Hmmm, very strange..my wedges shave great, maybe it's in need of re-visiting the hone or pasted strop.
it does pass the HHT. It was honed by BIll...and i did give it a touch up with 0.5 pasted strop. I just feels so weird on my skin.
I just started experimenting with straight razor shaving and I get quite a bit of razor burn and irritation as I'm learning how to shave with a straight. Trumper's Skin food and Enchante skin conditioner are a blessing that helps my skin heal from the irritation.
I checked to see if this is in the Sticky(it's not). Sooo, since we have some New Guys that have been talking about irritation, I thought no one would mind if I brought this one back from the dead
I would add one more reason for irritation: hair growth grain misread. What I mean by this is not being cognizant of the direction your hair grows can cause you to irritate your skin. I noticed that I misread the direction of the hair on my neck and often get irritated. I was shaving instead of WTG, I was really shaving an oblique XTG instead. I find that ATG and XTG shaves are less irritating if a WTG shave removes some hair first.
Irritation is almost always angle and pressure. The need for post shave balm indicates serious technique issues, almost all of them solvable. Another culprit is prep. Less is more. Rarely, it's a soap reaction.
wtg on my face is north to south,neck is west to east on the right side,east to west on the left.lower neck south to north.after learning this (mapping the growth) most of my irritation and ingrown hairs disappeared.dropping carts,better soap and better technique did away with the rest.was a learning curve,didn t happen overnight.still learning.i am grateful for the fine people and knowledge on this forum. i have helped 2 others convert to de razors,one gent in his 60s.
There are a lot of people who _do_ react badly to soaps. It's not the soap itself, its the perfumes and other additives that are doing it. I've had enough experience that I can usually tell by first scent if it's going to be a good soap/shampoo/etc for me. Arko and Williams are good to try if you are having a reaction, but I'd personally suggest painting a strip of it on the inside of the forearm, wait 3-4 minutes, then rinse off. That skin is about as sensitive as the face, and is easier to observe for effects than, say, the underside of the chin
"Rarely" meant like 5% of "shave irritation" events are soap caused, as opposed to the 90% that are geometry related. Thanks for clarity, that was unclear. Good advice on a skin test for new guys, though. Always worth a mention. Fun Fact: I can't do tobacco blossom EO or some Lanolin concoctions.
Lanolin causes problems for a lot of people. I avoid it because I'm allergic to wool, but other than that, I can't say much. I will say that while I don't mind the smell of a good pipe or cigar tobacco, I don't know why people want to use a soap that makes them smell like an ashtray
Tobacco blossom I get, it's just a light sweet scent. Cavendish scents are weird. Like bad eggplant (fellow nightshade) or as you wrote, ashtray. I happen to be a piper and typically select Navy Flake styles. Like any proper southerner, I also enjoy Burley, though I do not smoke aromatic or "flavored" tobacco.
True, but there are some soaps with known allergens, like citrus oil, almond oil, or eucalyptus oil. Lanolin is another known suspect. Best way to test whether it is your soap or something else (technique) is to try lathering some on the underside of your arm. If that causes redness, then you should suspect the soap. Edit: I see that I'm late to the party
