Thread: It just hit me - one of the best things about Straight Shaving

Luckily for me it was never about saving money which I have NOT. I'm still about 5 years or so from breaking even. It was all about the daily razor burn and irritation from those evil cartridges. Since finally getting comfortable shaves and usually not even Old Spice stings anymore.
AHHH that's my sigh of relief.

Originally Posted by poppy926

Luckily for me it was never about saving money which I have NOT. I'm still about 5 years or so from breaking even. It was all about the daily razor burn and irritation from those evil cartridges. Since finally getting comfortable shaves and usually not even Old Spice stings anymore.
AHHH that's my sigh of relief.

Yeah razorburn was what str8 razors removed for me, no more red face...well at least from shaving. I look forward to my alum block and witchazel now.

I always had irritation from carts and disposables, most of which were multiblade. I think if the front blade gets the whisker the other blades scrape the skin and make the face feel chapped.

Originally Posted by CaliforniaCajun

I always had irritation from carts and disposables, most of which were multiblade. I think if the front blade gets the whisker the other blades scrape the skin and make the face feel chapped.

I think that's exactly what happens. Do you remember the Gillette commercials that demonstrated the first blade pulling up on the hair, then the other blades cutting off bits of the hair? I think it's the pulling that causes a lot of the problem. For me, it was probably raising the skin around the follicle too; and the other blades cut the hair as well as the skin. Add to that, the blades get duller and full of more dead skin (encouraging bacterial growth) each time you use them. So each time you shave with a cartridge, you scratch and cut your face more and more, fill the tiny wounds with more bacteria, and leave hairs with rougher cut ends (from dull blades). It's no wonder that my face was so red and covered with bumps and ingrown hairs.

Well if you discount gifts I've received since I started (2 razors, some cream and a norton hone), I have spent the equivalent of 2 months worth of cartridges and canned foams as a startup cost (back in August). Since then, I have bought 2 tubes of Real Shaving Co. cream, an off-brand Nivea balm knockoff and a pack of single-edge razor blades. That's it. And I haven't even opened one of the tubes of cream.

Now, if I could just get over my tendency to want to scrape my face off when I shave, a holdover from years of electric and cartridge shaving, I'll be very, very happy.

And if I'm allowed a moment of gloating: It's been 2 weeks since I've had even a small spot of blood from a shave.

Originally Posted by MinATX

I think that's exactly what happens. Do you remember the Gillette commercials that demonstrated the first blade pulling up on the hair, then the other blades cutting off bits of the hair? I think it's the pulling that causes a lot of the problem. For me, it was probably raising the skin around the follicle too; and the other blades cut the hair as well as the skin. Add to that, the blades get duller and full of more dead skin (encouraging bacterial growth) each time you use them. So each time you shave with a cartridge, you scratch and cut your face more and more, fill the tiny wounds with more bacteria, and leave hairs with rougher cut ends (from dull blades). It's no wonder that my face was so
red and covered with bumps and ingrown hairs.

I do remember that commercial.

Originally Posted by bamabubba

There are too many benefits to list when it comes to using a straight. For me at least, one stands way above the others. I have fought ingrown hairs since I first started shaving on my 12th birthday. My beard is so coarse that no electric could ever do more that modestly cut cheeks and my neck was just more than they could handle. Most of my life was spent wet shaving with disposables or carts. Ingrown hairs were the bane of my existence!!

This morning it hit me that since I started straight shaving, I could count the number of ingrowns on one hand and have fingers left over!

Thanks to all you guys here that helped inspire me!

I feel pretty much the same about it. Thanks to coarse and thick beard and sensitive skin most of the time I got ingrowns an razor burn from shaving with cartridge razors since I started shaving. According to this I shaved only 2 to 3 times a week and looked... unshaven.

That is why I came to google for razors, techniques and trouble-shooting. So I found the german "Nassrasier-Forum" and SRP. Since I started shaving with a straight, just like you bamabubba, only a few ingrowns, no razor burn and fun in shaving.

Thanks to y'all!

I have rarely felt ingrown hairs
So I would be in the minority with that issue
For me its all about the shave and leaning what I can each time I shave

Enjoy

Rick

When I was using the multi-blade cartridges every time I would go for a closer save under my jaw line (second pass) I would wind up with 3 or more ingrown hairs. Some just under the surface, some making red blisters.

They are just a bad memory now. Can't really say I understand why.

They are just a bad memory now. Can't really say I understand why.

My wallets also happier I was cheaper buying the razor with the blades rather than the blades themselves, I have alot of things that I could spend £15 every fortnight on... booze. I was drinking the aftershave when I used dispoables