So yesterday's shave went pretty well. I noticed, that the shave was a lot smoother when I increased my blade angle accidentally. I had read so many posts saying that people underestimated their angles, so it seems that I overestimated mine for the first few weeks.

Excited by this new discovery, I proceeded to complete three full passes, leaving my face almost BBS all over (as close as I've ever been, anyway.) Normally I do two passes at most, and you can still see stubble.

Although I feel like my shaving technique has improved substantially with the new angle, my skin seems to be paying the price for the extra pass, especially near the jaw, where my old shaves were least effective, even once I figured out the stretching (my beard is thickest where my jaw hinges.)

So last night, after dealing with a face that felt like a fiery desert for the majority of the day, I decided to rub a small amount of %0.5 cortisone into the irritated skin (I know some girls use it on their *cough* legs.) When I woke up this morning, the redness was almost gone. I know that cortisone can thin the skin, and shouldn't be used regularly, but it saved my face.

So, yesterday was a day of learning for me. I learned 3 things:

1. My angles were two low
2. My face doesn't like extra passes
3. Cortisone will save you in a pinch