Thread: the old razor burn

Well it seems I just cant figure out this razor burn thing. Im using a shave ready razor, uberlather, preping my face, and using after shave "nivea". whats weired is WTG dosent hurt at all but when I got to make my second pass XTG I start to feel it then XTG really feel it! I decreese the angle but it seems that to get a really close shave especially the chin area Ive got to hit the same area repediatly causing razor burn. Ive watched all the videos and just cant seem to get a close shave with our the burn, Any help or suggestions are much appreciated.

Dumb question, are you re-lathering before doing your XG? The other consideration is pressure. There is no such thing a "no pressure". Use only enough pressure to keep the blade against the skin. Practice XG in an easier area until you have developed that skill. Then you can begin adding other areas. Don't get discouraged. Take your time and be patient. It will come...

Dward is right, the pressure has to be spot on. I may suggest taking very short strokes. That way the pressure stays consistent vs. longer strokes where the beginner's hand may have pressure variants. Skin stretching is vital. Also, know your face. My mustache gets one pass. That's it. Otherwise it will burn. Where as my face can handle a super BBS, my neck cannot. Your best shave is in the future, It'll come.

If the pressure recommendation doesn't work, then I suspect the blade isn't sharp enough for you. Try stropping between passes to see if that helps.

Pabster

Originally Posted by sburton1

Well it seems I just cant figure out this razor burn thing. Im using a shave ready razor, uberlather, preping my face, and using after shave "nivea". whats weired is WTG dosent hurt at all but when I got to make my second pass XTG I start to feel it then XTG really feel it! I decreese the angle but it seems that to get a really close shave especially the chin area Ive got to hit the same area repediatly causing razor burn. Ive watched all the videos and just cant seem to get a close shave with our the burn, Any help or suggestions are much appreciated.

Forget all of the WTG,XTG,ATG multi pass stuff. Do one natural pass followed by localized touch up where necessary (also in the natural direction). Concentrate on preparation and technique. Make sure your razor is sharp.

When you say you can't get a close shave without the burn that causes me to imagine that you are using pressure to get the closeness. If that is correct it could be that your razor isn't as sharp as it could be and/or that your blade angle and stretching are lacking.

OTOH, my particular skin will get irritated if I do a third pass no matter what I shave with. So it may just be an issue of sensitive skin. I'm just lucky that I have relatively soft whiskers and two passes does the trick.

I tend to agree with fccexpert on this one. I've been str8 shaving since this past August, absolutely love it, and have learned to do only the one pass just like I always did with a disposable. With the str8, I make one pass, all in a downward direction. Occasionally, I make a second pass on the lower back of my jaw coming forward towards my adams apple..But that's it. I think I have very, very course whiskers because I can hardly get the razor to go ATG (and trust me when I say my razor is very, very sharp). I can do XTG passes but I learned to forget about ATG.

My better judgement tells me that the whole super smooth, BBS shave from a str8 razor may possibly be a lot of hype from many years ago when str8's began getting phased out by DE's. It may have well been a marketing ploy to try to keep people from switching to DE's. Obviously, there are lots of folks that can shave ATG and they're very fortunate to be able to get such a close shave without irritating thier skin so bad. Think about this for a minute: If the majority of people, in our current era, accepted the results of one pass from thier old method of shaving (at least I always did), I think it's quite possible that people in the late 1800's to early 1900's (the peake of the str8 razor era), accepted the results of a str8 from one pass as well.

All I'm saying is this: Don't put to much time and effort into trying to do the ATG pass as it may only set you up for dissapointment if your skin just doesn't want to accept it. Don't get me wrong, I still get a closer shave with the str8 razor with the one pass than I did with the disposables or an electric. My passion for str8 shaving comes from a huge interest for anything nostalgic and the fact that it is an almost forgotten piece of history. I'm into collecting vintage razors and love the fact that I can take a piece of history that is as much as 200+ years old, clean it up and make it functional again. Gives me chills just thinking about it! LOL!

I hope this helps some and I wish the best of luck and happy shaving to you and hope you stick with it. If anything, shaving with a str8 is one of the greatest conversational pieces I've ever had. I get tickled at some folks reaction when I tell them I shave with a str8.

Just to be clear, the Natural Stroke is rarely 100% up, down or sideways. For me, as a right hand only shaver, the Natural Strokes are:

Right Side - Down, swinging toward the mouth
Left Side - Down, swinging toward the mouth
Right Neck - Down, swinging toward the center
Left Neck - Down, starting with an angle to the ear and swinging to straight down.
Center Neck, Down with a slight swing to the right
Chin - Sideways left to right, swinging to down (this takes in the left side jawline to chin interface)
Right side jawline to chin interface - right to left with a slight swing to up.
Lower Lip - Down with a slight swing to the right
Upper Lip - Down with a very slight outward swing on each side. Straight down in the center.

You will notice that almost all of these involve a swinging (some say scything) stroke. This is, in my opinion, the key to a close shave with minimal irritation as it causes the edge to slice through the hair, minimizing the tendency to pull.

With proper preparation, and care to techique and sharpness, you can get a very close shave (I get BBS 90+% of the time) with this technique. If you need to touch up a spot, use the same stroke.

I'm on about 60 days now, and I was getting major razor burn (I just posted in another thread on this) - I all but gave up ATG, and I almost never to XTG anymore unless for special events... and I may give that up.

I actually go WTG twice, lathering up both times to make sure all is well. I just tried Bay Rum, and aside from the funky smell, it seems to ease my face afterwards as well, not to mention being good about stretching my skin and NOT any real pressure with short strokes.

One side note, and I'm sure I'm doing it wrong, I use the green paste on an additional strop weekly. I find it keeps the blade super fine, and I get smoother shaves. So daily I do 20-25 on linen, 40-50 on leather (I've gotten very fast at this now, that seemed impossible before, but you do get faster) - once a week I'll do a 15-20 on a strop with the green paste to make it super sharp.

Thanks for all of the feed back guys I guess I got a little over zelous with the BBS and will try two wtg passes and see how I feel. Thanks again!