Need Advice: DE razor + blade

[itisvicky]

Hello All,

1. I am new to wetshaving (around 1 month+). I have EJ 89 razor and I have tried it with Derby & Astra Platinum blades so far. I am looking for advice on which blade to try out next - currently I have a sample pack that has Shark Super Chrome, Shark Super Stainless, Dorco Platinum, Astra Superior Stainless. My experience below:

- Derby Extra (3 shaves): The shaves were fine but quite a bit of razor burn (there might have a been a role of poor technique with razor and lathering I believe).
- Astra Platinum (2 shaves): Again shave were fine not DFS; razor burn really went down to almost zero. Applying Alum told me not no nicks, cut and very minimum irritation. But I found that I needed several passes ~4.

this weekend, I want to try another blade and I am looking for some suggestions.

2. Also, I wanted some advice on shaving on the jawline and near adam's apple. I have a sharp jawline with a thin skin layer (not sure if this explains it correctly) and the bread grows in the direction from nose to ear (i.e sideways not down). The skin on and near adam's apple is also thin. So these areas get some irritation and razor burn.

3. I am also interested in knowing whether I should be picking another slightly aggressive razor or this makes no sense at this stage. Suggestions/Advice?

For shaving creams, I am using Proraso, Castle Forbes, Trumpers. And I follow the prep as per mantic's suggestions (cleanse, hot towel, pre shave Proraso etc.)

VT

[Samjax]

Well...you're gonna hear a lot about improving your technique, being patient, use a bit more pressure, use a better soap, more soap, thicker soap, no soap, hotter water, cold water, no water, preshave oil, preshave meditation, stretching your skin, having someone else stretch your skin, have someone else actually shave for you, etc...and of course, there's always YMMV.

Once you get all that down...

Consider a Feather blade or perhaps a Personna Med Prep - both are pretty sharp and may give you better results - although I do like your Astra SP and the Shark Super Chromes.

You're going to do it eventually anyway; so consider pulling the trigger on something like a Fatip - it will shave you as close as the R41, save you a few dollars and not cause any irritation. And no...it's not too soon to try a bit more aggressive OC type of razor, best I recall, there were several million aggressive OCs sold by Gillette before their less aggressive closed combs came on the scene - to my knowledge, no one died in the process.

If someone tells me that they're not getting as close of a shave as they would like with an EJ89 (or a Gillette Tech, Schick Krona or a Feather AS-D1)...well, I can understand that. It may be technique, it may be the blade, it certainly may be the razor. If someone tells me they cannot get close enough with a Fatip or R41, it's pretty much their technique - end of story.

[TonyJ]

So many things what might vary but I'll try to give some thoughts.
Your razor is a great one to start but is on a mild side. It's a good thing that you can't peel too deep with it and is a forgiving. You can get a bbs/dfs with it but shaving angle should be correct and skin stretching right. I suggest that just keep on going, shave and try to see how you technique changes in a different angles. Do not stretch too much because it's a way to get ingrowns, irritation and such. When I am using aggressive razors I don't have to stretch at all and with milder one's just a sligthly. Shaving neck gives you a automatic stretching when you turn your head back a bit and that cause many times an irritation on the neck area. Pressure is of course another important character what to focus all the time. Mild razors gives easily feeling to add more pressure than with aggressive one's.
If you want to buy another razor i suggest to find medium aggressive or aggressive one. You don't say what passes you use and passes varies a lot for people in here. I use 2 (wtg+atg) only. Try to learn how your growth direction goes and how you have to change blade angle to get the pass what you want.
On neck avoid worthless stretching, no pressure, watch the angle and if you like you can add buffing in there. Be careful with a buffing stroke not too strong and/or long.
Sorry I can't comment blades, even that I have almost all of those but they are still waiting on my test queue. Astra SP is a good blade to train even that is not sharpest but smooth and thus don't give irritation. Your creams are good, C&F is one of my top creams.
If you are considering to buy more aggressive razor, it doesn't save you that fact that you still have to learn better shaving technique all the time and you beard gives you a own unique style.

[Sledgehammer39]

Get a blade sampler pack, it's the best way for you to determine what blade will be best for you.

[talibeard]

Get a blade sampler pack, it's the best way for you to determine what blade will be best for you.

Agreed, but don't go jumping from one blade to another. Stick long enough with one brand/type of blade till you get the hang of it before moving on to the next!

[mspk1111]

A good tip for the sampler packs is to take one blade form each pack and put it off to the side. This way after you've made it through 4-5 different packs of blades and you can't decide if one of the first blades you tried was actually better you can pull out that backup and do a heads up comparison.