What am I doing wrong

Try cold water shaving. Helped me. Find a soothing ASB as well.

 

I have a good aftershave, but what do you mean with cold water shaving?

 

Take a good, hot shower and massage your beard well and properly hydrate for at least 2-3min. Then leave it wet when you get out. Lather up, load brush and shave first pass as usual. Rinse with cold water between passes and as a final rinse.
Voila!

 

I believe what Mr.White means is splashing cold water on your neck and face before you shave. That is what I do and I also rinse the blade in cool water. Cold water helps stiffen the whiskers and tightens the skin for a closer shave. I have found this helps me as well as not going against the grain. I cannot even go XTG on my neck otherwise I get nicks.

 

I will try that =)

 

I will first try a new blade, and then this and then Maybe a new aftershave =P this is a journey with a learning curve

 

As a newbie myself I've noticed the Derby's are middle of the road - I have the same reaction to them. It got worse the older the blade.

I recently just tried the Sally Personna Blue and Feather, after a month long stint on Merkurs.

I found the Merkurs to be stable (4 shaves) but resulted in DFS. Tried the Personna - which was also very stable (4-5 shaves) with DFS++, but finding the Feather went from 1 Shave BBS irritation free to DFS+ and irritation on shaves 2-3.

Others say they can get many BBS shaves from Feathers - maybe I can't, however only on my first Feather so I give each blade 2 consecutive rounds to prove itself.

Each persons face accepts blades differently. Hence YMMV. The best thing would be to order a sampler blade pack and try 2 blades of each.

I find it takes at least 2 consecutive blade rounds of shaves for my face to learn the new blade and then the next rounds to judge the blade. Otherwise your blade quest could be full of straw men.

 

Try some Personna Reds .

 

Im gonna get a sample pack från connaught shaving soon. Im just gonna acquire a DE razor first =P

 

That's how my neck looked when I used cartridges. You probably need sharper blades. Have you tried feathers?

 

No not yet, but Im gonna buy a blade sampler soon and then it looks like feathers are really good =)

 

Now when I come to think of it, derbys sometimes struggle with slicing through whiskers =P

 

Hi, Im wondering. Isnt it better to rinse with hot water? To keep the pores open?

 

Cold water constricts the pores and capillaries, reducing blood flow and redness/irritation. I'm a nurse, trust me.

 

I'm gonna try this =) thanks

 

I use the Merkur classic, I have been very happy with it. Tried my brother in laws open comb but it was to aggressive for me.

Two thumbs up on the blade sample pack. I was very happy with the Feather and Astra I found there. Trying all the others too now.

 

I think I will like and need those as my whiskers are coarse =P

 

"Trust me, I'm a doctor" they said
"Oh noooooo we already sanitized the alleyway" they said
I miss my spleen.

 

So I'm back at this. Today i tried the first blade in my blade sampler. when I started shaving I realised that I have a lot of razor bumps from my prior shave (I used a derby again).. so for now I know I should not use derbys for a while.

but the problem is, its really annoying to have razor bumps because when I started shaving and saw the bumps I knew I was not gonna have a great time =P

Is there a thread that explains why one get razor bumps? maybe if I understand the anatomy of it I can prevent it =)

 

Just to clarify, for today's shave I used an Astra SP, the shave before was with a derby