Originally Posted by
JoshEarl
Tony,
My skin seems somewhat sensitive, and burn and irritation has been a problem for me, too.
I've found that the key to fighting irritation is limiting the number of times the blade goes over your skin. When I was DE shaving, the Tech actually gave me worse razor burn because it's so gentle that I had to do a lot of passes to get my face clean. A more aggressive Superspeed cleared more on the first pass, which meant I was less tempted to go over and over the trouble spots.
With my straights, I've found that a wicked sharp blade works best for me. Steve mentioned he can shave off the 8K Norton, and a lot of other guys have said the same thing, but right now that doesn't work for me. I have to go to 1 micron diamond paste followed by chromium oxide to get an edge that'll keep the irritation down. (Maybe someday my honing will get to the point where the 8K is enough, but I'm not quite there yet.)
While a lot of guys have luck with lowering the blade angle on their chin, I actually find that keeping it at 30 degrees--or even a little more--is helpful, especially on the with-the-grain pass. The aggressive approach is risky but it means there's less need to go back with more strokes later on. Using a light touch is extra important when you're using aggressive angles.
Just some food for thought,
Josh