We could imagine testing under laboratory conditions to determine how sensitive a person's skin actually is. In practice, it's all subjective impressions.

In my Atra and Edge Gel days, I would have said that my skin was fairly sensitive. Now I'd say that I wasn't shaving correctly, and it's probably fairly normal.

So just out of curiosity, with reference to shaving, how sensitive do you think your skin is? Although it's not one of the poll choices, has your opinion on this changed as you learned more about shaving?

Before I started wet shaving, I thought I was very sensitive. I still have some creams and soaps that don't agree with my skin especially on my neck, but its not nearly as bad as I thought. I used to stay away from anything with a fragerance.

Mine is sensitive, but not extremely sensitive, however combined with a medium to course fast growing beard, caused problems . That is why I moved to wet shaving.

I too have a coarse beard with a sensitive neck. I can get away with a lot on my cheeks, chin, & upperlip, but my neck will quickly expose any problems.

The base of my neckline gets bumps if I look at it wrong. I have to be extremely careful when shaving that part, otherwise I don't think I'm sensitive to anything anywhere else.

I feel the same as you three above me - sensitive skin, pretty coarse beard. The neck is a constant struggle.

However I have definitely noticed a marked improvement since I started DE shaving, no question.

I have a very tough beard with a skin that gets irritated very easily even if I sweat. Certain soaps and creams, especially almond-scented ones are a no-no for me, although I have no problem with stuff like the Cella or P160 soaps.

About the same for me but I do notice that since DEs I go vast amounts of time without a rough shave where with carts it always seemed to be there. Neither carts or DEs has any lasting impact though, normally I have no issue the following day. While I was figuring out my DE technique though, there were a few shaves that I HAD to give a day or two for healing, but that was a while ago now.....

Recently have been using my bump fighter razor cause it seems like I always have at least one small one hanging around. I stopped using bump patrol thinking I had it all figured out and bam, this morining a nice little bump on the neckline! If I'm going to always be having to use bump patrol I might as well use my DE dammit! This irks me to no end, getting razor bumps with a bump fighter razor!!

I have pretty sensitive skin for shaving. Lots of soaps burn/irritate my face, and I need a really sharp blade or else I get too much irritation from the shave. DEs help with this, but SEs are much better for my face...I think the rigid blade helps. (I can't wait to try a straight!!)

I think this sums it up for me. I used to think I had sensitive skin, but my irritation was due to some less then stellar technique. I used to drag a 2 week old mach 3 cartridge across my face without any shave cream while in the shower and wonder why I had irritation.

Now I don't suffer much irritation and what I do get goes away in short order. The only place I get some is on my neck if I do more then two passes. I have settled for a near BBS 2 pass shave. I normally get a little roughness along the jawline and the neck, but it is very minimal.

During my disposable razor, I stuck with Aveeno unscented gel. I have broadened out my choices now with a DE, but certain soaps and creams do make my face red or inflamed. I'm not sure exactly which ingredients are the culprits. I thought it was perfumes, but TSD soap and cream with essential oils don't bother me. Cella with its almond fragrance doesn't bother me. It's not menthol either, since I can enjoy Joanna's Sub Zero cream, but not Proraso, even the white tub turns me red. So it is trial and error to find what doesn't give me red patches .

my skin is fairly rugged... there are some days i shave with only water, i'll blade-buff against the grain on the second pass... or use a bar of body soap as shave soap...

i push too hard, i hold the blade at the wrong angle, i shave too fast, i use a feather in a gillette super-adjustable on the 10 setting and only get very mild irritation...

for some reason, for the past two years i've been unable to cut myself, even if i found a dry patch on my skin that sent the razor bouncing down my cheek

I always know when a razor is pulling, though, and i hate it... so i guess that's the only saving grace i have, hehe, i know when my blades are getting dull.

I can't shave but once every week. My beard does grow slow, but if I try to shave every other day i wind up with a bad case of razor burn on my neck.

Back in the day of cans & carts I thought I had sensitive skin... now I believe I'm "normal" (at least in skin resilience )

I went with "Tough."
I shave every day, 3 passes plus a touch up. No irritation problems unless I use a Derby blade.
No problems with any soaps, creams, balms or aftershaves.

Just blessed, I guess.

like others, I thought I had super sensitive skin back when I used carts/ electric razors. I used to get irritation and serious razor burn on a regular basis. Proper technique cleared up the worst of the problems, but I still get mild irritation pretty easily. Thus, I think I have sensitive skin.

My solution has been to do one pass + touchup with an aggressive razor + sharp blade. The type of cream or soap doesn't make much of a difference for me. I do have to be careful with aftershaves and balms. Some of those have caused reactions.

I am the same here with the SEs being better for my face than the DEs. I just tried a DE shave this morning for the first time in a little while and I had to finish the shave with a Gem Featherweight. It took about 3 passes with the DE to clear the same amount of stubble as I can in 1 pass with a SE. 1 final pass with the Featherweight and I was in the DFS category but with more irritation from the higher # of passes. I had a great slick lather and this was the first time I've used both a DE and a SE in a single shave. The difference is huge, for me anyway.

There are a few creams, soaps and aftershaves that do not agree with my face. I need to track them and weed them out. Mostly what I notice is that some products burn my skin upon application. Perhaps it is the oils used to scent them.

I am going with my cheeks and chin as being tough, but my neck is sensitive, so averaging those out, I get normal.