Thread: Very finicky skin - could a straight razor help?

seanb, welcome to the forum. I read somewhere that thick and curly hair in particular will cause ingrown issues as it is cut below the epidermis of the skin by a cart. On a three blade system the rubbery plastic bit stretches your skin (too much if a lot of pressure is used), the first blade lifts the hair, the second cuts the hair and the third catches anything left. This means that the cut off hair relaxes into the dermal layer, when growing out again it gets stuck in the dermal layer and causes irritation and lumping before it breaks through. With a single blade this is no longer an issue because we are cutting the hair even with the epidermis and stretching is used to simply stand the hair upright. I had major rash issues with the blade “jittering” on my skin and this was sorted out by controlling the viscosity of my lather which was just not possible with canned product. I think that because I have a thick slow beard growth a cart blade was useless after two shaves, I found that a cart would have to be replaced after three shaves in one week. With a str8 I can maintain the edge indefinitely with my stones. Also remember (and this applies to a str8 I have not used a DE) pressure is key, with a str8 you need to stretch the skin and use a light touch, let the blade do the work. It is a case of hair reduction rather than out and out whacking the hair off. Good luck with your endeavours and give us some feed back about your experience.

So I've received everything but my brush, and decided to go ahead and try it out with my old drug store Burma-Shave brush. I shaved yesterday afternoon with an Astra blade and this morning with a Derby Extra.

I have to say that the results were fantastic! I dove straight in and did WTG shaves and am happy to report no nicks and no irritation. The Taylor Jermyn Street cream was orders of magnitude better than the Williams Mug soap I tried last time. The Burma brush did the job, but I'm sure the Semogue brush will be much nicer (the Burma was rather pokey). Slow strokes with almost no pressure seem to be the way to go for me - as long as I kept to that, there wasn't even the slightest hint of tugging/pulling/friction/etc. I do think I'd like to get a scuttle or something to keep my brush/lather warm (more a comfort issue than anything). On the other hand, a small bowl seems like it might be better for whipping lather.

The Astra blade seemed to shave a little smoother than the Derby one. I'll try the Feather blade tomorrow. I don't know if I got the right Feather blades, though. I thought I was ordering the "Hi-Stainless Platinum" ones which seem to have a yellow label in the pics I've seen. The ones I got, however, have the black and silver packaging (and don't say "platinum"). Is there a difference, or is it a case of different packaging for different markets?

I think I might have caught "the bug". I'll stick with the DE for a while yet, but I'm already starting to think about a straight. Thanks again for all the great advice!

Good to hear you had a very nice experience with the DE and a good cream. The yellow labelled Feather blades are 10 in a pack and the black label ones are 5 in a pack but are the same blades iirc. It does not take much to surpass Williams Mug soap performance. Stay with the light touch on the razor especially with Feather blades.

Bob

Originally Posted by seanb

I have to say that the results were fantastic!

Wow. Nice success story. Almost deserves its own post!