Newbie Chjecking in to DE Shaves

[Satch]

All right folks. I am ckecking in.

I shave my face and head regullary. Shaving is an integral part of my life.

I have tried all matter of n number of blade systems and recently a Braun electric razor that does well for an electric but leave my face feeling like horse hide which doe not please my lovely wife.

I have taken the plunge and ordered a Merkur Barber pole, Omega badger brush, and Proraso shave cream.

I have deeloped and affinity for Royall after shave products particularly Mandarin, Bay Rum, my favorite Lyme.

So here we are. Any suggestions for the deep chin dimple - ala Kirk Douglas. I have a veritable crater on the chin bone. How do I approach it with a DE ?

Also any input on shaving the brain housing unit would be wonderful.

Satch:shaving:

[alabamalawyer]

Welcome to B&B! Sounds like you have a nice start up kit on the way. On the chin issue I would suggest a WTG pass followed by a XTG pass to start. Going directly ATG might be asking too much when starting out. Take your time and don't use any pressure.

My weapon of choice for my head is the Headblade. I use my shaving brush and soap/cream but prefer the Headblade over the DE for the noggin. Many folks here use a DE for the head and can give you some pointers on it.

[jfever311]

Welcome to B&B!!

[kato1]

Congrats and welcome.

Another square and compasses on the forum :wink:

[Johnny Dale]

Welcome to B&B! Sounds like you will need to stretch the skin good to clean out the Kirk on your chin. WTG passes at first and only for a few days! Your skin needs to get used to the new shaving implements.

Looks like you have a good set of hardware coming your way. Who did you order from?

[Satch]

Welcome to B&B! Sounds like you will need to stretch the skin good to clean out the Kirk on your chin. WTG passes at first and only for a few days! Your skin needs to get used to the new shaving implements.

Looks like you have a good set of hardware coming your way. Who did you order from?

Ordered from Amazon - " Perfect Beauty". Sounds a little sweet for a hairy mammal.

Satch

[crankymoose]

Welcome to B&B enjoy :thumbup1:

[BMWRider]

Welcome to B&B.

[Kmitch]

Satch,
Welcome to our forum, great to have you with us! I like your avatar.

[thirdeye]

Satch, Welcome to the crew....Enjoy!!!

[Satch]

Well Gents I am on my third day of DE shaving and took the leap today to go WTG and :shaving::shaving:ATG !!!!!:eek:

Lots of razor burn. Will take it easy going forward but I must say I do enjoy the shave although it takes 2X as long to shave right now.

I am using the Omega silver badger brush and Proraso shave cream. Royal Mandarin aftershave is tough.

I am using Mekur 38C with Mekur Super Platinum blades. I really like the Barber pole razor. I may switch blades after a month or so to tryout others. I have a fairly tough beard.


Any recommendations are welcomed of course.

:shaving:

[morijinal]

Welcome to B&B!

Be warned that your wife may become jealous of time spent perfecting your technique, as well as on the forums:biggrin1:

[SMOKE]

Ditch the merkur blade...IMO that will help your irritation immensely. Try a derby or a crystal. Trust me, if I'm lying I'm dying. Some may disagree...but blades ae so cheap you should give it a try.

Also...NO PRESSURE. Pop in a derby and let the blade do the work. I'm sure some of your discomfort is due to technique. Just take her slow.

As far as the Travolta chin...try and stretch it as flat as possible and give it a pass. Also, make sure you wet your face and lather between passes.

Hope this helps.

[wizardsbaker]

Welcome to the B&B forums!

[crankymoose]

If you haven't found this thread already here is some useful links all together http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=42266

my biggest tip for the first couple weeks even more then changing the blade type is patience don't make too many changes or try to do too much or you'll get razor burn and or irritate your skin just work on technique for the first 2 weeks, the link explains it all though

good luck

[SMOKE]

Also any input on shaving the brain housing unit would be wonderful.

Satch:shaving:[/QUOTE]

Wow..I can't believe I posted this in the wrong thread first...Old age I guess, but here is some more info:

I almost forgot....Read my thread on shaving the melon. I used a headblade for years...After using a DE, two passes and my biscuit is smooth as an Eeel.


http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=45135

enjoy!!
__________________

[sympleko]

Welcome and enjoy the camaraderie.

[timsackbutt]

[QUOTE=SMOKE;570523]Ditch the merkur blade...IMO that will help your irritation immensely. Try a derby or a crystal. Trust me, if I'm lying I'm dying. Some may disagree...but blades ae so cheap you should give it a try.

QUOTE]

I was also on Merkur blades, and didn't want to change prematurely, but after a bad shave with bad razor burn I tried a Derby- Since then my shaves have improved enough, so I also to encourage you to ditch the Merkurs

[Satch]

Well folks I just ordered Derbys, Crystals, and Feather blades!

I also returned my awfully rough Braun electric razor to Costco. Shaves well but left my face feeling tough as leather!! The wife did not like it at all.

I appreciate the input and will report on the progress.

Satch

:shaving:

[SMOKE]

Great..Just be careful with the Feathers.. Make sure you are very confident in your technique before loading up the feather.

Enjoy!

[Satch]

Please reassure me that Derbys or Crystal blades are easier on the face than Mekurs. I shaved today with two WTG pasess and slight touch ups and My face is irritated like all get out. I am using a light touch with the razor.

Mach 3s did not aggravate me like this. :eek:

Satch

[mjc3331]

Please reassure me that Derbys or Crystal blades are easier on the face than Mekurs. I shaved today with two WTG pasess and slight touch ups and My face is irritated like all get out. I am using a light touch with the razor.

Mach 3s did not aggravate me like this. :eek:

Satch

I am new to DE shaving also. It seems to be that you just need to skip a day, to give your face a break. I have been using a Merkur Progress and Merkur blades for about 10 days or so. I still have not gotten the smooth shave (BBS) that folks talk about here but when I take my time after the recommended preparation discussed in the forum, most days I have little or no irritation. When I follow with a good shaving balm, any irritation goes away quickly. It is hard to compare to the Mach 3 since I switched most recently from a Braun electric razor.

Good luck with your shaves.

[netsurfr]

Ditch the merkur blade...IMO that will help your irritation immensely. Try a derby or a crystal. Trust me, if I'm lying I'm dying. Some may disagree...but blades ae so cheap you should give it a try.

Also...NO PRESSURE. Pop in a derby and let the blade do the work. I'm sure some of your discomfort is due to technique. Just take her slow.

As far as the Travolta chin...try and stretch it as flat as possible and give it a pass. Also, make sure you wet your face and lather between passes.

Hope this helps.

+1 Get a sampler pack of blades and figure out what works best for you. Some can shave with Merkur blade but most disdain them. I would skip the against the grain passes for now. Just go with the WTG and two XTG passes in different directions. Aftershaves with alcohol are also pretty hard on the face when you have done some razor burn damage. You may want to consider a balm. You can pick up a good one at any drugstore, Nivea for Extra Sensitive Skin (or something like that). It works great for soothing the face and is reasonably priced.

[BroJohn]

Please reassure me that Derbys or Crystal blades are easier on the face than Mekurs. I shaved today with two WTG pasess and slight touch ups and My face is irritated like all get out. I am using a light touch with the razor.

Mach 3s did not aggravate me like this. :eek:

Satch

Satch --

This doesn't sound right.

The shave you describe should not be causing the irritation like that. If you're confident that you are shaving with a proper, shallow blade angle, a properly sharp blade in its prime, and light, delicate razor pressure, then the irritation may be from another source. Is it possible that you're product sensitive and reacting to your shave soap/cream?

Product sensitivities can be sunburn-like and make your facial skin hot and painful to touch, indeed much worse and more sensitive than a poor shave alone. If this is the case, continued use of the offending product will be painful regardless of what razor, cartridge or blade you use.

Have you changed shaving lather products or aftershaves just prior to experiencing these issues?

-- John Gehman

[Satch]

BroJohn:

I changed up everything. Proraso shave cream, new DE razor etc.

I think the initial shaves were possibly heavy handed and even though I did continue with a light hand etc. - the damage was done.

I am giving it a break for a day until I can get a derby blade in my whisker slaying paws.

Could be the Proraso. I also have Crabtree & Evelyn that I may switch to.

I tend to jump in with both feet when I start up or retool!!

Thank you for the feedback and shared experiences.

Satch
:shaving:

[ncshaver]

I'll jump on the anit merkur blade bandwagon - they kill me.

Something I really had to listen to was - let the blade do the work. I try and apply zero pressure and concentrate on beard reduction, not complete removal, each pass. The right prep, lather, and technique it makes an amazing difference.

[SMOKE]

BroJohn:

I changed up everything. Proraso shave cream, new DE razor etc.

I think the initial shaves were possibly heavy handed and even though I did continue with a light hand etc. - the damage was done.

I am giving it a break for a day until I can get a derby blade in my whisker slaying paws.

Could be the Proraso. I also have Crabtree & Evelyn that I may switch to.

I tend to jump in with both feet when I start up or retool!!

Thank you for the feedback and shared experiences.

Satch
:shaving:

I have fairly sensitive skin and prorasso has never bothered me...but that doesn't mean it's not the culprit. If you think it's razor burn, give it a few days rest, and when you go back to it, limit yourself to 2 passes. Yoo will get a nice shave....put BBS out of your mind for a month or so!!!
Remember to use NO PRESSUR, let the blade do the work.
What blade are you using now??? Please don't say Murkur...


Finally, If you think it's a reaction to a product...Use just un-scented products for a week or two. Take out the variable that it might be chemical related.

[New2DEShaving_Montreal]

Sounds awful...I find it so odd to understand it. Merkurs work great for me even though I have a tough beard. Any razor I use them with (so far 3) and they have worked! Smoke sent me a packet (Thank you), the only downside with them is they are so darn expensive. If you're gonna throw them out, well, toss em to me. I wonder why they are so terrible for everyone? Anyone got any idears?

[Satch]

Update.

Tried a Walgreen Israeli made blade today. Definitely not as harsh as the Mekurs. Three pass shave 2 -WTG and 1- ATG. Not a bad shave.. I will try the Mekurs again to contrast with other blades. I also tried to shave my head but could not get the angle consistant to get a clean one and had to resort to the MACHISMO 3. Candidly the M3 does well on my head as it is easier for me to keep the blade flat with the twisted contorted manner in which I have to shave the brain housing unit.

I think I am getting up on the learning curve and will provide excess blades that do not work for me later on in the learning process.


Satch

:shaving: