Tough beards, sensitive skin. What razors do you use?

Discussion in 'Safety Razors' started by Fly2High, Mar 17, 2017.

  1. Fly2High

    Fly2High Breaking Frugal

    calling all DE shavers who have tough beards and sensitive skin!!!

    I am curious what razor and blades do you use?

    What kind of blade life do you get?

    Thanks
     
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  2. david of central florida

    david of central florida Rhubarb Rubber

    It's my understanding that sensitive skin guys try for very aggressive hoping to get more done in less passes.
    My advice would be persona labs and a light touch. They have a reputation of being sharp and lasting long. I also very much like astra sp, ladas, voschod.
     
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  3. hamoncan

    hamoncan Member

    I prefer a Silver Blue using either my Slim set on 8 or 9 or my Red Tip Super Speed. For me just a wider blade gap, not an exposed blade like a comb - my skin was glowing red the time I tried an old Gillette comb.

    Even with an aggressive razor, a well done 1 pass shave isn't quite as close as a 2 or 3 pass shave - a bit of careful buffing gets you pretty close - but still pretty great & irritation free for me.

    Sent from my SM-N910W8 using Tapatalk
     
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  4. jimjo1031

    jimjo1031 never bloomed myself

    I have both and.use blades and razors of various types and all work fine as long as I stick to the basics. Proper technique and not rushing the shave, but I have at times out of necessity. When I do experience some irritation on a certain day, it does happen, I skip a day from shaving to let the skin heal a bit. And even though I can put an adjustable on a higher setting than what I normally use, keeping it a little lower helps in keeping irritation away. In general, aggressive razors get blades that for me, are smoother (Ladas, Rapira, Astra SP, etc.) and milder razors I use sharper blades like Lab Blues for more efficient shaves. Not saying this will work for everyone, but this helps for me. Also, using cold water has greatly reduced my irritation by at least 80 - 90%.
     
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  5. dustmite

    dustmite Well-Known Member

    I gravitate towards the more aggressive razors, and less passes. I also seem to like what some find to be aggressive blades. My baseline is a Feather loaded in my Red Tip. I can typically get 7 to 10 good shaves out of almost any blade. Razor/blade combos were more crucial for me when I first started out, but now I find that I can get a good shave out of almost any combination. I might even give Derby's another shot one of these days!
     
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  6. jimjo1031

    jimjo1031 never bloomed myself

    I also forgot to mention, I do one less pass than normal by only doing XTG on a couple of spots during the ATG pass, and that also helped.
     
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  7. '65 G-Slim

    '65 G-Slim Well-Known Member

    I have sensitive skin, but (normally) shave each day, so I have a light beard. I tend to favor milder razors, like the post-war Tech, and Voskhod is my favorite blade (and other Teflon-coated/platinum blades). I would get quite a bit of irritation on my throat, due to the weird way my whiskers grow, but found mixing Clubman cream & Williams cut the irritation down to almost zero (wet my brush, shake the excess water out, dip it about an inch into the Clubman, then lather up with Williams...works for me). I've also taken to using each blade only twice. I've improved my technique so I can get the same results with my '41 & '46 Ranger Techs as well.
     
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  8. shadowfeind

    shadowfeind Active Member

    I use merkur 34c or Van Der hagen butterfly open de razors with astra superior platinum blades or Gillette 7 o clock black super platinum. I almost exclusively use stirling soaps and after shave splash with allum. Just takes an extra pass with a mild razor but it is much more forgiving.

    Sent from my SM-G928V using Tapatalk
     
  9. RetLEO-07

    RetLEO-07 likes his penguin deep fried, with pink sparkles

    Don't have sensitive skin, but here's my 0.2 anyhoo. Sharp blade(Russian steel) good technique(don't go over the same spot multiple times during a pass) and post skin care(moisturizer etc) That's all I got.
     
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  10. Newbie here, but I have been trying a lot of different things to get a good shave without irritation. The last two days have been my best since getting back into wet shaving after a short little 52 year hiatus. Two days ago I made the following changes: 1) Feather AS-D2 razor, 2) Voshkod blades, 3) cold shaving.

    I will admit to making all these changes at once, so I have no real way of knowing which one of them made the most difference. But I can say that prior to this I had given up on doing a third ATG pass as my neck and upper lip would end up very red and angry. My OPINION is: The AS-D2 being such a mild razor with an extremely small blade gap forces you to hold the razor at an extreme angle (Feather recommends 45 degrees) in order to get the blade on your face. So you have to "ride the cap" or not get a shave. I think that extreme blade angle has helped me more than anything but I imagine the other changes help quite a bit too.
     
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  11. PickledNorthern

    PickledNorthern Fabulous, the unicorn

    I have always preferred spending less time with a razor on my face, by using a light touch with an aggressive razor. If I have to choose between sharp or smooth, I will take sharp every time. Butter knives are smooth, but they don't cut tough flat hair as well as a Feather Super. I hate tugging, and I dislike buffing.

    Cold water shaving helps a lot of people too. It is worth a try.
     
  12. Fly2High

    Fly2High Breaking Frugal

    From my own experiences, a steeper blade angle with the skin irritates more not less.

    For me, comparing an aggressive razor to my 34C mild, there are plenty of times when I feel my tough beard just slides under the 34C as compared to the Scientist. I can pass the same spot multiple times in the same direction and not cut the hair. I still hear Velcro sounds on each pass. Is this normal?


    My hair acts like it doesn't want to be cut. I seem to always feel some resistance with every blade so far but there must always be some since cutting has some. I have been using Stirling almost exclusively so I have good protection and slickness.

    Even when I have a feather light touch I tend to be irritated. I have been so light where I literally float over hair but because I must use an ATG pass to really minimize my beard, it could just be I am always doing 3 passes every day. Yes, I need a shave daily. I skip and look more like a yeti.

    I was hoping to hear what others with sensitive skin and tough beards use so as to find a razor between the aggressiveness of the Scientist and the mild yet quickness of the 34C. I can shave quickly with the 34C but I seem to need a lot of touch up or more passes after 3. The Scientist is much slower but cleans up well on each pass and needs a methodical stroke that I just do not have time for on work days. It is not bad but sometimes those extra 5-15 minutes is all the difference. I do like the close shave I get with it though.

    Thanks for all the suggestions
     
    Last edited: Mar 19, 2017
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  13. Fly2High

    Fly2High Breaking Frugal

    I have a few Feather blades and have yet to try them so maybe they need to come up in my rotation of blade testing sooner. Thanks
     
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  14. PickledNorthern

    PickledNorthern Fabulous, the unicorn

    For me, Feather DE blades aren't the smoothest on the first shave, but are mellowed out by the second, good for one more, then go in the blade bank. They are sharp tho.

    I see you headed for the SE world soon.
     
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  15. Engblom

    Engblom Well-Known Member

    I think most people do not know what tough beard is. If you have tough beard, Asta SP, PolSilver, GSB and other blades considered to be sharp do tug and pull terrible in the whiskers. Tough beard means that if you go to a professional barber shaving with a shavette, the Barber ends up changing the blade several times during the shave because the blade got dull.

    As I have this kind of spikes growing out of my face, and a skin sensitive enough to get irritated from just the brush all I can conclude is pick a blade not tugging. It means Feather in most razors for me, but Rapira PL works also in some and KAI in some.

    For me, an aggressively sharp blade is needed. Thus I can only reduce irritation by choice of razor. All razors work well WTG. On the ATG pass, the whiskers are at a such angle that they want to lead the blade towards the skin. This is a source for irritation. For me, this is reduced by having either a tiny gap or negative blade exposure.

    A tiny gap gives me a support close to the blade, preventing the blade from digging in by following the whiskers on the ATG pass.
     
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  16. MR41

    MR41 Well-Known Member

    Aggressive and fewer passes works for me. My beard is extremely coarse and my skin is sensitive. I use an R 41 with either an astra green or a polsilver, a progress turned way up( the way it bends the blade causes it to be stiffer a little like a single edge), or an OCMM. I still do three passes, but for me that is fewer passes. I can't use a blade more than once and I have had to change blades during a shave before.
     
    Last edited: Mar 20, 2017
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  17. RetLEO-07

    RetLEO-07 likes his penguin deep fried, with pink sparkles

    Wow, after reading your post, I feel blessed. That would probably drive me nuts. The worst thing for me is I shave at 0600 and by 1400 I could in all probability shave again no matter how close I shaved in the morning. Good luck.
     
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  18. Primotenore

    Primotenore missed opera tunity

    Article Team
    Sharp blade, slick lather, gradual hair reduction via a very LIGHT touch.
     
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  19. RetLEO-07

    RetLEO-07 likes his penguin deep fried, with pink sparkles

    :signs011:
     
  20. RaZorBurn123

    RaZorBurn123 waiting hardily...............

    Razors? Weber, EJDE89, Gillette Super Speeds, RazoRock Hawk.
    Blades? Try a bunch and see what works for you.
     

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