Thread: great sadness, doubt I will be able to shave tomorow

ive shaved every day for the last three days (remeber I am a newbie buying cheap old razors) and I think I have irritated my skin enough that I will need to lay off a day or three. The fact that I have shaved that much is a near miracle, as before I would shave every 3-5 days just because i hated it so much.
I have irritated the skin under my chin enough trying to get it perfectly smooth that i think my skin needs a rest. Hopefully my skin will heal enough that i can do it again on friday!

Same, I’m having a few days off myself. I needed some time for my wounds to heal. You learn as you go. Even if you think your getting pretty good at this shaving thing never get complacent. That's something that me, my razor and my neck discovered the other day.

It takes time for the skin to get used to the new depiling. Thats twice as true if you're going at it with gusto. A good moisturiser on the days off couldn't hurt either.

X

I used to hate shaving too, I would only shave every 7 - 10 days! now I shave every other day, simply because I dont have a very thick beard so there isnt enough to shave on my off days. I have actually noticed that my face gets MUCH less irritated with me DE then with regular disposables, which is why I shaved so infrequently before. I am still waiting for my straight to arrive from Lynn, but it will be interesting to see how that effects my skin.

I do swear by taking a hot shower before my shave and using a good shaving oil. With a good shaving oil, I dont even need a great aftershave, although I like to pamper myself

Originally Posted by trapperjohnme

ive shaved every day for the last three days (remeber I am a newbie buying cheap old razors) and I think I have irritated my skin enough that I will need to lay off a day or three. The fact that I have shaved that much is a near miracle, as before I would shave every 3-5 days just because i hated it so much.
I have irritated the skin under my chin enough trying to get it perfectly smooth that i think my skin needs a rest. Hopefully my skin will heal enough that i can do it again on friday!

Hi trapperjohnme,

Some degree of skin irritation is quite common for new straight razor users. It takes time for the skin to adjust to the open blade. It also could be that your blade is not quite keen enough too, and thus you're applying a bit too much pressure, particularly when shaving one of the toughest areas under the chin. I don't know how you shave, but you might try shaving under the chin first (using a freshly stropped blade) or re-strop your blade before you shave your chin area. This may be sufficient. If not, perhaps the razor still needs a bit of a touch up on the hone. You're surely right to wait until your skin is well healed before shaving again. Of course, as you say, that's not easy to do when you're just starting to have fun.

Hal

I agree with what Hal has to say here. The chin and upper lip are my "problem" areas. I try to hit my chin from a side grain direction and it seems to work well. Also, I will lower the angle from 30ish to something around half of that. Lastly, try soaking the area for quite a while to soften the wiskers before shaving.
Good luck!
-Fred

I like Hal's idea of hitting the problem areas first with a freshly stropped razor makes sense.