Recent razor burn

Well I've been using my straight for a couple of months now and it's been going great (ugh... mostly) until a couple of days ago I got some horrendous irritation all over my face, I thought it was a one off and left it a couple of days but the same thing happened today really; red face, saw, irritating and tight skin. As far as I'm aware I've done nothing different and my routine is shower, lather up on my face, shave wtg, lather on face again, shave atg, use alum block on any nicks and I'm sorted. Has this sort of thing happened to anyone else and what can I do to stop it from continuing?

My redness went away when I started using cold water to shave with. You might also try Sea Breeze sensitive formula astringent followed by Proraso pre/post cream (just a little) after your alum. My $0.02 and works for me.

You could also use the Proraso pre/post right after shower and leave on during strop and lather build...really helps my shave as I have a heavy beard that I have to keep at bay each night!

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Originally Posted by Auraomega

Well I've been using my straight for a couple of months now and it's been going great (ugh... mostly) until a couple of days ago I got some horrendous irritation all over my face, ...

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I suspect that your edge needs refreshing, and you unconsciously applied some extra pressure to get the dulling razor to grab the hairs well.

If you haven't refreshed your edge until now, try 15 passes on a 8K hone, plus 10 passes on a pasted strop + 50 passes on a leather strop. If you don't have a hone, try 30-40 passes on a pasted strop + 40 passes on leather.

I refresh my edge with 10 passes on a pasted strop as soon as I start getting some patches of irritation in the valleys of my neck. ie: about every 2-3 weeks. When this stops restoring the razor to "perfect", then I hone a bit on the 8K first. ie: about every 2-3 months.

ps: Don't be scared to learn to hone. It isn't some super difficult thing only mystics can do. Just keep the razor flat, and use no pressure. It's keeping the razor flat "without" using any pressure to hold it down that is the tricky part. And that just takes practice. About the same amount of time it takes to learn to strop. I recommend a "practice" razor to learn to hone on, (think of it like a "starter" strop) since you will put a lot of wear on the spine while learning. Any ugly but shave ready razor from the classifieds will do.

Try some pre-shave oil, that helped me. Also, after I cold water rinse my face, I apply some witch hazel then some post shave balm. Taking a day or two off from shaving is good if that's possible with your work and/or social life. In the beginning I got razor burns, but now after SR shaving for over a month, it's much better.

Also when shaving, are you going over the same spot repeatedly? I find one to two strokes WTG in each spot then move on to the next spot. Then I lather up again and go cross the grain the same way, one to two strokes per spot. Something I learned from experiencing razor burns.

The other folks posting about refreshing your edge makes perfect sense too.

I agree with John, sounds like a touch up is in order and as he says, maintaining an edge is a relatively simple process.

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Originally Posted by JohnG10

I suspect that your edge needs refreshing, and you unconsciously applied some extra pressure to get the dulling razor to grab the hairs well.

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I had had this thought also, it's had 3 months of daily use, I just thought that it would have been a progressive thing rather than one day fine, the next sore. Any recommendations for a cheap* 8k hone? I'll paste my strop tomorrow give it go, I assume with the paste I'm stropping as usual?

*I don't mind spending for a bit combination stone as I'd actually like to use a razor I've restored myself.

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Originally Posted by pmburk

Taking a day or two off from shaving is good if that's possible with your work and/or social life.

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Unfortunately I'm back to work tomorrow and they can be awkward about stubble hence why I left it a couple of days already (days off).

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Originally Posted by Auraomega

I had had this thought also, it's had 3 months of daily use, I just thought that it would have been a progressive thing rather than one day fine, the next sore. Any recommendations for a cheap* 8k hone? I'll paste my strop tomorrow give it go, I assume with the paste I'm stropping as usual?

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The 4k/8k Norton sounds like your best bet, loads of info on those, there is a 3k/8k Naniwa that may be worth a look. With paste you indeed, strop as normal but with fewer strokes (5-10 generally does it). One thing I would say though is that it's not a good idea to paste your daily strop.