Thread: Razor burn?

Stan, Are you face lathering or using a bowl?
I am a little over a month into using a straight. I face lathered for my first shave and had some major razor burn. I suspect the combination of a new brush and overdoing the lathering were to blame. I have been lathering with a bowl since and have not had much problems with razor burn, except when I once tried a new cream.

If you want to know if its the brush, just lather without shaving and wash off. If you get irritated then consider a softer brush like a silver tip.

I think i'll give it a rest for a couple of days and put some lotion on to help the healing. Will take everyone's advice, thx.

Yes Leather, I've been face lathering last few times but even when I use a mug working the lather in has the same results.

If you're face is on fire while lathering it likely has nothing to do with the stiffness of the bristles. It sounds like your skin is having a bad reaction to your soap/cream or even the material of the brush itself. First I'd try a different soap or cream and see if that makes a difference. If not you might have to try a different type of brush (boar, synthetic etc) just to rule out the variables.

Originally Posted by Ryan82

If you're face is on fire while lathering it likely has nothing to do with the stiffness of the bristles. It sounds like your skin is having a bad reaction to your soap/cream or even the material of the brush itself. First I'd try a different soap or cream and see if that makes a difference. If not you might have to try a different type of brush (boar, synthetic etc) just to rule out the variables.

I agree! It's more likely your soap/cream than anything else.

I can irritate my skin with a course washrag. However my favorite brush is an Omega boar with the backbone of a T-Rex. If you're face lathering, try using a bowl. Try another brand of soap or go to a cream. I use to think I needed all kinds of prep, but here's what I do now in my routine. Wet brush ($20 boar brush...I have $200 silvertips collecting dust), load up brush with Tabac, splash face with cool water, face lather, shave, done. Oh yeah, Nivia makes a great post shave balm, it also serves as an after shave and skin lotion, and it's available everywhere.

Also, one thing I don't think anyone has mentioned yet...

While you've gotten some very, very sound advice here (change soap/cream, change brush, etc.), the only way to know for sure is to change one variable at a time. So, for example, on your next shave change the amount of water in your lather. Then change the soap during the shave after that if the irritation still persists. If that doesn't help, change the brush on the next shave. Continue on in this fashion until you single out and eliminate the variable causing your discomfort.

I know I have not taken my own advice and completely switched my prep on a couple of shaves and paid dearly for it. Once I resumed my normal prep and just changed or tweaked a certain variable, I have noticed the feedback my face gives me is much more reliable about what's working and what's not.

We have a tendency to jump the gun and move really fast in changing our routines when something doesn't work for us, but we should approach this the same way in which we shave... slow, methodical and steady.

You had to learn to slow down for your shaves, now learn to slow down for your prepping until you have it tweaked to that perfect BBS shave with no irritation that leaves you faceturbating all day long.