Questioning My Faith

Ok, normally I take wet shaving seriously. I do all my prep; clean my face, a few hot towels etc. Unfortunately no combination of razor, blade nor soap seemed to reduce the irritation or discomfort I would get during shaving and afterwards. However, I shaved today in a rather haphazard manner; my prep consisted of literally one splash of lukewarm water to my face...But it turned out to be the best shave I've ever had. I even rubbed on some alum afterwards, which normally burns like the fires of hell, whereas this time it only tingled
I havent changed anything in my setup, so I'm sure that it was the prep that was the deciding factor, but here it is anyway:

Merkur HD
Feathers
Tabac
ExecShaving Best Badger

Does anyone have any ideas as to why this has happened? Because from what I've heard this goes against virtually all of the world of wetshaving.

Many Thanks

Josh

Josh,
I have no idea other than you may have just stopped trying so hard and relaxed a little? Don't give up yet, at least you know its possible now.

Perhaps the extensive towel prep isn't for you. There's always the risk that scrubbing your face and using hot towels, etc. will inflame your face or make it more sensitive. Exfoliating probably isn't necessary because you're going to be removing skin with the blade anyhow.

I wouldn't say it goes against all the world of wet shaving. Just because some is good doesn't mean that more is better. My take on it is that you've been over prepping. Better for softening the whiskers, but to the detriment of your skin.


- Chris

You need to find what works best for your face, whatever that means. The hot towel thing makes my face a bit too puffy and sensitive for my taste. I do best just post shower with some pre-shave oil, some hate pre-shave oil. It all figuring out what works for us.

your best success comes when your not looking for it, look and it will hide and elude you

I think Jim nailed it. Relax and let the shaves come, don't force it.

I tried extensive prep and I don't really need it. Also, how hot are the towels you are using on your face? If the towels are too hot they can cause you problems. I had read to use the hottest water that I could stand on my face as part of my prep. I was using water that was really hot and my face would be irritated after shaving. I lowered the temperature of the water for my prep and my face felt much better after shaving.

Similar to said above, you may be washing all of the natural oil from your face causing your skin to be too sensitive for the shave. Just try to replicate what you did in the future and see if your results are the same.

It just goes to show you that you have to find out by trial and error just what works best for you. Over the time I've been wet shaving I've tried so many things that are supposed to be good for shaving, and so many different techniques, that I've lost count.

I've tried soaps that didn't work for me, but others raved about them, same thing with blades. Razors too, the slant doesn't do it for me, but the 1904, a much under appreciated razor, just sings when I use it and gives me a fantastic shave.

You can usually find out in a shave or two what's going to work and what's not, so as I've seen it mentioned in other posts, don't give up. Just relax and enjoy the ride. You'll find out very quickly what works and what doesn't. Good luck.

Regards,

Paul

I'm going to jump on the "relax and it comes naturally" bandwagon. I had a similar experience. I think the tension of trying too hard actually made it harder. Relaxing did more for my technique than any products have.

If you prep the face with too much heat, this can cause the facial tissue to swell, actually making it harder to get to the hairs that need to be cut, and also making the tissue more susceptible to irritation from the blade. Overwashing could also remove some natural oils that might make the blade move more smoothly.

I've become a firm believer in lukewarm water as a prep.

I shave right after the shower, but otherwise I use the same procedure you just described. I like to take my time with the actual shave, but all that prep just seems to make me more susceptible to irritation. Don't worry about it.

I've noticed something similar. My best shaves seem to come when I just rinse with warm water and lather up with C.O. Bigelow cream; the only follow-up I do after my razor passes is apply generic witch hazel with a cotton pad and then rinse with cold water. Anything more or less elaborate and I seem to run into issues.

Jim said:

Josh,
I have no idea other than you may have just stopped trying so hard and relaxed a little? Don't give up yet, at least you know its possible now.

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I was thinking something similar. Maybe your technique was a little different this time?

It may be the prep as well though. The warm towel prep never made my shaves any better.

DougK said:

I've noticed something similar. My best shaves seem to come when I just rinse with warm water and lather up with C.O. Bigelow cream; the only follow-up I do after my razor passes is apply generic witch hazel with a cotton pad and then rinse with cold water. Anything more or less elaborate and I seem to run into issues.

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+1. My prep is a few warm water splashes and I get excellent shaves as well. The more fancy I tried to get the worse my results were. I guess you now know what works for you.

Aaron

How often do you shave? I find if I have an irritated patch, it pays to take it easy and let things heal and settle down before tackling the area again. When I was experimenting with wetshaving, I'd take a day off to give the skin time to recupe.

Also, maybe keep the stresses on your skin to a minimum. A little less heat and towels may make the skin more resilient to the blade.

My $0.02

Maybe you could try switching blades. IP are more mild, and Yellow Gillettes are still sharp but more forgiving

p'haps with your sensitive skin all the cleaning, washing and prepping of your face is making it a bit irritated to begin with.

Sorry for the late reply people. I have since discovered that the brush is to blame :S According to www.executive-shaving.co.uk my brush is a best badger hair, but they pulled a very dirty trick indeed. The brush is very scratchy on my face when im lathering up, hence scraping skin away before I even started shaving. I also have a proraso boar brush - which I forgot that I used in the "good" shave - which takes almost 2 full days to dry out properly, the "best badger" takes only a few hours. Now, I could very well be wrong, but shouldnt a badger brush, which has better water retention than boar, take longer to dry? That and the brush was also only £20 and has now been discontinued make me think that it was fake
Thanks all for the suggestions though they were nonetheless very helpful in identifying the problem

Josh

My experience is that boar brushes take much longer than badger brushes to dry. Oh, and that badger brushes are generally more "scritchy," unless you get the super-soft silvertip kind.

smudger said:

Now, I could very well be wrong, but shouldnt a badger brush, which has better water retention than boar, take longer to dry?

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As I understand it, the badger bristles don't actually absorb the water as much as the boar bristles do. My badger brush, after I shake it out, blooms right out. My boar brush "clumps" while it's wet. I have to ruffle the bristles after they've dried to even them out.

- Chris