Help! Still not smooth enough. (Noob)

This was my second shave while I was waiting for my Mercur Futur. Today my two orders of blades arrived, the Astra and the Derby. For tonight's shave I used the Parker 22R with the Astra blade, and for product I used the Truefitt & Hill 1805 shaving cream and Baxter of California after shave. I shaved going down, and then sideways, then upwards, finishing with down again. The areas around my cheeks seem to be the smoothest, but around my chin, mustache, and parts of my neck it is very course to touch still. I have posted a few photos to show the shave, does anyone have any suggestions on how I can achieve a closer and more smooth shave throughout and also any suggestions on to tame the redness afterwards?
M

Give your face a couple of weeks to get used to DE shaving. I'd skip the last pass for now.

I think the last pass is kind of pointless because there wouldn't be any hairs left to be shaved.
You should probably just stick to your 3 passes.

The reason I did the fourth cause I still have stubbles and my neck and my jaw I can feel alot of hair that I couldn't shave.

RPTheLefty said:

I think the last pass is kind of pointless because there wouldn't be any hairs left to be shaved.
You should probably just stick to your 3 passes.

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Give yourself a day or two for your skin to calm down.
I've tried both the Derby and Astra blades, and I personally found the Derby to be smoother.
Since you're a bit new, you should use the Derby's.
I noticed that I didn't really get much irritation from them.
Also, just do 3 passes. Make sure you don't miss spots so you don't have to do a 4th pass.

The problem is I don't understand xtg atg wtg or how my beard grows. So when should I shave again? And I used Gillette fusion trimmerI on mustache cause I cut myself with de on mustache area. Is that fine?

Like you, I am also fairly new and I made mistakes when I first started.
I understood what I did wrong (thanks to help from B&B) and my shaves improved dramatically.
First, you should shave with the grain (north to south), then lather and follow it up with across the grain (nose to ear).
I wouldn't recommended going against the grain (south to north) right away until you get the hang of it. That's where I went wrong, lol. It left my skin feeling irritated. You definitely should get the technique down first.
There's plenty of helpful videos on YouTube.

When should you shave again? I'm sure you'll know when that time comes young grasshopper. Let your skin calm down.

It could be too much pressure or improper angle. You should try to map your beard, so a pass (with, across or against the grain) makes sense.

Depending on the day (state of the skin, blade, phase of the moon...), I still get some minimum stubble left on my jaw-chin area. Irritating (!) but if you go back and back on that area it could result in real irritation...

Practice and patience and it'll get better!

mustafa said:

The problem is I don't understand how my beard grows

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Bingo. I shaved for over 25 years before recently beginning to wet shave, and never paid attention to the way my beard grew, I just shaved up and down blindly. Now, I actually pay attention to the subtle changes in beard growth. And it helps. Map your beard!

Look at your face. Let your beard grow a day or two. Pay attention to the different ways the hairs on your face grow- and shave with the grain of the hairs. Your face will thank your observation.

And as others have said- no need for a fourth pass yet.

You'll notice a big difference when using a Futur. Just be careful, because there is lots of blade exposure. I am still practicing with mine, but when I am on top of my game I get the closest shaves of my life with it.

That looks like a close shave. Did you get razor burn or ingrown hairs afterwards? You can try a sharper blade, but pay attention to your angle. Any closer than that and you're in for pain. Guys with light skin and dark hair are going to get some beard showing through the skin no matter what they do and how close to the shave is. Learn to live with it and your face will thank you.

all are great tips. I too have had the same problem and after a couple of weeks of using a DE my technique improved and so did the shaves. Are you lathering between each shave? Hope so if not you will get some nasty razor burn. One tip I received was to puff my neck out like a bullfrog. sink your head towards your shoulders like you are shrugging, this has taken some of the angles away on the jaw line. If I am shaving the right side I look left and vice versa. I might need to do some touch up afterwards but works great. Hang in there and the BBS will come before you know it.

Will

I understand that you would like to have the coarse haired areas of chin, upper lip etc be smoother after your shave and less irritation in the process. In my opinion, the goal of shaving should be beard reduction and not so much complete removal of beard. When I started out with DE shaving (50 years ago) my dad suggested that I use the lightest pressure possible with a sharp blade and never move the blade across skin that was not wet and/or lathered. I strayed from DE shaving off and on for years and remembered the advice when I started up again a few months ago.

Please back off on the 4th pass for now and concentrate on good technique for 2 or 3 passes at the most. Beard prep before using the blade will help also, but as others have suggested, learning your face, beard growth and best angles of attack will reward you with better and better shaves. Lather between passes - that is why you develop all that nice lather in the first place - so you have enough to re-lather twice. A nice even shave is not hard to achieve but chasing a baby butt smooth shave, without a trace of a stubble, can prove irritating, both emotionally and physically.

Lastly, I suggest that your pictures do not indicate a bad shave - at least not to me. The redness is likely from the passes and/or pressure. Use a quality aftershave balm such as Nivea sensitive skin or such and that should calm down. Keep at it; you are doing just fine! Let us know how you are doing.

Well I just woke up atleast my face is still smooth and when I used fusion or hydro 5 Schick I always had alot of stubble and rough ones in morning so I'm really happy right now is there a video on how to map the beard? Ya my face was super red after shave last night not sure why it didn't show in the picture. And I don't know what ingrown hair is or how it looks like so I wouldn't able to tell.

Give yourself a couple days off and let your face settle back down. Don't be trying for BBS now, just go for a presentable shave, and don't use any pressure. As you go along your technique will develop and things will get better.

Vickers said:

Give your face a couple of weeks to get used to DE shaving. I'd skip the last pass for now.

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I totally agree! having recently returned to DE, I found that it DID take a couple of weeks for the face to adjust to the 'new' shaving method.

mustafa said:

Well I just woke up atleast my face is still smooth and when I used fusion or hydro 5 Schick I always had alot of stubble and rough ones in morning so I'm really happy right now is there a video on how to map the beard? Ya my face was super red after shave last night not sure why it didn't show in the picture. And I don't know what ingrown hair is or how it looks like so I wouldn't able to tell.

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I am not sure if there is a video on mapping your face but what I did was let my hair grow for two days and then just make a mental note of the way the hair grows. For my face area it all goes north to south, but my neck area goes west to east and then turns south, makes for a fun shave. There may be a picture somewhere on the internet that shows an example.

On ingrown hair...you would know if you had them, they cause bumbs on your skin because the hair is grown under the skin or growning in the wrong direction (down not out) and they hurt (atleast for me) so if you dont or never had them count your blessings.