Thread: razor burn

Just thought I would share:

I have been suffering from fairly severe razor burn for the past 2 weeks since I have started this endeavor. that being said, I have found some pretty cool relief from razor burn.
When it is bad, several times throughout the day if necessary, I do a full shave prep (steam or wash for 4 minutes, lather and work it in well, rinse, and repeat. After this treatment I apply aloe vera gel (pretty awesome) or my trumper's skin food (also awesome, but much more expensive than the aloe vera).
Hope this helps?

If you are getting bad razor burn it sounds like you might be using too much pressure. I got wicked bad razor burn the first week too - and I really thought I wasn't heavy handed at all. It's a habit that I had to unlearn from using cartridges. I found that just essentially guiding my razor and letting its own weight do the work yielded a much less painful result.

Ditto the above advise. With cartridge razors, people get in the habit of using more pressure to get a closer shave. With straights, a good shave is reliant on good technique, part of which is using as light of pressure as possible.

Just to add a note too...try not going over the same area two many times...this will cause razorburn too.
Razorburn - Steve

Alot of razors won't permit pressure without making pinklather...

The heavy grinds tolerate it more, but the guys are telling it right - no pressure. It still shaves as well, and allows more passes without irritation.

Best of luck & keep posting.

maybe your blade is not shave ready?

have you bought it from the classified section on these forums? or striaght razor designs? if so, it's your technique. if not, you might want to have your razor checked for shave readiness.
beware of cheap razors. they're junk and don't deserve the title "metalworking".

Originally Posted by shiznix

maybe your blade is not shave ready?

have you bought it from the classified section on these forums? or striaght razor designs? if so, it's your technique. if not, you might want to have your razor checked for shave readiness.
beware of cheap razors. they're junk and don't deserve the title "metalworking".

True this ^^.

A beginner will get bad shaves even with the sharpest of razors, which also means they can't reallly discern whether a razor is shave ready or not. If it is shave ready, then its all about refining your technique, if it isn't, please in the name of god get it properly honed.

Well, here's my couple 'O penny's worth, first of all, let it all heal up, before you do anything else. My 1st' razor burn was bad also, I took I think it was 7 full day's to were I could start Str8 shaving again, use[god help me] a rechargable electric razor in the mean time while healing. Then, if your not sure of the edge, send it to one of the many very competent honmiesters we have on this site, and when you get the blade back as the others have stated in this thread you can't go wrong with lightest of pressure, keeping the angle of the blade very shallow, just bring it up enough until you feel/hear that butter knife scraping accross toast sound. Go slow, BBS takes a while, believe it or not, the 'fairly' steep learning curve in this hobby is very enjoyable. The ride is part of the fun.

Have a great G/day, and a BBS to all!!

tinkersd or SRP

+1 on the previous advice. Don't shave for a day or two to let your face recover. Continue to use the aloe vera. Make sure that your razor has been properly honed and when using it, apply light pressure to shave. Don't worry about BBS at this point. Just WTG should be sufficient. Later, you can shave WTG, XTG and ATG to achieve a closer, smoother shave.

Take a break and let it heal.....agree with this. Hydrocortozone creme helps.

Prevent burn just as described: sharp razor (any tugging? might not be sharp enough), LIGHT touch....think over feather weight as you shave. Think that the whiskers are cut not by pressure of the blade, but by the mere presence of the blade being presented to the face...very light

Lastly, I got razor burn as a beginner because I went over areas again and again trying to get it right. Do one or two passes, then touch up with a familiar razor or electric. Make note of areas that you didn't get so next time you can stretch differently or pay attention to blade angle in those spots.

It will come, and you will progress faster if you ease into it, allow healing and study it like a science project!