Third shave in wth no nicks but redness an sensitiviy

So I am my third shave in and thankfully had no nicks or cuts doing WTG and some XTG. I have taken my time, about 30 min. and everything seemed to go well. I did two passes WTG and that was fine, no sensitive skin or redness. However once I went across the grain, I had definite redness along my mustache and chin area but no really along my cheeks. Now, I tried to do another light pass along my chin and upper lip but I could feel the blade pulling some. I didn't feel any real resistance doing WTG along my cheeks, but some on my upper lip and chin, perhaps due to thick coarse hairs?

Now as I understand it, this could be due to a few factors.

1) My blade edge is not refined enough to give a nice clean smooth shave (I had no problems WTG, felt some resistance XTG)
2) I stropped the edge too much and it rolled slightly (I did 10 strops on suede, then 50 on leather)
3) I am not using the proper amount of pressure (Trying to barely touch the skin but much harder to control XTG)
4) I have very thick beard and mustache hairs (Maybe it is just normal resistance due to thick hairs?)

Perhaps some more experienced members could help shed light on the shaving sensation when going XTG and for that matter ATG?

Thank you.

Jake,

I go through that everytime on the X and A passes. There are definitely spot on your face that are not consistent. Did you do a thorough face map of the grain of your beard? That may answer your question.

I find that some spots do not take to an X or A pass as well as others. It's just a matter of learning your face and adjusting to what is most comfortable for you. Every face is unique.

JMHO!!!

H

You will always experience more resistance against the grain however a proper sharp razor should cut right through it and that's more a tactile sense then actual resistance. If you need to exert more pressure that's a warning sign to check your razor.

When you are beginning you are playing with the variables; pressure and angle and stroke and until you have the ability to adjust on the fly it's hard to say what the specific issue is. Often times experience solves the problem.

That's pretty normal at your stage. There can be several causes, a degraded edge from too steep an angle, imperfect stropping etc. the razor should glide relatively effortlessly across your skin. You cannot push to flatten with a straight like you can with many other razors, you have to do that by stretching the skin taut.

A straight is probably the best exfoliation tool there is, and used properly IMO yields the best shave of any. A not-so-sharp straight, or wrong angle, too much pressure means you get too much exfoliation which is razor burn.

Cheers, Steve

So far I've only been using shavettes with different blades but I have found that the sharper the edge and the better my technique the less irritation. That and an alum block helps as well. Some have reported using an alum block to start but growing out of it as they perfected their technique and it became unnecessary.