Help for a Raw face

Not sure if this is the place for this thread. I've been shaving with a Straight almost daily for a week now. My face is getting tight, dry, and Raw to the touch. I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong, or missing something that I should be doing to condition my face. I do the Hot Shower, preshave oil, lather, strop, relather, shave, Styptic my face/neck, and finish up with Cold water and an alchohol free Aftershave balm. My face is so raw that I only shaved down (first time for the whole face though today), and left it at that. The Wifey thinks I should skip a day to let my face "refresh".

Am I missing something? or doing something that is making my face so Raw?

Brian

The wife is smart and the razor isn't sharp. Work on your stropping too. Remind me about your equipment, whatcha using?

And whats with all this stuff your using?

I have a Norton 4K/8K, Hanging Strop, Paddle Strop (green paste/Leather).
For shaves today I used the Shave Ready 6/8 #40 Kron-Punkt from John Crowley that has given me 3 great shaves this week on the Hanging Strop (20 passes before each side) down only.

I usually use just Shower, Lather, Shave, AS Balm...added the oil sample sent to me, and the Styptic due to LOTS of raw spots.

You may have overhoned the razor...do you know how to fix that? Did you do any additional honing? Have you used the .5 paste side yet and if so how are you cleaning the blade before you shave?

Can you elaborate on 20 passes each side down only? What does that mean? Stropped using linen and leather in the correct direction?

I'd agree with your wife on giving your face a day or two of rest. While you're at it, see if she has any moisturizer. Odds are she does, and you can earn some brownie points with her. It does take some time for your face to adjust to a straight, and there isn't really any way to speed that up. If you are doing 20 round trips (up and back counts as one, not two), then you should be fine on the stropping. It's only necessary to use the pasted strop when your edge starts to dull a little -- maybe once a month or so. Keep the hanging strop pulled taught (no slack) when stropping.

This razor has not touched my Hone yet (I'm afraid to mess up what John did so well). I have used the green side of the paddle, and the leather side (which gave me that Great 3rd shave at my Wife's Mothers house) and clean the razor between sides so I don't contaminate the leather side. I clean the razor with Witch Hazel and a cotton ball. When at home I clean the razor then strop on a leather only hanging strop (10 strokes up and down slowly to ensure an X pattern pulled away from a cutting stroke), then shave with a down stroke, relather/restrop as needed, and continue on to an Up stroke shave if necessary. I finish up by rinsing with hot water, cleaning with Witch Hazel/Cotton Ball, air drying for 10-30 minutes, then strop before putting it away.

We'll be chatting tonight at 8pm Eastern. How many passes did you do on the green side? Yea, I'd leave the razor off the hone. John knows his stuff.

This razor only touched the green paste at my Mother-in-law's place. Today it was only stropped 10 round trips before the left side, 10 round trips before the right side, 10 round trips before the chin/mustache. Then cleaned and 10 round trips before putting it away.

I'd give your face a rest. If I shave with a straight for more than 3 days in a row, my face starts to get raw. When you shave, you're also removing a small amount of skin too, so after several days, you've got a raw face. Give it a week off and you should be back in business.

Thats too many on the green side. If your saying you used it that many on the green side thats probably part of the problem. If that was leather than your good. I'm trying to find out how many passes you did on the green side only when you used the green pasted strop. If you did 40 then stop using it completely.

On the other hand . . .

I think, since you got 3 good shaves, that would be indicitive of "baby" stropping. I think you may need to use just a tad of pressure or use more like 40 passes using very light pressure. You may be 'babying" the razor on the strop. If you did like 40 on green at Mom's house thats too much. No more on the green side. Let the blade smooth out.

Shave again on Tuesday, or take a day off and try some better stropping. Hold the strop tight and use more passes. The day off may do it, or just letting the razor smooth out may help too.

I'm not sure about all that other stuff your doing, I don't see much harm in it . . . yet. Others have some experience with the stuff. I keep the process very simple and natural.

Again, as mentioned a newbie doing that many shaves in a row leads to problems. Also, watch out for drying lather, since it often takes a while to shave in the beginning.

Sounds like your doing very well for a newbie though, and we appreciate that you did your research first.

I've had skin reactions to some soaps and moisturizers so perhaps some of the products you are using might be causing or contributing to your skin irritation. If, after you let your face rest, you start getting rawness again, you might want to start eliminating or substituting products to find the possible culprit.