What I have learned as the end of week one approaches.

First thank you to everyone for you thoughts and advice.

As with my electric razor, I have simply been applying too much pressure, and too many passes. As my first week closes, I was looking at a reddened face (to put it mildly) and sleeping with "First Aid Cream moisturizer" So SAS it will be for some time.
I have learned that I don't need 5 blades or 4,3,2, although I am going with 2 blades for a few days and then use a single blade disposable for a few. SAS, SAS, SAS......
After much reading, I have decided to pull the trigger on a OneBlade. I did try a DE and that was too scary
Everything I have read is that it is a forgiving razor and as long as I go easy:SAS, SAS, I think I will be fine.

Thanks again for now! Bill

Get a smooth blade" dorco st301s" de razor. Use good slick soap and a mild razor. I'd have to try to cut myself with these.

Congratulations on your first week, Bill!

I have to tell you that you are where many, many of us have been after only one week. I remember going to bed with a raw face and wondering "how is this so dadgum great?" Well, I'm glad I stuck with it. Like you, I had to ease off my expectations a great deal and think more about what I was doing than dream about what might be. I realized that my lather was lousy, my technique was well off, and the blade I was using was one not for me.

Within another week or so, I was getting shaves that still were more raw than I hoped for but that were quite tolerable. A month or so later, it was better. Then, I shaved with one razor (and one blade--a P74) for three weeks, and my technique improved a great deal. Then, I shaved with a slant for two weeks, and my technique improved TREMENDOUSLY. I now get very, very comfortable DFS+ shaves, and I love it.

So, take a break and ease back fine. However, I caution you about the OneBlade. It's not that I do not believe it's a great razor, but that's an awful lot of money to drop on a razor when something else is wrong. If you are putting first aid cream on your face, it's not just your razor. Think more about your lather, prep, technique, etc. You may find that you can get a good deal of improvement that way. You are not likely to spend your way out of the sort of mistakes we all make in the beginning.

Congrats. Keep practicing. It took me 3-4 weeks to develop reliable, repeatable, consistent technique.

A Maggard razor with a V2 head is pretty mild an you almost have to forcebly try to cut yourself. I used to use more aggressive razors (GIllette Red tip etc etc) but have now gone with a milder razor that gives really great shaves and no irritation. I use a Maggar MR6 and an MR9 with great results, DFS to BBS an no irritations. The only difference in the razors is the handle so shave is the same with both. A 3 pass shave with some minor touch up and am good to go. What razor are you currently using? You may be using WAY TOO MUCH PRESSURE if you are getting that kind of irritation. Try doing 2 with-the-grain passes and an across-the-grain pass for now. A lot of people cannot do an Against-the-Grain pass without irritation but you will get a very good shave without it. Incremental beard reduction is what you should be striving for.

+1 to BSAGuy and TexLaw. It took me a few weeks to get the hang of things and figure out what I was doing. Just keep using the information you have here and on youtube, you'll be fine. I said it once and Ill stand by it, Mantic59's videos are the only reason I didn't have to regrow my face. I started almost 8 years ago and i can definitely say it only gets better from here.

Glad to help. That is what this site is all about. Well, that plus enabling all of our various acquisition disorders!

PCFiend138 said:

+1 to BSAGuy and TexLaw. It took me a few weeks to get the hang of things and figure out what I was doing. Just keep using the information you have here and on youtube, you'll be fine. I said it once and Ill stand by it, Mantic59's videos are the only reason I didn't have to regrow my face. I started almost 8 years ago and i can definitely say it only gets better from here.

Click to expand...

Congratulations on finishing your first week!

The main thing IMO is to give yourself time to develop your technique! This is a skill that takes awhile to develop.