Going from Straights to DE's

Discussion in 'General Shaving Talk' started by dewey, Feb 15, 2020.

  1. dewey

    dewey New Member

    Hello! Looong time lurker, first time poster. A very quick background before my question.

    I struggled for many years with razor bumps\ingrown hairs with the standard cartridge razors. Figured it was my skin and it was just a fact of life and Id have to deal with it forever. 9 years ago I was lucky to have a coworker reccomend straight razors. Long story short, my bumps and ingrown hair problem vanished. Fast forward to this year and I decided to try DE's and see if I would have the same luck. Tried it for the first time yesterday and had a very nice mild shave. Light pressure, two pass shave with no burn. But then came the bumps, and probably ingrown hairs to follow.

    My question is, has anyone here had the same problem?
     
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  2. lightcs1776

    lightcs1776 Well-Known Member

    I went from carts to DE and nearly eliminated all ingrowns. I use straight razors primarily on the weekends and haven't had an issue with them, but since it is not a daily routine, it is not a convulsive determination.

    Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
     
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  3. Chuck Naill

    Chuck Naill Well-Known Member

    I use VDH Luxury soap to produce a wet lather. Shaving with a straight or shavette I use a very light pressure with three passes. This should solve your problems.
     
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  4. dewey

    dewey New Member

    Yeah I use nothing but good shaving soap as well. Way nicer than can stuff. I'll give it another go after the neck heals. I thought I was pretty light on the touch. But it was my first time with a DE.
     
  5. Chuck Naill

    Chuck Naill Well-Known Member

    I find that sharp is essential. I used the Feather SS shavette with Pro Guard blades to see what sharp means. :)
     
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  6. steve207

    steve207 Well-Known Member

    I also went from carts to de after a week to a mouth my ingrown cleared up and went to a shavette got in ingrowns back but i was using foaming shave gel to teach myself to us it and videos helped and then my hands got to shacking and twitching and to stop.
     
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  7. PanChango

    PanChango Not Cute

    Too much stretching?

    How many passes are you doing? When I first started with DE and SE razors I was doing 3 passes and it was just too much for my neck to tolerate red bumps and ingrowns. I dropped back to two passes and the problem generally went away. In time,the two passes came close to the closeness of the three passes without the irritation.

    I also have some razors that just irritate me regardless of the number of passes.

    Good luck sorting it out.
     
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  8. Edison Carter

    Edison Carter Well-Known Member

    I've experienced that.

    I love the results of the final ATG pass on the lower neck.

    I can get irritation, bumps, ingrowns there with a DE or injector if I'm not careful.

    Usually too much pressure, bad angle, dulling blade, or a combination of these.

    Sometimes I'll skip the final lower neck ATG move with a safety razor. I'm pretty sure that I'm the only one that knows.

    FWIW, I'll only go ATG on a third pass.
     
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  9. dewey

    dewey New Member

    I just went two passes. I decided not to get too crazy the first time out.
     
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  10. Spyder

    Spyder Well-Known Member

    Give an injector a shot. IMHO, the closest thing to a straight shave. I use a str8, but if I’m in a hurry, I’ll reach for the Schick.
     
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  11. DaltonGang

    DaltonGang Ol' Itchy Whiskers


    I use a DE, every once in a while, when I am in hurry, and cannot properly prep for my Straights. I just do a single pass on the neck, with the DE, to avoid irritation, and bumps.
     
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  12. brit

    brit in a box

    i went from carts to vintage gillettes.my ingrown/bump problem disappeared. but i only go dfs on the lower neck during the final atg pass..
     
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  13. Sara-s

    Sara-s This Pun for Hire

    What brand of DE blades were you using? Did you change brands at any point?
     
  14. Macbeth

    Macbeth Active Member

    I've never actually swallowed the concept and "seeming consensus" of the 3 pass shave.

    My common sense thinking is WHY would someone pass a blade over and over their face and even expect they're not to be creating a problem. ( did you REALLY believe that the Gillette commercial flaunting that 2,3,4 blades on a razor would actually raise the hairs up between blades and mow them down and the rise up again and again? Really? Show me a real film of that: not some advertising ploy and clever animation. )

    The more "scraping" the more removal of whatever is being scraped. That also includes SKIN.
    I did one pass shaving for over 60 years. I didn't even know what razor bumps were.

    Then I found these forums where many were touting the 3 pass shave.
    Wow! Have I been wrong all these years? So I tried it.

    My goodness, it DID remove hairs I didn't know I had. But....why would I even DO such a thing?

    I then realized I had let my own brain think that throngs of other people were wrong: group thinking.

    My thoughts are as valid (for me) as anyone else's. My intuition and critical thinking powers are sharp.

    And YOUR THOUGHTS are very valid for you. Do not get tangled and confused by the endless "minutiae "

    " Dont let the sound of ( other people's) wheels drive you Crazy!"
     
  15. 178-bplatoon

    178-bplatoon Well-Known Member

    Type/brand of blade and even type/brand of DE razor(3 piece, TTO, Adjustable) can all make a difference to many people. You really need to try each type of both razor and blade to see what works for you the best. I use an Ikon slant and get very smooth irritation free shaves, but something like a Gillette Super Speed tears my face up. Its just a matter of finding what your skin like. :happy088:
     

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