First truly good shave without irritation. Advice to new DE shavers.
After many years trying to shave with a DE razor, giving up, and moving back to cartriges, I've finally given myself a socially acceptable shave (bordering on BBS) with almost no irritation and no cuts. As my name implies, I have extremely sensitive skin. Even shaving with an electric razor causes issues. Here are a few things I did this time that really made a difference.
1. Patience - I'm naturally impatient. What usually happens is I do one or two passes, am frustrated and dissatisfied with my progress, and then try to hurry up and finish the last pass or even switch to an against-the-grain shave with a cartridge. It always ends poorly. This time around, I shaved at night so I had a lot of time and really went slowly, making sure to take as much time as I needed.
2. Zero pressure - I took a few passes over certain areas and was still dissatisfied with the length of my stubble. Usually, I would put a little more pressure on the blade. This sometimes worked, but it would almost always end with irritation or a cut. This time around, I made it an absolute must to never use more pressure than necessary to keep the blade against my skin. I stretched my skin out with one hand, gently brushed the razor against the area, and eventually got the length I wanted. I found I could even pass the area multiple times and not get irritated as long as I used extremely light pressure.
3. Leaving well enough alone - I could have continued shaving and trying to get closer, but after a certain point, I knew that any extra micron of stubble I could get off would be completely unnoticeable to anyone standing more than a foot away from me, so I left it alone. Equally as important, if a certain area of my face had a good enough shave (even if it was just after the first or second pass), I did not go over it again at all. My 3rd pass was more of a "touch up" since some areas of my face were fine after two. Going against the grain turned out to be OK as long as I was excruciatingly careful not to go too fast or use too much pressure.
I'd like to mention that these are all things I "knew" beforehand, but sometimes it takes making a few mistakes yourself to truly understand why these tips are so important.
This is just my experience. Do what works for you. Just hope my experience can help someone else trying to get into the world of gourmet shaving.
Shave: Chrome Merkur Futura (set to 3) with an Astra Stainless blade, Proraso green with some Art of Shaving pre-shave oil, a best badger brush, and Thayer's lavender witch hazel.