Its been a bumpy road (Newbie Advise and Story)

[The Duke]

Dear Friends,

Just want to say thank you for all your help. It has been a bumpy road. For what its worth to other newbie’s, I wanted to share my story. I started out practicing my preshave prep with my M3. Once I had that down to my satisfaction I went out and bought myself a Mekur Vision. I Love this razor! It has treated me very well since Day 1; although I did follow the advice of you fine gentlemen and kept it dialed down. I used Murkur blades to hone down technique and find out my hair growth. I was getting OK shaves but the blades were not very comfortable (but they are very forgiving), they tugged and pulled. A couple of weeks ago, I got frustrated and blade buffed the areas on the sides of my chin. I had the worst razor burn I have ever seen! I looked like a high school kid stressed out about prom! My razor burn had razor burn! Needless to say it was very embarrassing. I had to take two weeks off from shaving.

I was trying everything under the sun to get rid of the burn, but it would just not go away. Everyday I was using an Alum bar, Shea Butter, aftershave balm, aloe vera gel, Neosporin, face wash, rubbing alcohol, and even toothpaste (a home remedy for blemishes) to no avail. As you can probably tell by my constant pestering of my face, it just got worse.

I went to see a girlfriend of mine who is an esthetician (facial skin specialist). I told her about my story and all she could do was shake her head. She could not believe I had been putting my skin through all of that! She washed my face with a very mild cleanser, and then had me sit with a hot towel over the affected areas of my face. After about 15 minutes she took off the towel and gently tweezed away the puss that had come out. She told me not to shave for a couple of days and to repeat this hot towel and tweezer treatment once or twice a day until my sores healed. It took 4 days after that for my face to get back to almost normal.

During my shaving down time I decided to order a blade sampler pack from www.westcoastshaving.com . After my face healed I tried a couple of the blades. WOW! Gillette’s and Feathers are the best thing since wet shaving on my face! It is really a night and day difference. I can cut through those tough hairs on the sides of my chin with no problem and more importantly, no irritation. No pulling at all like the merkurs. I am a convert, but I know I would not have the success I have been having with these blades, had I not taken the time to hone my technique first with a more forgiving blade. Thank you all very much for the help and advise!

My Setup is now:

Shower (wash face with bar soap, face wash irritated and dried my skin)
Kiehls Pre-shave oil
Cade soap/AOS lavender superlather
Corked Feather or Corked Gillette
Shave
Rinse warm then cold
Kiehls brightening toner (let dry then cold rinse)
Kiehls Facial Fuel Moisturizer

I used to have more steps, but found through trial and error that I was just irritating my face by using too many products. I hope this might help someone avoid some of the issues that I encountered. This is truly a great website with a wealth of information. I am a convert for life.

Oh!, and I was able to convert my Father as well. He loves it. Though it feels odd for me to be teaching my Father how to shave :)

[Rfury]

Duke, thanks for sharing.
Bummer about the bad razor burn.

I am new to DE wet shaving, so I read as much as I can, I listen and try to learn from ones mistakes, as well as triumphs.

I am glad that you got your face back in good shape.

I started thinking about what brought about your problem.

I don't have the Vision, but I do have the Futur from Merkur, Both razors are pretty heavy, so I wonder if the problem was not just the blade, but coupled with maybe a bit of heavy handedness, and a low setting.

I say this because with the Futur, I started out with the lowest setting, I put the Merkur blades in it, I did the WTG, XTG, and ATG passes, and only the smallest amount of buffing for the more stubborn areas.

Guess what? razor burn as well.
I let my face settle down, and went back to just WTG.

on my spare time, I took the razor without the blade in it, and practiced technique, Mostly trying not to lose the correct angle or vary the angle while shaving.. something I never thought of before when I used a Disposable razor.

I also did some comparisons with a Gillette Super Speed.
I found the Super Speed to be more user friendly.

So...Where am I now.
I increased the setting on the Merkur Futur to 4.5.
I can feel the blade a little bit better so it is easier for me to maintain the correct angle. (I am using the Israeli crystals) next week I will retry the Merkur blade just to see if that is going to make a difference.)
It forces me to be very cautious, and slows me down in my shaving, and I am learning how to shave with a very gentle touch.

So far, I am shaving WTG, XTG, and ATG.
Buffing, I do with the Super Speed, for me it is just an easier razor to do it with.

My results are: No razor Burn, BBS face, and so far no cuts.

Now I know...I am new to this, I should be doing baby steps, I have to many variables so it is hard to correct them or identify the problems.
I am just stubborn this way, it is a problem I have had all my life. I don't do the one step at a time, well.. Unless I find I am really screwed up.. LOL

I am not sure if this helps, or screwed anyone up.. It is just what is working for me at the time, and it it resolved neck burn.

Robert

[SilkySmooth]

Nice story. Thanks for sharing.



==Tom

[jfever311]

Welcome to B&B!!

[crankymoose]

Welcome to B&B
sounds like you got figured out what works best for you unfortunately not so easily but we all do that at times

[soapbox]

I hope this might help someone avoid some of the issues that I encountered. This is truly a great website with a wealth of information. I am a convert for life.

Thanks so much for contributing! You can be sure that someone will gain from reading your post.

Oh!, and I was able to convert my Father as well. He loves it. Though it feels odd for me to be teaching my Father how to shave :)

Yeah, I convinced Dad to return to "proper" wet shaving a few weeks ago. He's been using a Good News! disposable for thirty years, without shaving cream. He just wets his face, shaves, finishes up with Skin Bracer and that's it. (He's one tough SOB, that's for sure; he's 63, I'm 36 and bench 225 and I still wouldn't pick a fight with him). He has good things to say about the return to DE shaving. (Whew)

Jesse

[htownmmm]

Great story!

Welcome to B&B and good job in converting your dad-it's always nice to be able to teach the 'old man' something new.


marty

[The Duke]

I don't have the Vision, but I do have the Futur from Merkur, Both razors are pretty heavy, so I wonder if the problem was not just the blade, but coupled with maybe a bit of heavy handedness, and a low setting.
Robert

Now that I swithched blades I am getting the best shaves of my life. I read a lot about the vision on these boards before I used in and have always used it with a very light hand. Earlier on I thought the same about the low settinng and opened her up a little, but that irritated my face as well. I still kept it at no more than 2.5 though (this thing goes from cute golden retriever puppy to rabid pitbull quick!). The Merkur blades just did not like my face.

Thank you robert and everyone for taking the to read my blathering. I know that I am going to have more questions, and having you all is an invaluanble resource to keep me from doing something stupid (like rubbing toothpaste on razor burn) again!

-Sincere Thanks

-Duke

[kevtex]

Welcome to B&B. Merkur makes great razors but their blades can sometimes leave you dissapointed. A Merkur matched with a Feather is hard to beat.