Thread: Aargh! It burns, it burns!

What steps do you take for prepping your face \ pre-shave?

I wash my face and neck with hot water. Make creamy lather with Proraso and massage it in well. Since I'm shaving slower, I reapply water and lather to areas that dried out as I go along.

The first pass is WTG and it goes smoothly unless I'm pushing the razor or my angle is aggressive. If I leave it at that, I have no burn and no redness except on the neck (adam's apple area). I can probably pull off another WTG and I'll have an OK shave for the day-- something I get with a Mach3.

To get a smoother and longer lasting shave, I need ATG and I cannot do those without getting severe razor burn on my neck and jaw line. I see youtube videos where people just go ATG on their neck and it's fine. If I did that (even with no pressure), it would be very painful and I'd have redness and burn.

I tried different strokes today and I got a very smooth shave. Unfortunately, my face is red and on fire.

It may very well be a combination of factors as others have already mentioned or just that you have overly sensitive skin.

Did you ever consider using a pre-shave oil before applying your lather? It will provide a nice layer of protection to your skin and allow your razor to glide over the skin

Please, for your own sake, get your razor sent out for professional honing, and/or get another one that is guaranteed shave ready, that a razor cut hair is not the same as it being shave ready, that is a combination of sharpness and smoothness, not just sharp....I van sharpen any knife I have, or a spoon for that matter, to the point where it will shave, but that's not the same as I would shave my face with it

Then you focus on learning to shave and strop, nothing else!

Learn what angles to use, how much pressure you shall use, and not use.....and for now stick to doing one or two WTG passes, in a few weeks when you start getting ampretty close shave with only these WTG passes, then you can add another XTG or ATG pass.

For your prep do a little more than just wash your face, take a hot shower or use hot towels, leave them on your face for at least a minute.

Learing to shave with a straight is a long and steep learning curve, don't rush it and take small steps at the time it takes time, that's just how it is and I can almost guarantee that you will get much better shaves in a shorter time if you do this.

It's not a terrible idea to slow down to the point of doing ONE area of your face until you have that down with one or two WTG passes. Let's say one cheek, then the other, then focus on the lip. Chin seems hardest to me so I'd save it till last.
If you are focused on learning just one part of the shave until it becomes easy, it should gentle up the learning slope a bit.

I know I recently realized I was moving along a bit fast and have returned to focusing on single areas at a time and finishing up with the old method. I'm not cutting myself, but my shaves aren't as smooth as I would like, and I was starting to get burn myself.

As with everything YMMV, but I'm still new enough to straight razors not to feel but so bad about the idea of starting over, and I think you are as well.