Thread: $300. Spent And I Still Can't Achieve a Comfortable Shave

My youngest son can't shave with a feather blade, too sharp. What model Merkur? Could be an aggressive razor. Once your face is healed try one light pass with an Astra blade, with 1 or 2 shaves on it already and see how you go. If you don't get any irritation, try and shave after 2 or 3 days. I personally can't shave with a DE if I have more than 3 days growth. Also are you building a nice lather? Helps protect your face from the blade. Try making it thicker. Last thing, try an after shave balm, helped me a lot when starting out.

I may have read over this I did not see where you are doing any skin stretching, pulling the skin of your face taught might be an issue. I only suggest it because as I scan through the thread I have not seen that mentioned. I know for myself if I don't stretch the skin of the area I am shaving I end up with irritation and nicks. Pull the skin away from the direction you are pulling the razor and see if that helps any. As mentioned too your merker may be an issue. I have an open comb that was passed to me from another member and I keep trying it and I can not get a decent shave with it, seems to be to aggressive for my face. Just some advice from a novice and things I have found to be true, best of luck

Maybe a sacrilege here, but if you haven't done so, get a Mach 3 disposable and some canned goop. See if you get a comfortable shave with it. This should isolate the issue to your face or your technique. The disposable is forgiving of technique....then try your fancy soaps with the disposable to ensure the soaps/lather are up to the task...

Agree let your face rest and moisturize it every day to help it heal

Get your razor honed. Prep is key. Use hot water and bar soap and wash your face rubbing the soap in for a minute or two, rinse then lather up. Also 30 degrees sounds steep. Almost like you are scraping more than shaving. Try a shallower angle with the straight, almost flat to the face

Hey noy, I'm still new here myself and haven't yet read the replies, but I've found a few things that have helped me include;

Increasing how many times I strop. I find 50 is optimal(for me). I saw another member said 30 was good but that just wasn't cutting it for me. Try stropping 60 times. If your technique is good it won't hurt the blade.(correct me if I'm wrong, vets.)

Taking a hot shower and soaking/moisturizing your skin. Today after a hot shower I dried my face and shaved with no water/soap/cream...just touched up the edges of my beard and sideburns. I had almost no razor burn. It surprised the hell out of me. It really showed me how much a shower can help compared with just a hot towel put on the face for a couple minutes = huge difference.

Adding glycerin to your lather; this helps the blade glide across the skin and keep it moisturized.

Now on to the biggest tip;

The neck is one of the biggest problem areas for me as well. Tbh, I don't even use my straight on it anymore I just use my GF's safety razor because I lack the patience, hah. BUT(!) when I was shaving my neck with my straight I found going with the grain multiple passes whilst reapplying the soap before each pass really helped. Be gentle and go slow, neck skin is sensitive.

PS I have a 5/8th ralf aust blade and the same strop as you.

Don't give up! Maybe make a video of yourself shaving and post it so that we can see your technique? You might think the angle and such is correct and maybe it is not!

You only showed pictures of your neck, and not your face. If your acne is similar on your face and neck, but only your neck is getting chewed up, it's a technique issue. Your neck is not flat like your cheeks, so remember that you need to adjust the angle of your blade through each stroke; if you maintain the angle from under your chin down your neck, the cut will become more aggressive at the increased angle.

Also, what seems to be a light touch may still be too much pressure. If your lather is too dry, you will have to press harder to "just shave off the lather" and give you razor burn. The lather should look creamy, not pasty, on your face.

Further, you really need to stretch your skin or the blade will grab slack skin. Clean your fingers on a towel, and only apply the cream where you have whiskers. Stretch from a clean area. If this means you lather a small area, shave it, then lather the next, shave that, etc, it may help you find a place to grip without your fingers slipping.

When I shave I wipe off excess lather so I do have some skin to pull on to stretch. Sometimes too, the skin is a little slick. Rub your finger and thumb tips with alum. It seems to grip better or use a wash cloth. Stretching the skin is such an important technique when shaving and makes a world of difference on the closeness of the shave too. Practice stretching your skin dry when you aren't lathered. See what happens when you pull this way or that way. Notice how the skin stretches. Learn your face. It was a lot of trial and error for myself. Learn what works and what doesn't.

Agree with Willisf. Stretching the skin is important for a good result. As he said slide your fingers across a whet alumblock. That gives you a grip on the skin. I had the same issue with sliding grip and I find it helps allot. Also the skin must heal completely before the next shave.

I started 9 months ago with straights. Never had any issues like you are having, but I definitely feel that my initial stropping technique was poor and was dulling my edge. I had a Portland Razor initially, and quickly bought an Aust like yours from SRD. I stropped the Portland, but not the Aust so I had a reference of what a shave ready edge should feel like. When I could strop the Portland and it felt as good as the Aust from Lynn then I know I was not damaging the edge.

I would recommend getting your DE technique worked out first. No pressure and watch the angle carefully. If you have a non-aggressive Merkur (e.g. 34HD, not a slant bar) you should not be cutting yourself. Feathers are aggressive, Derbys don't seem sharp enough to me. The Astras seem a nice compromise.

You could get a nice used straight off this site, I have bought two from Rodb for under $50. You need at least one straight with a good shave ready edge to know what it feels like. Alternatively have the Aust honed.

With the straight, try just doing your cheeks and only when you have no problems there should you move on to more contoured parts. Skin stretching is very important and is easily learned doing your sideburns and cheeks. Learn to shave a flat, tightly stretched surface first.

The razor should be moving when it contacts your skin and keep moving as it leaves, short, smooth, confident strokes. It takes practice to develop muscle memory. Maybe use the straight on one cheek and Merkur on the other, do the rest with a cartridge. Experiment and see what works. Learning to use a straight is not a race. It was 30 shaves for me before I could get results like I was getting with my Merkur 34.



Don't give up