Hi there,

I rather doubt you're gonna be able to help me but I'd still like to have some advice on this.

I've been using a straight razor for a year and a half now. It's a Dovo I bought brand new. At the beginning, as one can expect, I would get a few superficial cuts. I quickly improved my skills and soon enough I would achieve a nice, close, clean and cut-free shave.

This brings me to today and my problem. Nowadays - and although my skills are getting better with time - i get these red rashes on my face after I shave. I can't pinpoint the exact cause.

Can my aftershave cream be the cause and would it be an allergy? ==> I've been using the same cream since the very beginning. It has buckwheat extract which the salesman told me - a year and a half ago when I bought it - is know to irritate the skin should you be allergic to it. But I seem to have developped these rashes only these last few months (sorry I can't be more precise, it was gradual and maybe I didn't notice at first).

Is it my razor that's to blame? As I said, I'm the first owner. I thought maybe the cause of my rashes was that it wasn't sharp enough. So I recently had it sharpened by a renowned professional in my city. But I still get these red patches.

As you see I'm trying to take into account every possible parameter which I can think of and which could cause this rash which is rather irritating (no pun intended). Shaving cream? Since I used it from the very start and never had any problems beforehand, the only possibility (in the case where it actually is the cream) would be that I developped an allergy which I didn't have before (I don't even know if medically that's possible). And as I said, my razor's just been sharpened and the problem ahsn't disapeared.

If I were to describe this rash I would say that after shaving and after i put the cream on and everything. The skin surface feels very warm and it scratches alot! Usually the next day I'm left with red patches...

Help me please. It's annoying to know everytime I shave I'm gonna have this rash after and that there's nothing I can do.

Does this warm, scratchy feeling ring a bell? Is it familiar to anyone?

Cheers.