Thread: Gillette Fusion Prolide or DE Shaving, Skin way too sensitive!

Glow,

I had the same issue as you years ago, and I suspect the cause may be the same. With the way my neck whiskers grow I discovered that doing a North to South downward pass was actually going ATG; the whiskers lay really flat there and I was cutting them below skin level which resulted in some nasty razor bumps. I quit shaving ATG in that spot and the problem was solved. Using a straight razor helped as well, but a DE works fine too.

I would suggest mapping your beard and avoid ATG shaving in the problems areas and see if that clears it up. If you don't use a SR I would highly recommend a DE over the Fusion. One blade is better for your face than 5, and with a light touch you should be able to achieve an irritation-free shave.

Ryan82,

That was my biggest mistake I've ever done, I have never mapped out the way my beard grows until recently, and I was doing a north to south on my neck the whole time. And now I'm doing it right, I really like DE shaving but I also like my Fusion razor, I just hate all the cuts I get from DE when going ATG. Sometimes I think I should sacrifice smoothness over irritation, but I like being smooth. And I need to go ATG on my neck, because when I do it on my face and not my neck it just looks funny, face is baby bottom soft, and the neck still has a bit of stuble. The real problem I might have is that my beard hair is extremely coarse.

I understand your frustration. I've had to sacrifice closeness for comfort too, where my face is BBS but the very bottom of my neck is less so. I have dark coarse whiskers, but in reality it is around the collar line and is probably only noticeable if someone is standing a foot away from my face - and other than my wife no one should be that close anyways lol

Using a DE is much like using a straight razor. Proper prep, low & constant angle and zero pressure are all required to get a great shave from a DE. Using the right blade for your razor helps tremendously too, so if you haven't tried a blade sampler that would be another recommendation.

Originally Posted by Ryan82

I understand your frustration. I've had to sacrifice closeness for comfort too, where my face is BBS but the very bottom of my neck is less so. I have dark coarse whiskers, but in reality it is around the collar line and is probably only noticeable if someone is standing a foot away from my face - and other than my wife no one should be that close anyways lol

Using a DE is much like using a straight razor. Proper prep, low & constant angle and zero pressure are all required to get a great shave from a DE. Using the right blade for your razor helps tremendously too, so if you haven't tried a blade sampler that would be another recommendation.

"...closeness for comfort...", sounds like a vintage add for shaving!!

Originally Posted by ColonelG

Phrank, I've been on the receiving end of one or two of Ed's 'Occam's Razor Comments' as well, so I know from where you speak! LOL

Amazing how in this hobby, there are times we tend to over think.
I Really Dig This Forum!!!!!!

The bottle.one wasn't it?

Originally Posted by edhewitt

The bottle.one wasn't it?

Yes, Ed the bottle one.
On the update side of things, I have. GEO Trumper bottle of balm for this weeks travel.
I'll let you know how it goes

Originally Posted by ColonelG

Yes, Ed the bottle one.
On the update side of things, I have. GEO Trumper bottle of balm for this weeks travel.
I'll let you know how it goes

So, are you going to decant it into an alternative screw top bottle ?

A few quick answers:
Wanna try shave oil?.....Use Olive oil or corn oil from the kitchen. Does the same as the expensive "shave oils" but is much cheaper. If you find you like the oil, PM me, I'll send a recipe I use.

If you want to see if the DE will cause the same bumps as the Multi-blade I suggest you not shave for as long as it takes for your skin to completely heal and then try the DE single pass, until you learn the angles. You may have to shave more often but as you learn the DE, you'll get a better shave. Also, I use DE blades from Wilkinson that cost $1.99 for ten blades. As a result, I never use one more than twice which means your never going to use a dull blade.

Originally Posted by edhewitt

So, are you going to decant it into an alternative screw top bottle ?

No. Don't need to. It comes in a small plastic bottle that fits very nicely in my travel case.
BIG THUMBS UP.

I don't know how this fits in with the conventional wisdom but I find a few laps on a strop with your DE blade can help smooth things out a little. Not talking about dull blades here. May be that the blades I'm using are initially too keen or something as they tend to be more comfortable on the second shave and so on, but in the end the strop helps on every shave. You can do it with the blade in the razor depending on the razor but I wouldn't try it otherwise. Only needs a few laps because the blades themselves are so thin/flexible.