Bleeding

Hello,

I recently started shaving with a safety razor (the next step to a straight razor from my old Mach 3). I usually shave twice, the first time with the grain, and the second time against it. When I shave the second time around my chin, main of the hairs bleed. I don't believe that these are ingrown hairs because there is no swelling later on. The skin is not bumpy, the hairs are just bleeding from where they were taken out. The bleeding is not from cuts (I'm decent enough at shaving to avoid slices). I should note that my hair is fairly thick.

Can someone recommend a way to avoid this bleeding? Currently, I just put some petroleum jelly on it and I am fine afterwards, but it is a hastle. Should I just not shave against the grain?

Thanks.

Welcome to B&B. Try shaving (ATG) across the grain before the (XTG) against the grain pass. Make sure you have a slick lather,sharp blade and don't use any pressure on the razor head. Good Luck.

Any tips on shaving across the grain on my chin? That seems a little tricky. Also, any tips for XTG?

Hi timo1023! Welcome to Mongoose & Machete, I mean Badger & Blade!

Sorry to hear about the blood! I hope you've got a styptic pencil handy. My advice is to make sure you really hydrate your face with a warm shower and a good face scrub before you shave. Do you know the directions your beard grows? Does it swirl? Attempt to follow the grain for the first pass at least and make light passes (2-3-4) with no pressure on the razor at all. Do this as needed rather than trying to get everything done in two, or even three passes. If you shave with a properly prepped beard and the notion of reducing your beard with each pass in mind rather than trying to eliminate it in a couple swipes you'll have much better results. Make sure you're keeping your skin wet and lathered as well. Don't run the blade anywhere you don't have hydrating lather! Also you might be getting too aggressive with the blade angle. You can get a close shave that should feel as if the razor is gliding along smoothly. If you start to feel the irritation creeping up, resist the urge to continue to touch up. Your technique will improve!

As kevtex states, you may need to do a few across the grain passes before trying to go against the grain. If you get any tugging, I'd forego the ATG pass altogether.

Watch Mantic's videos ...http://www.youtube.com/user/mantic59
~~Don't press, glide!~~

King of Kailua said:

Don't press, glide!

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Like others have said, easy touch and try xtg before atg. It can be trickey to find the right angles and directions at first, but its well worth it.

What you describe is what is called 'weepers' if I understand the shaver's jargon correctly.

You should glide over your skin with a featherlight touch. If you experience tugging, back off and change the angle slightly (I mean the angle from which you attack the hair, so adjust from ATG (= Against The Grain) in the direction of XTG (= Across The Grain)).

Also, make sure that your blade is not blunt.

Good luck,
Jan Pieter

jpkunst said:

What you describe is what is called 'weepers' if I understand the shaver's jargon correctly.

You should glide over your skin with a featherlight touch. If you experience tugging, back off and change the angle slightly (I mean the angle from which you attack the hair, so adjust from ATG (= Against The Grain) in the direction of XTG (= Across The Grain)).

Also, make sure that your blade is not blunt.

Good luck,
Jan Pieter

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+1

Wow! Two passes. You are truly the manly man. That would kill my face.
I strongly agree with others; do an across the grain pass or two before you do the against the grain pass.
It is a beard reduction game that will get the smooth comfortable shaves.

I can only agree with what's already been said here.

The ways to avoid blood are:
- ensure your face is hot and hydrated
- shave WTG first, then XTG - perhaps leave ATG for a while
- make sure the lather is slick
- ensure the blade is sharp - I use mine only for 3 shaves
- put zero pressure on the razor
- check your razor angle

What blade are you using? Something sharper may definitely help, particularly given your tough beard.

Perhaps Feathers - they are very sharp.

Sebby said:

Perhaps Feathers - they are very sharp.

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You may want to stay away from the feathers for a bit. At least until you get a comfortable routine going for a standard shave. Feathers are very sharp! I was having bad experiences early on with the Merkur blades and posted about it http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=49536&highlight=Merkur+blades+newbies . To my suprise, Merkur blades seem to trouble more than a few folks. There's lots of posts on B&B about blades so search the site and you'll find some good blade discussions. Also, once you've got your blade angle down, change the blade if you feel that it is getting dull (tugging,etc) which ever blades you try. 3 shaves seems to be a general consensus but, YMMV.

Yeah, I've actually been using Merur blades. I'll pick up some others tomorrow and try them to see if it is any different. I shaved today much more patiently and without presure, but I didn't have much more success. There was a lot less bleeding but the ending shave wasn't as good. I'm thinking about buying some different shaving cream to go with the different razor.

You seem to be a prime candidate for getting away from the cartridge systems.

Since you always bleed when going against the grain, stop doing that! With the grain and across the grain will be good enough for now. If you are still bleeding on any sort of second pass, then do one pass only for a week or two to give your face a chance to heal up. And use some witch hazel or ESB after each shave, that'll help the skin also.

If by getting away from cartridge systems you mean shaving with a straight razor, then yes I am a prime candidate. I'm planning on buying one soon, but I don't really have any time in the near future where I could be walking around with cuts on my face, so I'm not sure that I want to do that now.