I'm getting very frustrated with shaving my upper lip. I never seem to be able to get it close enough to look clean for more than an hour or two. The rest of my face looks fine for 12 hours or more, but not my upper lip. Even when I think I've gotten a decent shave that feels BBS when I finish, within an hour I'm starting to see and feel tiny bits of stubble that I appear to have missed. Within 4-6 hours, I've got really noticeable stubble on my upper lip but nowhere else. I've tried blade buffing, multiple passes, cold water shaving and just about every other tip I've read here on B&B.
My guess is that my skin is puffing up just enough that I can't get the whiskers cut short enough on my upper lip. Then, when the puffiness goes down an hour or so later, I can see the little bits that I missed. I hate to admit it, but this never happened when I was shaving with a cartridge, probably because those multiple blades were pulling the whiskers up enough that I was able to cut them all the way to the skin surface. I never had razor burn on my upper lip with a cartridge and always looked cleaner than I do with my DE razor.
It's only a problem in that one area. I'm very satisfied with my DE shave elsewhere on my face. I do seem to get a slightly better shave now that I've switched to Feather blades, and with the Merkur 34c that feels just a bit more aggressive than my EJ DE89.
Will using a much more aggressive razor, such as an R41, help me get a closer shave on my upper lip? I'm not sure what else to try. I may experiment with shaving before the shower to see if the all steam and warm water is the culprit. Do I have to make a choice: an upper lip shadow or going back to a cartridge razor? Or is this simply a matter of being patient a bit longer as my technique continues to improve, and finding the right combination of razor and blade?
Yes, I have dark hair and very fair skin. I've read similar threads where the conclusion was that guys like me just have to learn to live with the shadow. Yet I refuse to admit that my DE razor and wet shaving routine can't produce a shave as close as a cartridge razor and canned goo.
Opinions? Suggestions? Your help is appreciated.
Nick
My guess is that my skin is puffing up just enough that I can't get the whiskers cut short enough on my upper lip. Then, when the puffiness goes down an hour or so later, I can see the little bits that I missed. I hate to admit it, but this never happened when I was shaving with a cartridge, probably because those multiple blades were pulling the whiskers up enough that I was able to cut them all the way to the skin surface. I never had razor burn on my upper lip with a cartridge and always looked cleaner than I do with my DE razor.
It's only a problem in that one area. I'm very satisfied with my DE shave elsewhere on my face. I do seem to get a slightly better shave now that I've switched to Feather blades, and with the Merkur 34c that feels just a bit more aggressive than my EJ DE89.
Will using a much more aggressive razor, such as an R41, help me get a closer shave on my upper lip? I'm not sure what else to try. I may experiment with shaving before the shower to see if the all steam and warm water is the culprit. Do I have to make a choice: an upper lip shadow or going back to a cartridge razor? Or is this simply a matter of being patient a bit longer as my technique continues to improve, and finding the right combination of razor and blade?
Yes, I have dark hair and very fair skin. I've read similar threads where the conclusion was that guys like me just have to learn to live with the shadow. Yet I refuse to admit that my DE razor and wet shaving routine can't produce a shave as close as a cartridge razor and canned goo.
Opinions? Suggestions? Your help is appreciated.
Nick
