Oh the Horror

I shave every other day and not on the weekends. I use a bluetip SS and Merkur blades with AOS sandalwood and Woody's aftershave with a C & E brush. I go over my face twice and my neck 1-1/2 times.

It seems as though this always happens and those darker red spots, are what appear to be ingrowns that just get mowed over. Long story short, after 1 pass my neck looks like a cheese grated was used and my towel turns red and so does my sink. Woody's does a good job of stopping the bleeding but the damage is still done. I was considering using Nair on my neck for a week in the hopes of cleaning it up. Any thoughts.

Blade angle and pressure my friend. When shaving your neck hold the razor at the tip like a pair of tweezers. It will help you keep the pressure off.

Listen to your blade!!! The single easiest way to know if your angle is to aggressive.

Give your skin a rest!! Then start up again, paying close attention to blade angle and pressure.

Regards,

Also, I'd get rid of the Merkur blades and try something else. Derby, Crystal, Red pack IP, whatever.

That looks like too much pressure, my friend.

Yep for sure, to much pressure and crappy blades....

Glad to see that 3rd eye got his award icon.

Thanks I actually switched to Merkur from an off brand of no name blades thinking that Merkur would be better. What should I goto? I would not trying feathers but I cannot seem to find anyone locally that sells them. I don't suppose anyone would like to drop one in the mail?

I will try the tweezer hold to reduce pressure and how much time should I take off.

Slingblade said:

Glad to see that 3rd eye got his award icon.

Thanks I actually switched to Merkur from an off brand of no name blades thinking that Merkur would be better. What should I goto? I would not trying feathers but I cannot seem to find anyone locally that sells them. I don't suppose anyone would like to drop one in the mail?

I will try the tweezer hold to reduce pressure and how much time should I take off.

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Try Crystals. I find them to be the best, WS are my number two.

Two or three days is enough if you heal quickly(I've had bad bump on my chin before). Also, Witch hazel helps(at least it's helped me). You seem to have pretty sensitive skin.

I usually recommend Derby's when folks are getting used to wetshaving because the are sharp yet forgiving.

Slingblade said:

Glad to see that 3rd eye got his award icon.

Thanks I actually switched to Merkur from an off brand of no name blades thinking that Merkur would be better. What should I goto? I would not trying feathers but I cannot seem to find anyone locally that sells them. I don't suppose anyone would like to drop one in the mail?

I will try the tweezer hold to reduce pressure and how much time should I take off.

Click to expand...

ALL of the pressure...let the blade do the work. You have to forget everything you ever learned using a cartridge.

I will send you a nice assortment of blades with your razor. BUT Stick to one brand at a time for 10 days or so. If you change up too many variables you won't know what works and what doesn't.

Regards,

SMOKE said:

I will send you a nice assortment of blades with your razor. BUT Stick to one brand at a time for 10 days or so.

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thanks, really that is very cool of you. I will stay with the same blades for 10 days.

What can I do to repay the kindness?

Just keep us posted and ask a lot of questions!!! That's what we're here for.


Kind Regards,

+1 on the pressure.

Also, watch your hair growth. Make sure you're not going against the grain on the first pass after a days worth of growth. I did this for years before being turned on to proper technique, and had the same out come as you.

Let us know how it's going.

was getting the same thing even with very light pressure and was getting fairly frustrated but found that REALLY paying attention to direction of hair growth (which seems totally abstract random on my face) has really done the trick. If i get the first pass down in the direction of growth even though its different for each area it has almost totally eliminated that problem.

I feel your pain!! I have had the same problem on my neck. Improving my technique, knowing which way the grain of my hair grows, and using less pressure are all tips that helped me.

However, I find the number one thing that helped stop all of that butchering was stretching the skin on my neck. I started wetshaving with a straight, so I was familiar with skin-stretching techniques, but I heard a lot of advice against skin stretching while DE shaving (including one of mantic's videos). Many people have advised slight skin stretching while using a DE to flatten the skin, but advised against heavily stretching the skin.

This makes sense, because overstretching can cause ingrown hairs and razor burn if you're not careful. However, I'm not one of those people with smooth neck curves--my neck topography resemblies peaks and canyons more so than gentle-rolling hills, and I have a very pronounced adams-apple. I have found that pulling the skin downward with my off hand while lifting my chin stretches the skin so that it becomes smooth enough to slide a blade over without catching the peaks and valleys. Also, I've found that the 'bullfrog' helps with gentle under the chin shaving (see mantics videos if you need an explanation of this...).

That said, the neck is the only part of my face that I stretch the skin whilst DE shaving. You might want to try a pre-shave oil or balm to help with skin lubricity as well.

As always, there's no substitute for the right blades and a good quality cream or soap!

Hope this helps!

hope everything works out. i use guys like you to help me before i start using the HD.

Being a newbie, I jumped right into using Feathers with my 38c and Slant. I think there is too much hype about them being 'too sharp and unforgiving' ... although all that hype made me pay more attention to my technique. The only time I've had problems with the Feathers is when I was blade buffing or J-hooking.

I found them to be quite smooth, although I had to replace them after my 2nd shave ... the 3rd shave pulled too much. I've also had good results with the Astra's (w/ both the 38c & slant) and the Derby "Extra" (only w/ the 38c).

FYI, I'm still working on my technique in my quest for the BBS shave so by no means am I an expert ... just an opinion from a newbie.

Let your skin heal, try some better blades, + all the other advice that has been posted.

SV1978 said:

Being a newbie, I jumped right into using Feathers with my 38c and Slant. I think there is too much hype about them being 'too sharp and unforgiving' ... although all that hype made me pay more attention to my technique. The only time I've had problems with the Feathers is when I was blade buffing or J-hooking.

I found them to be quite smooth, although I had to replace them after my 2nd shave ... the 3rd shave pulled too much. I've also had good results with the Astra's (w/ both the 38c & slant) and the Derby "Extra" (only w/ the 38c).

FYI, I'm still working on my technique in my quest for the BBS shave so by no means am I an expert ... just an opinion from a newbie.

Let your skin heal, try some better blades, + all the other advice that has been posted.

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I always recommend noobs to stay away from feathers until they have their technique down, but to each his own. You have to go with what works for you.
For those hell bent on going to the feather, I will say PLEASE go with the Astras first. Almost as sharp as a feather, but I have found them to be much more forgiving. If you did a "blind taste test" I bet 9 out of ten times you couldn't tell the difference between the Astra and the Feather, except you would save more blood with the Astra I also find the Astra will give you a shave or two more then the feather. Just MHO. As always, YMMV.

Regards,

I tried the Astra's last night for the first time. It was a near BBS with my Slant.

I did have to cheat a little using the Gillette Fusion precision blade for around my goatee and a Gillette adjustable w/ Derby blade (not sure which one) for blade buffing my neck.

Awsome advise guys and I am glad to see that some other noobs are in the same boat.

I will try the different blade and rewatch mantics vids.