Thick beard, sensitive skin...

Discussion in 'Shave School' started by drjenkins, Feb 3, 2015.

  1. feeltheburn

    feeltheburn Well-Known Member

    I like gwsmallwood's list of blades. I have at least some of all those. I'd probably also add Polsilver Super Iridiums to the list to try.

    And Tom brings up a good point about SE's. I didn't like Gem type SE's much but I think it was just that the blades didn't seem sharp enough for me. But injectors work great. The current production Schick blades are really incredible. They're at least as smooth and sharp as any of the best DE blades but you can use a shallower angle with them and it's really easy to get an irritation free shave with them. They're more expensive than DE blades but they last a long time (at least 10 shaves for me).
     
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  2. gwsmallwood

    gwsmallwood Well-Known Member

    I would recommend everyone try some at some point, coarse beard or not. I have grown fond of my Shovel Head, but again, I think it's the blade exposure, not the fact that it's an SE. And it really doesn't give me any better a shave than my wide open Fatboy.
     
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  3. drjenkins

    drjenkins Well-Known Member

    Can't thank you all enough for taking the time to add in your personal preferences. Lots of great info on every aspect of the shave.

    I went ahead an ordered an Ikon 102 with a couple packs of the different Personnas (have the Red's already), the Gillettes I didn't have already, and a pack of the Pol Silvers. Those Ikon razors are hard to find in stock!

    Got some of the Nivea face wash and Sensitive AS Balm. Took GD Carringtons advice and used the Balm before bed last night to start in a routine with that. We'll see if it'll help the shaves, but I'm at least taking better care of my skin no matter what.

    Again, thank you to all of you who've commented!:happy088:
     
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  4. gwsmallwood

    gwsmallwood Well-Known Member

    Be sure and come back to this post once you've spent some time with the new razor and let us know what you think. If it works for you, maybe I'll have an excuse to try one.
     
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  5. drjenkins

    drjenkins Well-Known Member

    Will do.
     
  6. david of central florida

    david of central florida Rhubarb Rubber

    @drjenkins I've been thinking about what you said in the original post.
    you were having issues on one side of your neck.
    I have a theory. maybe you could help prove our disapprove it. I'd bet you are right handed. and being right handed you must scrunch your arm to reach your neck on that side, but get the angle correct when you reach across to the opposite side. if your able, try shaving that side with your other hand.
    I'd do it myself, but I only have use of one hand. hope it helps, if it does/ doesn't share your results. good luck, d
     
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  7. idvsego

    idvsego Well-Known Member

    Really good point. I had this issue early on (2 weeks ago). More attention to angle and pressure on my "off" side has helped a lot.
     
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  8. drjenkins

    drjenkins Well-Known Member

    That's a good point man! I didn't even put that together, but it makes total sense. I rarely have much, if any, irritation on my left side.

    I will be trying that on the next go round. Been laying off for the last couple of days to make sure I heal up as much as possible. But I will post back as soon as I shave next.

    Thanks!
     
  9. maliboy67

    maliboy67 Well-Known Member

    The only thing I will add or restate is make sure you wet your face before lathering, rinse and make sure your face is dripping before lathering again. Hydration is your friend. I have found in my limited experience that even with a brush full of perfect lather if your face is dry under it your skin will know. I face lather and a few times before applying the brush loaded with soap I forgot to wet my face. Even with adding additional water and working up a great lather it still dried against my face quickly and caused the razor to drag.
     
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  10. drjenkins

    drjenkins Well-Known Member

    Yeah, I've noticed that my lather will dry out pretty quickly. Don't know if it's the hard water or what, but I'll be trying out almost everything people have mentioned and see what works. Thanks for the reply!
     
  11. drjenkins

    drjenkins Well-Known Member

    Ok, on Kerry and a couple other guys suggestions (can't thank you guys enough), I picked up the Ikon 102. Mine came with the Tuck-away handle, and I may possibly get a Bulldog later on since it seems like I'm enjoying the heavier handles.

    ----------------------------------------------------------
    Copied from a previous post of mine:
    I learned that I'm in serious like with my Ikon 102. It's not love just yet, but it's pretty close. Used the Gillette Silver Blue blade and got a bit of tugging. I like the Personna Blue in it better so far, but those two are all I've tried in it. Going to try the Personna Platinum next.

    Did a two pass shave with no irritation. Mind you, it looks like I'm about a days growth after a really close shave. But, with no ouchies and a stress-free experience, I'll take it.

    Now I just need to keep working on my fundamentals and technique. My goal is to shave more frequently and hopefully my skin will toughen up in my problem spots. If last night was any indication, I think it may be working. Fingers crossed.

    ----------------------------------------------------------

    So here's what I did on this past shave: -Shaved at night, so no shower, basic face rinsing with warm water, pat dry, no pre-oil, loaded my badger brush for 35 seconds or so, bowl lathered CB Boucles Fruites for almost 2 minutes working water into the mix as needed, paint on the soap not swirling the brush, two WTG passes with a mild touch-up, made sure to re-wet my face really well in between passes, Thayers alcohol-free WH.

    What I'm learning so far:
    -Took some advice that I got about limiting things on my face pre-shave, so no extra oil just the face wash. Seems to do pretty good for me, so PSO may be omitted from now on, we'll see.

    -One thing that I also read was to scrub the sensitive areas with a bath poof while showering. Now a caveat here, it made my skin beet red while I was doing it, but that faded quickly. It may not work for everybody, but for me it's toughening that skin up. I'd suggest if you want to try this, do it when you're planning on lounging at the house, just in case the redness stays longer for you than it did for me. And I'm talking light pressure, but enough to work the skin a bit, no bearing down. It sounds counter-intuitive to purposely agitate a sensitive area, but like I said, it seems to be toughening up my problem areas. This is a big YMMV situation.

    -Using the shave brush in any sort of a circular or scrubbing motion apparently agitates my skin. So for the time being, going strictly painter style.

    -Doing multiple WTG passes also seems to be conditioning my skin better than anything extra right now. So I'm planning on doing that every 2 to 3 days and then add in XTG next as many have suggested. Not the cleanest shave, but it's just a building process right now.

    -If it hurts, STOP. Simple as that. I pushed my skin too far too fast in my initial shaves. Bad idea all around, and I paid the price. Even if you think it'll get better during the shave, just stop.

    -I prefer BBS shaves. But, while I'm building up my tolerances, my expectations have got to be lowered for my skins sake. So a light stubble it will be.

    -Tried what david of central florida suggested, and used my off hand to shave the right side of my face. Don't really know if that is what helped in the trouble area or if it was the new razor. I'm going to keep doing it and see what further results I can get.

    -----------------------------------------------------------

    Thanks again so much for all the tips and suggestions so far guys! It's definitely got me going in the right direction.
     
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  12. idvsego

    idvsego Well-Known Member

    sounds like good progress
     
  13. Gigmaster

    Gigmaster Active Member

    I'm not sure starting with Feather blades is a good idea. They are the sharpest blades, but they are also very persnickety about technique, and what razor they are used in. Try switching to Derbys for a bit. They are more comfortable and forgiving. Once you get the hang of real shaving, you can try the Feathers again, if you want. I have heard Feathers are not happy in Merkurs or Muhles, but they have an affinity for Parkers. I use Feathers in my Parker Shavette, and they work like magic. But in my Jaggar, they perform completely different, and not as good as Derbys. Also, due to their extreme sharpness, Feathers, as the name suggests, require a very light touch. Their edges are so thin that excess pressure can actually deform the cutting edge, causing it to bend.

    Try some Derbys and I think you'll be a lot happier with the results.


     

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