Straight everyday? Against the grain?

Well, I have finally gotten the shave of straight razor shaving (for the most part). Due to my chosen profession, I have to shave everyday and get a damn close shave, which means usually a 3 pass shave. My face has taken to this just fine, but my neck is still really tender, especially on the against the grain pass. It has lead me to shave for a few days with the straight, then a few days with a disposable to basically let my skin recover. I follow a good pre shave (I use a hot towel or hot shower, Castle forbes pre shave lotion, and make a good lather and rub it in thoroughly with my brush). Any tips on how to help my skin recover or adapt better? Thanks.

You may try witch hazel. I use "Nivea anti irritation" aftershave balm and it seems to do the trick since I have sensitive skin,

A regiment that I've taken to recently that seems to be working quite well is following my shaves with witch hazel and an alum block (some may consider this overkill, but I've not experienced any irritation to speak of since doing it). Also, since that can be a bit drying on my face, I've been putting some unscented lotion on my face prior to going to bed at night... It seems to be offsetting the effects of the witch hazel and alum, and my skin looks better than it has in years.

It'll add a little more time to your regimen, but have you tried two or three XTG passes instead of an ATG pass?

My beard is course and the hollows to each side of my Adam's apple sensative and I find that I get a quite a close shave with considerably less irritation if I do 2-3 XTG pass on my neck - or even an XTG then a pass that's 45 deg. between XTG and ATG - instead of one XTG, then one ATG.

If you get less irritation from a disposable than from a straight, your technique might need some improvement. Check the Wiki for "passes" and read the two sections about angles and skin stretching - they're among the most useful pieces of information in the entire Wiki (thanks, Bart!).

Also, buffing with zero pressure (pressure being my prime suspect, together with wrong angle) might help.

Finally, alum and a good aftershave balm will definitely help.

Good luck, and keep us updated.

Regards,
Robin

Unless your chosen profession involves a lot of facial contact, you may find you can ease off a little on the neck area. It's possible to get a close shave that looks perfect, yet isn't as close as you know it's possible to get.
I use vitamin E oil to give immediate relief to any problem area, & kickstart the healing.
Other than that, the advice you have already been given is a great place to start.

Maybe easing up on the pre-shave application of heat. ie the hot shower followed by a hot towel. I find that getting things too hot irritates my skin before I've touched it with a blade. I've also found that a post shave rinse with cold water works wonders.

My skin doesn't respond well to excess heat, either. It feels good at the time, but I always end up with more irritation afterwards. Showering should be enough, or just having moist lather on your face for about 3 minutes and massaging it in a bit.

I'd also second Robin's suspicions about angle and pressure (especially pressure). Because some of the skin is tougher than other parts, it's easy to get in the habit of applying a little bit of downward (inward?) force. Force in some direction other than parallel to the skin. Hmm, how to put this... I used to use the resistance of the skin's surface to help hold the razor against my face. Even though it was a light pressure, it was still pressure, and it was exfoliating/abrading my skin too much. A properly sharpened razor shouldn't need to scrape like that at all. Instead, imagine you are tracing the outline of your face a millimeter away from it. With the right consistency lather and proper angle/pressure combination, you can cushion the blade so that you aren't even touching anything but the whiskers.

It takes some practice, but if you're trying to go ATG on sensitive areas every day, you really have to be doing everything perfectly.

Lower the angle of the ATG pass on your neck.

I second the cold water rinse, and raise you an entire cold water shave. Your skin will be glowing afterwards, forcing the heads of passing beauties to turn involuntarily.
:)

I went through the same problem with the tender neck. Eventually, my neck became conditioned to where it wasn't a problem. One of the things that helped was that every night, just before I went to bed, I would apply some jojoba oil to my neck. This, coupled with a good after-shave conditioner, really seemed to have helped. I now shave with a straight seven days of the week and, occassionally, twice a day. Good luck.

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Originally Posted by pearcem

Well, I have finally gotten the shave of straight razor shaving (for the most part). Due to my chosen profession, I have to shave everyday and get a damn close shave, which means usually a 3 pass shave. My face has taken to this just fine, but my neck is still really tender, especially on the against the grain pass. It has lead me to shave for a few days with the straight, then a few days with a disposable to basically let my skin recover. I follow a good pre shave (I use a hot towel or hot shower, Castle forbes pre shave lotion, and make a good lather and rub it in thoroughly with my brush). Any tips on how to help my skin recover or adapt better? Thanks.

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What type of shaving cream or soap are you using? Are you sure the razor you are using is honed correctly? Are you applying any moisturizer? Lastly, Are you stropping the razor at all?

Just asking on behalf of my experiences.

I'd re-think the amount of pressure you're using - which seems to be the consensus. You may be using more pressure than you think which could be causing the irritation.

+1 on the witch hazel. In fact, you might even want to use it at night before bed to clean up your face. Can't remember where, but another member had posted that how you treat your face throughout the day will affect your shaves. Something to think about.

I think that your neck will get a little reconditioned but technique is very important. First of all your razor must be very sharp and have a very polished edge and even that depends on how tough your beard is. I have the beard from hell, dark, thick and dense. When you do ATG lay that puppy down to a very low angle, you should almost feel the steel just behind the edge and in fact when I use a 1/4 grind razor I do feel the steel on my skin. Some call it "riding the edge". If you think about a bevel that is at say 10 degrees and you lay the blade down to 6 degrees the very point of edge is just above the skin. You are cutting hair not skin. I generally do 2 passes ATG on my neck. The first one is very, very light and is just used to hit the high points which I do when I do one of the XTG passes. When doing the final ATG I use the dreaded scything motion which makes everything very smooth but that is a pretty advanced technique and you can get a fantastic shave without it.


Take Care,
Richard

in order to get an irritation free ATG pass, I litterally have the spine on my neck, do short strokes, and use as little pressure as possible.

IMO, the short strokes and the spine on skin thing made the biggest immediate improvement. The rest was basically trial and error improvements over an extended period of time.

I would certainly consider lightening up a bit on the neck region, you don't need a BBS shave for it to look like a BBS shave with out making a concerted effort to look, if that makes sense.

I will try laying off the heat. I am using Castle Forbes pre shave, then some soap from classic shaving (i don't remember the name). I have been working on my angle and pressure a lot, and my shaving has improved significantly, but I think there is still a lot of room to go. As far as the quality of the shave, I am in the Marines, so I usually shave about 4:30 AM, and my beard grows in thick and dark. If I don't get a great shave to start with, I need to re shave around lunch, which is usually impractical. I have never tried multiple ATG passes, so I will try that as well. Thanks.

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Originally Posted by Frankenstein

I second the cold water rinse, and raise you an entire cold water shave. Your skin will be glowing afterwards, forcing the heads of passing beauties to turn involuntarily.
:)

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That's my problem too: all the beauties just pass by. :aargh:

But, about shaving - I do it every morning - two passes. One N>S the other S>N or in the case of chin and lip, a N>S and an E>W or W>E depending on which hand gets to hold the razor. I have some idea of the direction of the lie of the stubble, but it's nothing concrete hence the directional ambiguities. As a result I've taken the lazy shaver's way out and still have nothing for giving a good whisker rash until about 5 or 6 pm.

I either shave before or after a shower and this only depends on how much time I have to dawdle under the hot water. Prep for me works out to be a hot soap and water scrub with a hot water rinse, then lather while my face is wet, then shave, then splash on bay rum. I don't use any of the pre-shave potions as the shaves with minimal prep - work fine and are non-irritating. Maybe I'm just lucky and have hard skin; dunno.

I think that this straight shaving stuff can get to be too much of a pseudo-science with its attendant alchemy and sorcery fixations.

:beer2:

Pearce,

I too will be joining the ranks of the daily shaver come January when I start my job working in a Chemicals Plant that requires the use of a half-mask respirator on a somewhat regular basis. My plan to maintain a good shave day after day will be to wash my face at night with a slightly exfoliating scrub, such that my hairs will be a bit more exposed when I wake in the morning. As for the sensitivity on the neck, I'm going to have to concur with the other gents in saying that Thayer's Witch Hazel and an Alum Block really is the way. If your skin feels more dry than hurting, try Nivea's sensitive skin Balm, it does wonders for me.

My question for you Pearce is: Do you find that you have trouble every day shaving in that your hair isn't fully exposed when you go for the morning shave?

-Jaxx

Shave every day. I do not do any voodoo, shower, lather, pick my blade, strop, refresh the lather and shave. One pass with the grain, one pass against the grain and off I go. If I get a little tingle feeling, like I may have used a touch to much angle or pressure, I will put a couple drops of hand lotion on the finger tips and gently rub it onto the offending airea. A sharp razor is a must, a mostly sharp razor will pull. You will end up using to much pressure because it is a little dull and end up with a face full of fire.

Keep a light grip, dont hold the razor to tight, use light no pressure strokes on the face. You could always go with two passes on the face and a single against the grain stroke on the neck.

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Originally Posted by cannonfodder

Shave every day. I do not do any voodoo, shower, lather, pick my blade, strop, refresh the lather and shave. One pass with the grain, one pass against the grain and off I go. If I get a little tingle feeling, like I may have used a touch to much angle or pressure, I will put a couple drops of hand lotion on the finger tips and gently rub it onto the offending airea. A sharp razor is a must, a mostly sharp razor will pull. You will end up using to much pressure because it is a little dull and end up with a face full of fire.

Keep a light grip, dont hold the razor to tight, use light no pressure strokes on the face. You could always go with two passes on the face and a single against the grain stroke on the neck.

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Well said, Cannonfodder.

Thanks for all the advice. Just to clear up, for the time being, I am using a shavette. I was using a straight, but realized that I do not know hw to maintain it well enough to master shaving with it, so I am still working on stropping, honing, testing, etc. Until then, it's the shavette, which has worked great. It also means that the sharpness of the razor is not the issue, but rather my technique or possibly my preparation. I have taken a few days off, and tomorrow I am going to have a nice shave after a shower with enough time to really make sure I am doing it right.

It would appear "pearcem" didn't make it. RIP, my friend. RIP.

Excellent advice from our brother, cannonfodder.

That's easy for me to say as it is essentially the way I do it, every day, M-F w/ Sat and Sun incl.

Happy New Year,

:beer2: