Thread: Extreme razor burn? why?

Before I start know that I have only been shaving for a few weeks now with a straight and I feel your pain. When I started I quickly realized that a properly honed straight is the sharpest tool you will ever hold. It is VERY easy to nick yourself with too much pressure and not even know it until you are done shaving. Then it will burn like a mother *#@*#%. Also prep is very important a hot towel is your best friend even if you just came out of the shower. In the short time it takes to make my lather I find my face is a pretty dry and a hot towel before later makes a world of difference. Just remember angle, pressure and skin stretching are huge (don't over stretch). It took me 2 weeks to get a decent shave and that shave was way better than my mach 3. Now if only I could get bbs. Hope my rambling helped a little bit.

Pressure, angle, face prep, and shaving soap are the variables. I did them all wrong in the beginning, but kept improving on all of them until I got straight shaving down. These days, BBS every time out!

Keep it up as everyone chipped in the good advise to get you up that learning curve another step. Read the Wiki over and over and keep evolving your technique. Also, your skin will toughen up a bit the more you shave.

My biggest guess, your shaving soap is in question. What I used for my Mach 3 did not work well for the straight razor shave and I bought a proven shaving soap for straight shavers and that made a huge difference in performance. Before then, I looked red after shaving with the straight razor, but the redness went away after an hour or two.

Good Luck!

Pabster

Originally Posted by Pabster

Pressure, angle, face prep, and shaving soap are the variables. I did them all wrong in the beginning, but kept improving on all of them until I got straight shaving down. These days, BBS every time out!

Keep it up as everyone chipped in the good advise to get you up that learning curve another step. Read the Wiki over and over and keep evolving your technique. Also, your skin will toughen up a bit the more you shave.

My biggest guess, your shaving soap is in question. What I used for my Mach 3 did not work well for the straight razor shave and I bought a proven shaving soap for straight shavers and that made a huge difference in performance. Before then, I looked red after shaving with the straight razor, but the redness went away after an hour or two.

Good Luck!

Pabster

Pabster, what proven stra8 shaving soap did you purchase ?
I am prepairing for my first shave with a stra8,thanks

Skin stretching and blade angle come to mind for me here as well. You say you stretched your skin well. If that's the case then I'd say you're lifting the spine of the razor too high off your face. Keep the spine as close to your face as possible while allowing for the blade to cut and use a very light touch. It's OK for stroke of the blade to be a short distance; try moving the razor only 1/4"-1/2" at a time rather than taking long passes. If you're stretching your skin properly and your blade angle is low, I don't see how you could cut your face.

Bottom line, don't give up but at the same token, when starting out, don't force through a shave no matter what.

Chris L

Col. Conk 3" puck soap. Its been around for 150 years, so I was confident it was a winning formula and it is. Its not as sexy as some other newer shaving soaps, but it was just what I needed and the price was right. Get the big 3" puck. I have been using the "Amber" puck for months and have no idea of when it will run out and I have another two pucks to go Jim a Vintagebladesllc.com hooked me up with Col. Conk. soap and my other straight shaving paraphernalia.

The key to using this: wet the shaving brush and swirl the brush on the puck for 30 seconds, then 30 seconds on your face. If your brush gets "dry", dip the brush tip in the water a little and get back to lathering.

Good Luck!

Pabster

I used to get extreme razor burn fairly often when I first started.

With me, it was usually because I was really keen to practice and improve my technique, and I tried to shave 3 or 4 passes each shave, and often a couple of times a day. Until you learn the right technique, lightness of touch, and your muscles have developed the natural way to hold the razor - you can't really get away with it.

I'd stick to a single 'with the grain' pass each day, and try to avoid touching up areas you missed or going over any part twice. If you have to do a second pass with a DE or Mach3 that's cool, just try to minimise overshaving with the straight until you're comfortable with it.

I think for the most part it's going to be the pressure you're putting on the blade. I remember when I first started, some shaves I would get great results and others I would get weepers all over my face. I tried and tried to find the culprit when one day I stopped myself mid-stroke and finally noticed "hey, I am pressing too hard!". I simply wasn't noticing it and I wasn't paying enough attention to the position the blade was in; instead I was looking more at where the blade was going which resulted in me subconsciously pressing too hard.

Originally Posted by BScott1122

because normally i shave with mach 3. my face is bruning right now from the shave! so any help please as to why im getitn such razor burn.? i dont have sensitive skin either. on my mach 3 i can literrally do anything with it and i wont get irritation. so any help? thanks!

Hey brendan, I used to be able to shave with a cartridge razor similar to you. However, you are using the sharpest blade ever on your face and your skin probably isn't used to it. Being new I can still remember how my I had razor burn for about five days after I started (and I kept shaving every day). I thought, “Man, if this is what all the hype's about then I'd rather go back to my mach 3 at least then my face didn't feel like it wanted to peel off.” Yet, like a moth drawn to a light I continued to shave and my face and shaves improved, partially because I invested money into this hobby/ritual I was at least going to give it a two month test.

What really helped me was http://www.shavemyface.com/downloads...azor-Shave.pdf, Chapter 7, appropriately named - “The Aftermath.” Christopher Moss does a great job explaining why your face burns so good. I hope this helps in some small way.