Thread: Question on order of process

So I have been researching and slowly acquiring my tools for wet shaving over the last couple of months. Unfortunately I am still using my Mach 3 with a WTG and an XTG pass. This is the process I follow. I fill my shaving bowl with hot water and toss the brush in. I take a shower, then empty the bowl and put a little T&H Limes cream in it. Build lather in the bowl, splash my face with hot water, then lather my face. Shave WTG, relather, then shave XTG. Rinse with hot water, then cold water. Dry my face and put on some witch hazel with aloe. Let that dry a minute then put on T&H Limes aftershave balm. Everything is good to this point. Then a couple minutes after this my face starts to itch pretty badly. This has been going on for a couple days now. Today I put some hand lotion on once it started itching and this seemed to help a ton. I am guessing my face is just too dry after all of this. My question is, does this look like a proper process and does anyone have a recommendation on a face moisturizer? The only other thing I can think of that might be causing the itch is an allergy to the Limes a/s. I might try some Nivea tomorrow and see how that goes.

What happens when you skip the XTG pass? Don't forget that it's still possible to use too much pressure with one of those contraptions so you may be irritating the fudgenutters out of your face. Is the blade fresh? I only got a few shaves out of the cartridges before it started to be unpleasant,not to mention my beard hair clogged up between the blades so I had to constantly rinse it out to shave well. It could be dry skin, too much pressure, a dull blade, sensitivity to that ASB or some combination there off. Try to eliminate as many variables as possible, ie, use a fresh set of blades and only go WTG and use some aveeno or other mild lotion as your only AS and see what happens.

try skipping the limes aftershave. the witch hazel shouldn't leave you itching, but protected.

what kind of brush are you using?

are any of those products that your using new and a lite touch with the razor is best which type of witch hazel are you using some do have alcohol which could dry your face out on shaving days i dont wash my face because of the use of shaving soap it will dry my face out and leave it irritated

Lots of variables, so I would recommend trying to isolate them one at a time to see what is causing the problem. I'd say go through your same routine, but leave out only one thing. If you still have the itching, put back the thing you took out and take out something else. Repeat as necessary.

My first guess would be that it's the XTG pass, so I would try skipping that first. Second guess would be that something in the Limes (essential oil or whatever they use) that doesn't agree with your face - you could try single or double there (either use a different cream and balm, or do them one at a time. One at a time is more precise, but won't necessarily tell you if they are both causing the issue). Beyond that, maybe it's just the Mach 3 itself - I always got irritation with a cartridge no matter what I did.

Originally Posted by holli4pirating

Beyond that, maybe it's just the Mach 3 itself - I always got irritation with a cartridge no matter what I did.

+1 on that! I always got terrible irritation from my Gilette fusion. That is, until I realized how many "strokes" I was actually taking. I didn't think to take account that you had to calculate how many passes x # of blades in razor. 5 blades x 5-6 strokes = 30+ passes. No wonder my skin was irritated! Not to mention that once the cartridge was clogged up, you had to rinse it off, ensuring more strokes on the same area. My skin has benefitted tremendously since switching to a Straight. Keep the faith!