Hi,
I know the answer to this question will likely be "try it and see," but I'm curious if my line of thinking is correct as far as a next razor to try. I've been DE shaving since 2012, and the first 10 years were with a Merkur 34C and feather blades. I only shaved about twice a week during that time, and I think my skin happens to be tough enough to absorb some bad technique if I only shave twice a week because I generally didn't have any problems with irritation.
Fast forward to a year ago, and I started wanting to be clean shaven every day for whatever reason. My growth after 24 hours is a pretty noticeable stubble especially after I take a shower (I assume because the hairs absorb water and expand) both visually and by feel. I don't know exactly how thick or "tough" my beard is, but the individual hairs are quite a bit thicker looking than the hair on my head and feel a bit "wiry"... hard to really quantify though.
I thought maybe it was a good time to upgrade the 34C after 10 years and I got the Timeless .95 SB in stainless. I like the razor a lot, and at first I thought maybe it was a bit much as far as aggressiveness because I would be irritated after I shaved with it, so I also got the .68 SB plate and used that for a few months which I think really helped me dial in the technique as far as angle and pressure. I then switched back to the .95 and found that I get very good shaves with it, even every day with little to no irritation. It's actually much better as far as irritation than the .68 because I don't need to go over areas as many times - or so that's my thinking anyway.
I do however have to use what I read described here as "buffing" passes when I go ATG to get a smooth shave - and I mean all strokes ATG need to be buffing passes really no matter where they are on my face. The timeless razor is nice is that it's very "loud", and basically no matter what angle I hold the razor at (ride the bar, ride the cap, and anything in between) if I buff the razor over the same area (and leave it against my skin on the back stroke so that lather is reapplied) I can hear hairs making the blade sing until I've gone back and forth at least 3 or 4 times or so. I use pretty minimal pressure, but some is needed especially ATG since the razor is upside down for most of those passes and it's pretty heavy. I've used feather, BIC chrome platinum, and Nacet blades. I definitely need to use fewer buffing strokes with the feather blades by a bit, but definitely just can't use a single pass like I imagined I'd be able to from descriptions on here.
In any case, it does work for me and I wouldn't say my face is "irritated" after, but I definitely can feel that I've had a blade on my face for about an hour or two after I shave. Nothing painful, it's just "noticeable". After that, it's fine and my face generally feels great the rest of the day. No redness, bumps or blood. I'm looking to make it a little more comfortable and am wondering if a razor with more blade exposure would be the ticket to not having to use so much buffing (which I'm thinking is the source of discomfort). I noticed that the bronze OC .78 has quite a bit more exposure than the .95 and I'm thinking that the blade might just need more "reach" past the plane that the safety bar and cap make to get to the hairs that I need to go over so many times to get the area smooth.
Is there any merit to this thinking? I haven't used that many razors even though I've been DE shaving for quite a while so I don't really have a great feel for what different razor parameters affect as much. Any advice would be appreciated and especially from those who have used both the .95 SB and the .78 OC bronze. I apologize for the long winded lead up to the question, but I thought it might eliminate some responses that might be handed out to someone very very new to DE shaving.
Thanks in advance.
I know the answer to this question will likely be "try it and see," but I'm curious if my line of thinking is correct as far as a next razor to try. I've been DE shaving since 2012, and the first 10 years were with a Merkur 34C and feather blades. I only shaved about twice a week during that time, and I think my skin happens to be tough enough to absorb some bad technique if I only shave twice a week because I generally didn't have any problems with irritation.
Fast forward to a year ago, and I started wanting to be clean shaven every day for whatever reason. My growth after 24 hours is a pretty noticeable stubble especially after I take a shower (I assume because the hairs absorb water and expand) both visually and by feel. I don't know exactly how thick or "tough" my beard is, but the individual hairs are quite a bit thicker looking than the hair on my head and feel a bit "wiry"... hard to really quantify though.
I thought maybe it was a good time to upgrade the 34C after 10 years and I got the Timeless .95 SB in stainless. I like the razor a lot, and at first I thought maybe it was a bit much as far as aggressiveness because I would be irritated after I shaved with it, so I also got the .68 SB plate and used that for a few months which I think really helped me dial in the technique as far as angle and pressure. I then switched back to the .95 and found that I get very good shaves with it, even every day with little to no irritation. It's actually much better as far as irritation than the .68 because I don't need to go over areas as many times - or so that's my thinking anyway.
I do however have to use what I read described here as "buffing" passes when I go ATG to get a smooth shave - and I mean all strokes ATG need to be buffing passes really no matter where they are on my face. The timeless razor is nice is that it's very "loud", and basically no matter what angle I hold the razor at (ride the bar, ride the cap, and anything in between) if I buff the razor over the same area (and leave it against my skin on the back stroke so that lather is reapplied) I can hear hairs making the blade sing until I've gone back and forth at least 3 or 4 times or so. I use pretty minimal pressure, but some is needed especially ATG since the razor is upside down for most of those passes and it's pretty heavy. I've used feather, BIC chrome platinum, and Nacet blades. I definitely need to use fewer buffing strokes with the feather blades by a bit, but definitely just can't use a single pass like I imagined I'd be able to from descriptions on here.
In any case, it does work for me and I wouldn't say my face is "irritated" after, but I definitely can feel that I've had a blade on my face for about an hour or two after I shave. Nothing painful, it's just "noticeable". After that, it's fine and my face generally feels great the rest of the day. No redness, bumps or blood. I'm looking to make it a little more comfortable and am wondering if a razor with more blade exposure would be the ticket to not having to use so much buffing (which I'm thinking is the source of discomfort). I noticed that the bronze OC .78 has quite a bit more exposure than the .95 and I'm thinking that the blade might just need more "reach" past the plane that the safety bar and cap make to get to the hairs that I need to go over so many times to get the area smooth.
Is there any merit to this thinking? I haven't used that many razors even though I've been DE shaving for quite a while so I don't really have a great feel for what different razor parameters affect as much. Any advice would be appreciated and especially from those who have used both the .95 SB and the .78 OC bronze. I apologize for the long winded lead up to the question, but I thought it might eliminate some responses that might be handed out to someone very very new to DE shaving.
Thanks in advance.