Still getting razor burn

[mozartman]

I'm no champ or expert, but I have been wet shaving for 42 years and I can tell you the comment above about not scrubbing your face too hard in the shower is a very good one. In fact, you might find that rather than shaving after the shower, you'll do better before showering by holding a hot wet towel on your face for at least couple of minutes, and also after lathering your face, letting your beard soak in the lather for a couple of minutes, as another poster above suggests. (Notice how pro barbers use those hot towels?) Most bath soaps are designed to rinse off pretty completely and can leave you with dry skin, so after a shower you may want to use pre-shave lotion. I learned these things from experience before finding online sites like this. Here, there are people who know vastly more about pre-shave lotions and creams and shaving generally than I could ever dream of knowing, so look here for more answers.

 

[rabidus]

My preshave prep consists of a shower, I wet my face and head(head shaver) as soon as I get in. At the end of my shower, I wash my face and head with Neutrogina bar face soap. I lather it in my hands and apply it with my hands to my face and head. After I get out, I apply my homemade preshave oil to my face only, which consists of 3oz almond oil, 2oz caster oil, and 2tsp bergamont oil. I only apply it once. My top razors are the postwar Tech and 48-50 Aristocrat. Both have enough blade exposure and more rigidity than just about every razor made today. Post shave, I use an alcohol based aftershave on my face followed by a balm on my head and face. I chase and get a BBS face and head shave daily with no issues at all.

I can use any razor but the best razors are ones where the blade is fully supported by the baseplate at the blade edge, like the postwar Tech and Gillette TTO's. I find 1950 or earlier TTO's to be better than later ones.

Edit...

I did mention my lather, I typically uber lather VDH Deluxe, Proraso aloe and vitamin E, and 7 drops of glycerin. Slick as snot...

 

[tetraodon]

i would also make sure your skin isnt reacting to your pre-shave, cream, or balm. to check skip shaving and apply each product as you would if you shaved. then see how your skin reacts for a day. i found out that i was sensitive to an aftershave balm. also dont change too many variables at once, that way you can find out for sure what the issue is.

 

[gd9704]

My DE "EUREKA!" moment was the first time I tried an adjustable. The key for me was doing my WTG and XTG passes on a medium setting, and then cranking the razor down to a minimum setting for the ATG pass.

I found that all the elaborate prep work (hot towels, etc) didn't help me much, but being able to dial down the aggressiveness of the razor for the ATG pass made all the difference. (A Parker Variant is a wonderful adjustable, BTW.)

 

[bahomebrew]

Good to hear you are getting better shaves and enjoying them, capncurt! I had a similar experience where I wasn't getting the fun, smooth shaves that everyone was talking about, but persistence and a little humility go a long way. I kept saying if others are doing it, then so can I, and I looked at every aspect of the shave to see what I could improve. My lather and technique were the two biggest factors, but I also found that though I thought a mild razor was for me because of how much I hated shaving and the irritation I used to get, they don't cut close enough on many parts of my face. Once I started using more aggressive razors I realized how much my technique needed to improve to keep irritation down, but now I get better shaves with less irritation from the "mild" razors and fantastic shaves with little to no irritation from the "aggressive" razors. Keep the goal of enjoyable, close shaves and it will happen.

 

[Snurgblat]

So I feel like I should reply to this as its almost been a year and it may be of use to someone else reading the thread - apologies in advance as its a long reply...

Following all the replies in this thread I found cold water shaving made the most noticeable difference but the sheer act of shaving became such a horrible prospect because of the cold water it drove me to stop using a DE from about October 2016 switching back to my old BRAUN foil shaver until January this year. I set a few New Years resolutions to make general improvements to myself and well being - which included starting to DE shave again. I spent a long time doing some research over the Christmas break to improve my shaves as I was determined to correct my poor experiences. So far its been almost 4 months since picking my 37C back up and my shaves have never been this good - here is a breakdown of what I did:

1 - I always thought my technique was OK but I decided to read a lot of novice tutorials again to see if I was going wrong somewhere. Reading the grip tutorial (Safety Razor Grips) I realised that maybe the grip I have always used on my razor (holding with a closed/limp fist) was impeding my ability to put little to no pressure down. Switching to the pinching method described above almost removed all of my post shave irritation over night! I rarely get nicks anymore and I haven't used my alum block once since January.

2 - I learnt to lather... by using Gillette canned foam. Early on on January I had a dinner party to attend with my fiance and we stayed over at her parents house the night before. Unfortunately I forgot my shaving brush and had no alternative but to use a can of Gillette foam which almost induced a panic attack. I figured I would use an excessive amount to try and form a good barrier and prevent me hacking my face to bits. I ended up with a near perfect BBS shave. I have always been sparing with my soap after reading tutorials back when I first started saying a little goes a long way but I had taken it literally and never really achieved a good lather before due to using a lack of soap. I learnt to lather properly thanks to the tutorials here Category:Lathering and the differences have been phenomenal. Combined with the light grip I get little to no razor burn and I actually LOOK FORWARD to my morning shaves as they are so enjoyable now!

3 - I ditched the L'Occitane shave oil and went back to Proraso as my pre-shave balm. I found that the Proraso gave me almost twice the slickness under my shaving soap when wetted between passes compared to the oil. Although the oil smelt great and was super slick on first application, the reapplication between passes made it hideously expensive to use at £20 per 30ml when Proraso did a good, if not better job to begin with. Also the added bonus of menthol to wake you up on a Monday is still unbeatable.

4 - I have switched to Gillette 7 O'Clock Super Platinum blades in my Merkur 37C. I found these blades are sharp enough to cut my weekend growth on a Monday and will just about provide me with enough life to do 5x3-pass shaves (WTG, XTG, ATG) providing I turn the blade mid-week. I am yet to buy another set of Feathers as I want to see the results now I have improved my technique/lathering but if memory serves the Feathers are not very durable and only ever lasted for 2-3 days tops anyway.

5 - I slightly altered my post shave which seems to have done a lot of good for the minor irritation I do get on the off day usually when I am in a rush, as well as an added bonus of a noticeable improvement to my general complexion. I now do a flannel wipe down, cold water rinse, pat dry, Thayers Rose/Witch Hazel Toner, air dry followed by my L'Occitane Post Shave Balm. The Thayers was a gift over Christmas and I love it - it instantly flushes the skin and makes everything feel tight and clean and my fiance is in love with the Rose smell so its a win all round. The cold water rinse probably does the most good as it cleanses the pores and tightens everything up which I am sure is attributed to the improvement in my complexion but it is also very refreshing and stops any tiny weepers when they occur.

In conclusion I have mostly eliminated my irritation issues and am achieving BBS shaves for the first time since starting in 2014. I have not been able to reduce my permastubble look even though I can now incorporate a ATG pass but I think this is a byproduct of DE shaving. Reading about cartridge razors they tend to pull the hairs up and the second/third/twelfth... blade cuts each hair lower down resulting in them being cut below skin level. This looks great but knowing my skin I would end up with a lot of ingrown hairs so its not an advantage for me to look like that anyway. I have come to accept my face will always have some kind of shadow and as long as it feels smooth and doesn't hurt - I am OK with that. All in all, thanks for the advice everyone!

Excellent follow up with advice I'll be putting to use!