than shave, but now I shave before showering because my skin is slightly de-hydrated in the morning and just doing my simple brush face wash with a mild soap called CeraVe hand bar cleanser with better qualities than just normal hand soap. I do not use hot water, just warm water feels better on the face and for rinsing off CeraVe soap residual.
Then I take a dollop of Aloe Vera gel that is good for sun burns and other skin issues and smear it on the cleaned beard area. Then I start my bowl lathering and just before I commence to lathering face I splash cold water on the face to calm the skin then lather the face. After each shave pass I always use a cold water rinse and then re-lather the face again followed with a warm water rinse after my clean up pass to rinse soap residual off the face(most shave soap are more alkaline than skin PH level) and then followed by a cold water rinse and the face just loves that combination it seems for myself.
Then I will check for red spots that could give me grief (ingrown hairs!) and just use a worn out tooth brush and gentle brush the areas of concern followed by a witch hazel cleanse of the beard area and dry off with a dry washcloth.( seems complicated but it is not) takes longer to set up and clean up than do my shave !
I have been using this simple procedure for years and I'm a daily shaver and my skin is great condition mostly, I do get the odd weeper or nick but mostly with not much for skin irritation. It took time to tweak my routine and no doubt others will think it could be to much for just shaving but I'm retired and have time to experiment and possibly help a person out once in a while.
Take what ever idea's that might help you in your shave routine for better post shave results. Every persons routine is different.

(CeraVe is good quality pre- shave soap and my Aloe Vera gel...............todays shave gear used as a daily shaver.
Z-Pre shave products (2).jpg
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Have some great shaves!
 
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What soap do you use?

Most DE razors still give me irritation on my neck in certain spots but I don't have the problem with a good blade in a Gillette Old Type. Sharper blade + razor on the more aggressive side.

I realize it's not for everybody but using a straight razor solved all of my skin problems.
 
For a quick uncomplicated fix you could try splashing some Dickinson's Witch Hazel with 14% alcohol onto your skin after shaving. Works very well for taking care of those red irritated areas.
 
I think an issue might be that your razors are too aggressive for your neck. Buy or borrow a Henson mild, mind the angle that is built in, and shave with that using a Voshkod or Astra or RK (comes with these) and see if the irritation is as bad or gone. Most people find the irritation is gone when they do this that I am aware of (me included). I think those razors that you possess have more blade exposure and the clamping is not as much as the Henson. That will cause irritation.

Another thing, don't use any pressure when you shave with your current razors. Let the weight of the razor alone do the work.

Finally, on your neck, shave in one direction only. Even if you feel a little roughness, about twenty minutes after your shave and cold rinse, you will find most of that gone as the hair goes back to normal.

I can't recommend that Henson enough. There is a mild +, a medium ++, and an aggressive +++. Start with the mild/standard razor. Some folks I am aware of use this on their neck and something else on their face and jawline. Whatever works. The Henson does it all, for me, and for most people.
 
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I have tried to focus on beard mapping, the right angle and pressure etc, and have tried several different blades, BUT no matter what I do, I STILL get a red neck for a few hours post shave. I rarely cut myself and my skin doesn’t hurt as such, but I just can’t seem to beat the redness.
Do you shave steep or shallow?

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I remain convinced that irritation is caused by too much pressure, lack of lubrication, tired blade, improper angle (like I had with my Jagger DE89) or too aggressive a razor. Or a combination of some or all.
 
From the Henson Website. See the video clip.


With a blade that only sticks out roughly half the thickness of a human hair (0.0013"), this razor eliminates all the unnecessary blade extension. This means less blade flex and therefore less chatter along your skin.

Chatter is what causes razor burn and irritation.

This razor is only possible to produce because of the lessons we learned from aerospace manufacturing the last 20 years.
 
many thanks everyone for your tips and advice. My sense is that perhaps of all the variables, it may be the amount of pressure. although try as I might, I can't seem to apply zero/minimal pressure i.e. I can't get the razor to glide without skipping unless I apply 'some' pressure (perhaps too much?)

I think in the first instance I may try just one pass on the neck, with the grain and be done. I can comfortably do 2-3 on the face and cheeks and never have any issues at all, it is just the pesky neck where all my problems lie!! If I can crack this, I will be absolutely delighted!
 
How do you do you passes? If you do ATG, then stop. It's just not worth it. It's better to do 2XTG passes instead. There is minimal difference in closeness
 
Sometimes the brush can cause irritation, especially with multiple passes. Wet face with cool to slightly warm water. Maybe try building lather in the palm with warm water, not hot. Apply the lather with the hand. Shave the neck area first using cool to mildly warm water to rinse the blade.
 
While my first pass with lather is warm, I go cold for everything that follows. I use a cold razor from the start, multiple cold water rinses between lathers, make sure things are very slippery, do way more passes than a normal person might, have fair, not sensitive skin, always rinse my razor in cold water between passes, final cold rinse to remove lather, ALWAYS an alum application with cold water and a final final cold water rinse to get everything off. Pat face dry and let it dry. It feels tight then. Once it's all dry I work with whatever after shave products I feel like using that day. Yes, I'll get a weeper every other shave or so but no redness. I can get a little hotness on my neck (the alum reveals that) but never any redness (which in my world view is a requirement for "irritation". In other words, for irritation, your skin needs to have patches of redness or look like you have a rash. This is MY opinion on the matter and YMMV.
 
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