Thread: I really need help shaving

Hey guys

It seems that on some areas of my face, the skin raises slightly around the hair. When I go with the grain, I minimize cutting myself at every place hair comes out (the amount of blood can look like someone started tattooing my face), but I don't get a good shave. When I go against the grain, forget about it.

I am pulling my skin tight, I even bought preshave lotion.

I had a dovo solingen straight razor and used proraso cream, but with all the cutting I thought maybe I was not stropping it properly. so recently I switched to a double edge safety razor and the same problem happens.

Originally Posted by clam61

I had a dovo solingen straight razor and used proraso cream, but with all the cutting I thought maybe I was not stropping it properly. so recently I switched to a double edge safety razor and the same problem happens.

Provided you are using quality blades (Merkur, Personna, etc.), you can eliminate a dull blade from the equation WRT your Dovo.

So far, so good. Two things come to my mind, though:

1. Have you tried other shaving products? I recently test drove different lime scented shaving creams, and the T&H one actually gave me ingrown hairs for no apparent reason. AOS's new shaving cream nearly made my face explode (admittedly, that would not have made much of a difference aesthetically, but it certainly was not pleasant). Try to get a high quality product and try that. Personally, I believe that you should not even need a pre shave for a DE, if your shaving cream is good (yet another shameless plug for Castle Forbes here).
2. In order to draw the amount of blood you described (pictures might be interesting, really...), you must be applying pressure to the blade. Do not do that. At all. A quality blade, DE or straight - does not matter, will cut your whiskers but not your skin. It can, and probably will, take you weeks or months to get a decent result, but you will get there, eventually. Mind you, the WTG pass is not meant to leave you even halfway decently shaved. The trick lies in progressive passes that will remove your hair, not trying to literally scratch everything away with the first pass, and then touch up.

Anyhow, good luck. Quality products, and patience when shaving, should get you there. Eventually.

Stop pressing down on the razors.

im not pressing down. i only put enough pressure to actually touch the razor to my skin.

i need to consider what you said about not expecting a WTG to give you a good shave.

im not going to try AGT right now, just more passes WTG and see what happens.

of course i need to wait until my face heals. it looks like i have a bunch of strawberry jam all over my face now

Forgetting about the straight for a second the DE is pretty dumb proof. The only way you are going to do damage with a DE is if you either use a lateral motion as you shave or you apply pressure. Sometimes we don't realize what we are doing and we think we are not using pressure when we are. A lot of guys have this problem when they begin stropping and honing and will insist they are applying no pressure when they are. Watch closely what you are doing. First give your face several days to heal and then lose a straight for a while and just use the DE and see what happens. Watch your prep and use plenty of hot water.

We expect a full report.

I suspect from your description that nicks and cuts have become a frequent occurance. If that is the case what I would suggest is that for a while you only shave WTG. OK so you dont get a quite as good a shave, but the key here is to first help the route of your problem- your skin. Be kind to it, dont shave too often, wash, cleanse and exfoliate every so often. But take care of it first. When it calms down, your shaves will improve and you can start going XTG again and eventually ATG (if thats what you usually do). In my experience knicks beget knicks. Poor shave technique leads to skin bumps which get cut into- making a knick. This can thet easily get cut into on subsequent shaves. Pay attention to your angle- go for 30 degrees- dont push in with the razor and keep the skin taut (but not uncomfortably so.

Finally, immediately after you shave go for hot water rinse to remove any excess lather, then cold water rinse to close pores, then styptic/alum for any knicks, then moisturize with a low alcohol moisturizer. DONT use aftershave.

In summary: be kind to your skin and it will be kind to you. Let us know what happens.

As a sudden afterthought, may I enquire if this is a new blade and if so has it been properly honed to shave-ready standard? As opposed to factory honed....

Originally Posted by sidneykidney

As a sudden afterthought, may I enquire if this is a new blade and if so has it been properly honed to shave-ready standard? As opposed to factory honed....

thanks for the help guys. im actually using a brand new DE right now.

what you said about bumps leading to knicks is really what im curious about.

i dont cut myself everywhere, just in places where it seems i have natural bumps around the hair. in some places the skin seems to bump up around the follicle and this is where i cut myself. i dont look at other men's faces so i dont know if others have this or if this is a weird/rare condition.

also, i think my hair is kind of thick..again i dont look at other men's facial hair but my hair is on average about as thick as .5 pencil lead.

I would draw your attention to the following wiki pages:

Shaving - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Shaving - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia -this bit about Razor burn

Pseudofolliculitis barbae - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Folliculitis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

All are excellently written. I stress that despite my avatar I am no doctor. If you feel it is a medical matter then you should see a GP.

From your description I am inclined to believe that the bumps are caused by ingrown hairs. People have said you should put less pressure on your razor when shaving. Also the angle is important. If you put too much pressure or too high an angle into your shave then you get a very fine line of skin being 'pushed' ahead of your razor as you shave (in a sort of wave effect). Continue doing this too often in multiple shaves and you will eventually cut yourself. The open wound if left unchecked risks getting surrounding hairs growing into it. The wound heals and you have an ingowing hair which makes the wound get infected.

Again I would re-iterate my advice. Worry less about how close your shave is for now. Concentrate more on looking after your skin. I'm not saying dont shave, i'm just saying a neat WTG pass to tidy things up.

Also i'd make sure your pre and post shave routines are up to scratch. It would be helpful if you could let us know what your shave routine is since it might be down to a particular product or method you use. Is it only in a certain area of your face? And if you are brave enough, can you post a pic?

Hope things improve,

SK

the thing is, its not ingrown hair because hair grows out of it...its just that around the h air its slightly raised.

ill try to get a pic


thanks

Originally Posted by sidneykidney

I would draw your attention to the following wiki pages:

Shaving - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Shaving - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia -this bit about Razor burn

Pseudofolliculitis barbae - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Folliculitis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

All are excellently written. I stress that despite my avatar I am no doctor. If you feel it is a medical matter then you should see a GP.

From your description I am inclined to believe that the bumps are caused by ingrown hairs. People have said you should put less pressure on your razor when shaving. Also the angle is important. If you put too much pressure or too high an angle into your shave then you get a very fine line of skin being 'pushed' ahead of your razor as you shave (in a sort of wave effect). Continue doing this too often in multiple shaves and you will eventually cut yourself. The open wound if left unchecked risks getting surrounding hairs growing into it. The wound heals and you have an ingowing hair which makes the wound get infected.

Again I would re-iterate my advice. Worry less about how close your shave is for now. Concentrate more on looking after your skin. I'm not saying dont shave, i'm just saying a neat WTG pass to tidy things up.

Also i'd make sure your pre and post shave routines are up to scratch. It would be helpful if you could let us know what your shave routine is since it might be down to a particular product or method you use. Is it only in a certain area of your face? And if you are brave enough, can you post a pic?

Hope things improve,

SK