Shaving after a 7 day break any different than shaving every or every other day.

[Cochese2323]

I have been wet shaving now for almost 3 months. 2 months of DE shaving and a month of 50% DE and 50% straights. I have been able to consistently get great shaves with pretty much no irritation from my DE. The straight has been a steep learning curve, but last week I figured out one of my straights really wasn't that sharp and the other I sent out for custom scales and won't be back for a while.
Long story short, I have been a little bummed because I was really getting hooked on straight shaving

So I took a break and haven't shaved all week. Since I started wet shaving and found B&B, I don't think I have gone more than 2 days between shaves, which in the past with cartidge shaving was impossible.

Today's method was a nice lengthy luxurious shave. Hot shower, lather, hot towel for a couple minutes, re-lather and down to business.

Goods were Muhle R89 with Super Iridium blade, MdC soap lathered with custom 26mm TGN Finest XH brush and Nivea Sensitive ASB.

Result: MY FACE IS ON SMOKIN' RIGHT NOW!

During the shave, everything felt fine at first, but when I rinsed after my first pass WTG, I could feel it wasn't going great. Went back for a second pass XTG. Hit up the RazoRock Alum stick and it felt like after my first straight shave. Two coats of Nivea ASB and its still burning!

So is shaving a weeks growth going to affect the end result of a shave that much?

[Neil B]

Guess it depends on your beard weight and skin type, but for me when shaving with carts, any more than a 3-4 day break between shaves and I swear it would have been more comfortable to sandpaper the beard off, and I'd be in for 24 hours of irritating burning. Not tried with wet shaving, past experiences will probably mean I don't by choice.

[Cochese2323]

Dunno, but man. It's been about an hour and my face feels hot still. The only other thing I can think of is it's only thre second time I tried the blade I used. But the first time I used the Iridium, no problems.

[markewallace]

Any time that I take a week off from shaving, my first shave back is always preceded by a knock-down pass with my Wahl clippers. Not sure if I have to do that, but I think it helps.

- Mark

[cleanshaved]

I find if I don't shave for a week my face gets itchy so I sratch it a lot. When I do shave it off my face takes a while to adjust.
It may be a case of already iritaed skin so you may want to concider a different AF lotion. maybe speick or Thayers Original Witch Hazel will help on the rough shaves.

[Cochese2323]

Any time that I take a week off from shaving, my first shave back is always preceded by a knock-down pass with my Wahl clippers. Not sure if I have to do that, but I think it helps.

- Mark

Thought about doing that too. Used to do that when I used a cartridge. I will just have to shave more!

[Calnell]

You might want to try extending your pre-shave prep. I've shaved off 7+ days of growth many times without problems. But usually my prep needs to be longer. I'll rub some hair conditioner in my beard and let it sit in the shower. Then I'll build a lather on my face for at least 2 minutes and let it sit for another minute. First pass will have a shallow angle just to chop the growth down some. After that it's smooth sailing.

Edit: Just saw that you did a shower, hot towel, and re lather. I usually use a sharp blade (e.g. feather, astra) when I have a week's worth of growth.

[BlackBard]

I wish I could help, but I shave every day (unless I am to ill). I cannot recall going longer than two days in the past 40 years.

You may have learned a great lesson. Shave more often. It's good for your face and good for your spirits.

[dpmtherrien]

Any time that I take a week off from shaving, my first shave back is always preceded by a knock-down pass with my Wahl clippers. Not sure if I have to do that, but I think it helps.

- Mark

I think this is a good idea when the whiskers are on the long side. For me I'll use my 1904 open comb for the first pass, and then follow up with the safety bar for any other passes or clean up.

If I'm going to do a straight shave I'll still do that first pass with the 1904 OC, and then use my straight.

[Goob]

I wish I could go 7 days sometimes, but eventually the itch would drive me nuts anyway (SWMBO would have none of it past day 4 regardless). If I do have a long weekend, like say a 4-day, that first shave I have to concentrate and remember "reduction." When the whiskers start to get longer, it's easy to try and take-'em-all-down in one fell swoop; but doing so means putting added pressure on the face or using a really aggressive angle. For me, that means an express ticket to razor burn and sometimes a nasty case at that. If I take my time and am patient about things, I usually do okay and am rewarded with a ridiculously smooth shave that will be unmatched by any other that week.

[mdunn]

thats odd - if ive got to take a couple of days off at once the shave is always better than if im just removing growth from the day before.

id say there is something else at play here

[wallstreet77]

Maybe you changed the technique to try and remedy the tougher beard resistance?

[Dave258]

Any time that I take a week off from shaving, my first shave back is always preceded by a knock-down pass with my Wahl clippers. Not sure if I have to do that, but I think it helps.

- Mark

+1!

Also, it depends on how fast your beard/facial hair grows. I had a pretty big knee surgery in December and couldn't stand up for a proper shave for over two weeks. After the first week I used my clippers only to cute what I could. After the second week or so I used my clippers again, followed by my Mergress. Made things easier!

[lakingsfn]

I had that exact same senario a little while ago. Here's part of my story.

I was shaving once a week on my day off of work so I had plenty of time (usually Mondays) and I was getting a great shave. Problem was that by the end of the week (Thurs/Fri) my face looked like hell because of all the stubble. I basically wanted that nice clean shave more than once a week.

So I started shaving twice a week, once on Monday and then again on Wed or Thurs. The shave on Monday was nice as always but the other shave during the week sucked. (I also would come home tired from work and probably rushed the shave a bit). After about two months of this I stopped into a local shave shop here in San Diego and the advice I was given was to shave MORE FREQUENTLY, not less. Since then I've started shaving every other day during the week and have had much better results than only shaving twice a week.

The math behind this is that the more often you shave, your skin and hair will develop a "memory" and be used to being shaved every other day. The shaves will then become more comfortable and your skin will be less irritated between shaves. I still do usually skip Fri and Sat but I now shave Sun/Tues/Thurs evenings, after showering but before bedtime.

Hope this helps!