Well, considering that I had been using unrefined shea butter for 13 years before I started wet shaving, my skin is hasn't improved greatly as the shea butter was doing a fantastic job by itself, but with the inclusion of the artisanal soaps that I am using and the wonderful razors, my facial area feels so much smoother and softer than when I was using an electric!

In the last month since I start shaving with my DE I've noticed a huge reduction in ingrown hairs. From one or two a week to a total of two (both on the same day after a really quick, bad quality shave). I'm looking forward to more improvements after I use up the last of my can of Barbasal and switch to a high quality cream or soap.

Why wait? Lose the Barbasol and get going with the cream. Your face deserves it.

Are you talking about wet shaving with a Fusion and canned gel or a Tech with a high quality soap like Tabac? A straight razor with Williams? An SE or injector with a cream like TOBS or C.O. Bigelow? What defines wet shaving for this poll?

Before - Mach 3 and Gillette goop-in-a-can


After - Gillette Slim Adjustable / Astra SP and Arko


Do I need to say anymore?

What defines "wet shaving"? My thought was anything other than canned goo.

Wow! That is dramatically improved.

You don't know the half of it! I put up with that for years, between electrics and Sensor / Mach. The first shave with a DE and I swear I was cured. I'm still very angry that I didn't find it sooner.
As for what wet shaving is, well I can only give my opinion in my pictures. What I thought was wet shaving, was most definitely not!

Hmmm. I guess I don't see how using canned lather and a device containing a blade(s) isn't "wet shaving".

Pretty much the same for me, except it looks like you had it better than me. My girlfriend could pluck 10 ingrown hairs off my face every day if I let her. I've been doing it for 5 months and I'm still recovering from super old razor bumps.

I've a very thick wiry, curly Irish red Viking beard and the ingrown hairs on my neck especially were ridiculous, about 50 - 100 at any one time. There aren't any photographs because I've always hated getting them and the many shaving issues are the reason. Thankfully they are ALL gone now.

I've primarily wet shaved for the past 35 years using canned shaving cream and a multi-bladed monstrosity with occasional forays into electrics but I've only been shaving with a DE and using soap and brush for the past 10-11 months or so. I would guess my skin is slightly better, but my wife says it is much better. I used to have ingrowns on my neck which was shaved once a week when I wore a full beard or on the edges of my goatee which was shaved a couple times per week. Now I don't have either because I do not have a beard, goatee or mustache.

I've been "wet shaving" for about 4 years now, but at first, I didn't know how to properly use a brush and soap. My early experience was not pleasant so I continued to use commercially available canned goop. I have since learned how and gave up using goop-in-a-can forever. Having the right technique, tools and products make a ton of difference! I feel like my skin has benefited since getting rid of the goop. I know my wife enjoys feeling my face more often and I enjoy asking her to sniff my aftershave and give me her opinion. So far she likes everything I've put on my face except the Veg... (sorry Veg lovers).

Same. They're all gone, but I still have lingering redness that's still going away. Not huge patches like you, just the random minefield of bumpies. No one taught me how to shave until I got fed up in the summer and decided to start researching and getting into all this traditional wetshaving madness.

At least we're on the right track NOW. I wonder how much of a difference it makes, having someone to teach you how to shave? Is it maybe better trying to find out yourself, going down the right track, such as these forums? Or would it have been better to have been taught the basics? I'm self taught, with A LOT of help from here.
My dad changed to cartridges just as I was starting to shave. His advice was "shave with an electric if you can". I know now that he didn't stick with DE simply because he wasn't doing it properly and then he just ran with the market.
My grandfather, I've since found out, would have put anyone on here to shame, such was his passion for shaving. When he died, it was all binned because "sure nobody uses that stuff anymore, it cuts you to bits".
Oh how I wish my grandfather would have been around to teach me, my life would have been so different.

Same kind of thing with me and my Dad. He tried a Black Beauty in 1970 and didn't like it after two tries(so disappointing to me. First time I tried it it was a couple months into wetshaving and it was a glorious uneventful shave). Now he buys Gillette twin blade disposables in 64 packs from Costco and literally uses bar soap. I cringe so bad, so bad. Yet, his face is totally fine. If I did that, I'd be ripped to shreds. I don't know how my grandpa shaved, but he definitely doesn't anymore as a 92 year old. However, I do have my great-grandfather's Gillette Old Type with green corrosion and a couple of bent teeth and a 50s' ball end Tech handle(I wish I knew the story there). So, I'm basically self-taught. Every time I see my Dad now he's like "You still use those single blade razors?" I just reply with "Yeah, man, best shaves of my life".

That Black Beauty that my Dad bought in 1970 for $5, is now my girlfriend's leg razor, haha.

Also, now I got my girlfriend's Dad back into Wet-shaving after 40 years of not doing it. He's now 57 and my Dad is 64. So, I share this hobby with my girlfriend's Dad. I gave him my 1960 Gillette SS with a starter kit of varying levels of difficulty of soap and creams, blade samplers, a boar brush.

I'm kind of contemplating giving my Dad a DE starter kit for Christmas with my old DE86.

Now that I think about it and have read other posts I should correct my input. BTW I know head-shave with a DE and I must say the shave is better and I do not get any razor burn or nicks, unless of course my lather is off. So yeah my skin is better.

Well your girlfriend knows what a good razor is. It is my go to razor and happens to have been my Grandpas not to mention Birth year and adjustable, although it is off by 2 quarters.

I have similar kind of beard, not super heavy, but wiry and curly. I would say that my skin has improved because I have 98% less ingrown hairs and razor bumps. So to answer...I specifically think switching from Cart to DE has helped my face.

Yeah. Now I just need to teach her how to make lather instead of running back and forth to the bathroom when she needs more and doing it for her.

Buy her a good brush and some soap for herself. If the motivation is there, she will learn quickly.