Quote Originally Posted by roughkype View Post
About pressure: attempt only to remove the lather from your face. If your razor is properly sharp, the hairs will come off as a side effect.
Yes !

When you say your "arm hairs were mowed down", was that with the edge touching your skin? That's not a good test.

Hold the edge about 1/8 - 1/4" _above_ the skin, and see if it cuts arm hairs in the air. That's called "popping" hair, and I've found it to be a good test of sharpness. The edge needs to be sharp enough to fit between the scales of keratin that cover the surface of the hair.

If it's not that sharp, you'll have to use pressure on the blade to shave your beard, and you'll get the kind of razor burn you've described. "Sharp razor" and "low pressure" go together to make a comfortable shave.

Charles

PS -- As you see from the responses, you're not the first person to have these problems. We've all climbed the learning curve.