Hello From Loganville GA. Back to DE shaving after many years.

mike_loganville said:

What I noticed is that if I shave in the morning on one day I get a more comfortable shave with less irritation if I wait until the evening the next day. So seems like I am shaving about one every 32 hours. Any tips of what I can do to get the same comfortable shave after only 24 hours?

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Welcome, and thanks for sharing your story! I'll list a few things I've done to mitigate irritation.

1) Limiting myself to two passes plus touch up. It sounds like you're already there, but this helped me go from every other day to Two out of 3 days shaving.
2) Nivea Sensitive post shave balm. It's widely available, cheap and effective.
3) Never shave with a bad lather. Don't be afraid to spend some time building practice lathers if you need to. Make sure it's slick and has enough substance to be protective.
4) Cold water. I do a splash at the end and I do the last few little touch up strokes cold. Others will recommend possibly even doing the whole shave cold. I'm still sorting out how I feel about it, but I think there's something there.
5) Mind your pressure and angle. Decades of muscle memory for using cartridge razors can't be undone overnight.

I hope this helps even a bit, and Best of luck!

Hello and welcome board......

Great story and welcome to the forum.

As far as shaving every 24 hours it will come with practice on your technique and a light touch. Do I read corectly that you are not using shave soap, just Shave Secret? You may want to try some soap and a brush. The Van Der Hagen starter kit (bowl, brush, and Delux soap) is a great place to start. You don't have to go with the high end stuff but shave soap is a great thing and it provides a great smooth shave and may go a ways in solving the iritation. If you want inexpensive then Arko is the way to go, about $2 or 3 a stick and probably 100 shaves or so.

I know, here I go sending you down the rabbit hole of getting more stuff but a little stuff that works is a good thing.


Enjoy,

Thanks for the tips Squirrel & Zergo. I put away the Aqua Velva for now and got a bottle of Afta from the store and that seems to cool down the irritation pretty well. If the irritation comes back will try the Nivea. Have been using the cold water at the end of the shave that eases the sting. Still using the shaving oil, but going with a lighter touch. This morning after my run used the same Feather blade for the 4th time and actual got a better shave than the first time I used it. I want to say it was the lighter touch and more attention to detail. I got a couple of weepers on my upper chin but I think that is because I used just a touch too much pressure trying to get that nice smooth finish. I think my technique is getting better and with better technique I will be better able to evaluate which blade to buy in bulk, so far Astra, Vokshod & Feather are in the running. Persona med prep are out not because of the shave but because of the price and the other three seem to be as good. There is a certain art to this I did not appreciate 30+ years ago when I used a DE razor then stopped. I think my wife thinks I'm nuts and kind of rolls her eyes when I ask her to check out my face ha. Will try the feather again for the 5th shave tomorrow morning and go for that 24 hour shave and see how it goes. Easy on the touch, take my time, and try to avoid the irritation. One other thing I remember my dad using shaving cream in a tube and using the brush to lather his face with it. Do they still make stuff like that and is it any good?

Welcome Mike...Nice you discovered us here at B&B

I drive thru Loganville on my way to work and back every work day...good to see someone local posting here.

I discovered B&B a few years ago and learned how to shave properly and its been great ever since.

Have fun working out the details!

Thanks for the welcome Slim. Used that first Feather blade for the 5th time about 24 hours after my last shave. Took my time and took it easy on the pressure and had a wonderful shave. very little irritation. Will see how it goes tomorrow.

mike_loganville said:

Thanks for the welcome Slim. Used that first Feather blade for the 5th time about 24 hours after my last shave. Took my time and took it easy on the pressure and had a wonderful shave. very little irritation. Will see how it goes tomorrow.

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As you can see, the more you Practice the better you get. ... keep us posted.

Well I plunked down $10 and bought a Van Der Hagen, shave bowl, soap and boar brush. Have used it for the last 4 days. Really have enjoyed the shave although I know I have to work on my lather making technique. Eventually will invest in a better brush and try some different soaps.

Now that I have been DE shaving for a little over a month I have found the most important thing in my case next to taking my time is that after 4 shaves use a new blade. Where I run into my biggest problems is trying to stretch a blade to 5 or 6 shaves. When I have tried to go 5 shaves with the Gillette Silver Blue, Persona Med Prep or Voskhod I wind up with nicks or a poor shave. The Feather went 5 shaves but the 6th was bad. I guess I was trying to see how far I could go with each blade, 4 shaves seems to be the sweet spot so far.

It is very satisfying getting a good shave everyday. So glad I have gone back to DE shaving.

mike_loganville said:

Well I plunked down $10 and bought a Van Der Hagen, shave bowl, soap and boar brush. Have used it for the last 4 days. Really have enjoyed the shave although I know I have to work on my lather making technique. Eventually will invest in a better brush and try some different soaps.

Now that I have been DE shaving for a little over a month I have found the most important thing in my case next to taking my time is that after 4 shaves use a new blade. Where I run into my biggest problems is trying to stretch a blade to 5 or 6 shaves. When I have tried to go 5 shaves with the Gillette Silver Blue, Persona Med Prep or Voskhod I wind up with nicks or a poor shave. The Feather went 5 shaves but the 6th was bad. I guess I was trying to see how far I could go with each blade, 4 shaves seems to be the sweet spot so far.

It is very satisfying getting a good shave everyday. So glad I have gone back to DE shaving.

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I never go past 3 shaves per Blade. What brush are you eyeing?