Hello everyone, No matter what I do, I keep ending up with either razor burn or areas that aren't decently shaved. I use disposable cartridge razors and a regular foam or gel (I've tried both). This works wel for my face, but when it comes to my neck, it's a disaster. I never get it the way I want it. At the end there's allways some hair left (that's right, not some stubble but spots of very short hairs). So here's what I do: 1) take a hot shower 2) wet my face a bit again and apply gel/foam 3) shave 4) rinse with cold water Now I was wondering, what can I do to get a smoother shave in my neck. I make multiple passes, I've tried 'em all: with the grain, across, against... I was wondering as well: is it necessary to reaply gel/foam after every pass? Some more info, I'm 20 years old and have, in my opinion, very thick hair. I need to shave every day in order to keep it smooth. Though I don't mind a bit of stubble so I usually shave every 2 days. Which isn't exactly helpfulle as I need to shave area with razor burns this way... Thanks in advance, because right now, shaving is hell for me.
Stop using the can gel/foam and the razor. Get a de razor and using a cream you lather. Will make a world of difference.
Hi, thanks for your reply, but as I'm new to the forum I don't fully understand it. Do you mean a double edged razor? And is it necessary to use a brush and all that? (As I'm a student I can't really afford that much, that's why I used the cartridge razors)
First off, Welcome to The Shave Den! A great community of guys and gals that enjoy wet shaving, I hope you enjoy your stay! While its not required, how about you hop over to the Newbies Section and give yourself a proper introduction thread, I'm sure you'll receive many warm welcomes from the friendly folks of this community. Be sure to take a look at the Shave School Master Sticky List for loads of great info for the new wetshaver. Take your time, watch the videos, and feel free to ask questions.
+1 for the above DE is Double Edge Razor yes. Oh and Welcome. It is not necessary to use a brush and everything but it does help your skin. The caned stuff has a lot of chemicals in it that make up the foam, using a soap or cream with a brush to whip up that lather will be less harsh on your skin. Re-applying for every pass is recommended. You can get a brush, bowl, and soap at your local Walgreen, Rite Aid, CVS, Walmart, or Target (not all carry them in store) for cheap. I just say a VDH set at my local Rite Aid for $9.99. There are some other options out there but the brush and soap will be the cheapest. If you need to use the overly priced disposable cartridges you can try letting up on the pressure some, stretch you skin with your free hand (like we all do with wet shaving), and hold the razor at a 90 degree angle from your face. This will help some with the razor burn (plus you can slide the razor back and forth with little chance of cutting yourself).
He did mean a double edged razor. If you're on a budget, you can collect a year worth of wet shaving supplies for under $50. When you consider what you spend on cartridges and canned foam in a year, you'll find this is actually cheaper. The only downside being, you'll spend that $50 mostly up front. Check out the link Bill posted for some guidance on technique and where and what to buy.
Soap, brush, skin stretching are all very good advice. I'd also add that if you don't want a double edge razor and want to stick with cartridge or disposable types to try the Bic disposable for sensitive skin. It's only one blade. I've always found that multiple blade razors remove to much skin and can cause irritation. The first blade cuts the whiskers, what is there for the second, third, fourth and fifth blade to do?
another option instead of a DE would be an injector... very few blade options but great shavers and would be a more natural transition from a cartridge
Razor I would say that if you can switch to a DE razor you should find that shaves get closer as even my wife has noticed how much smoother her legs are now she is using a DE razors, As for the canned stuff there are some many things in there that have no right to be in something that will be absorbed in to you skin that a switch to anything other than canned crap will be thank by you skin and you may even notice a improvement to your complexion, I can help with some blades should you deiced to switch and some sample pots of cream, Michael
There are two separate things here. Firstly you must throw away the aerosol foam/gel, it is bad for your skin and bad for the environment. It is mostly water you are paying for. Plus they tend to have nasty petrochemicals in there. Get a brush and either soap or cream. The mantic59 videos on Youtube will teach you a lot of what you need to know. Plus there is loads on here, just follow the links already given. This will be much more satisfying to use and much cheaper. You will get far better results. You shave in a number of passes and need to lather up between passes. Secondly there is the bigger move from a cartridge razor to a DE razor. There is a learning curve for this. Once again use the mantic59 videos and this forum for the knowledge. You can probably get an old Gillette razor by asking round your friends and relatives, so this will be free. The blades are only a few cents each when you buy them in bulk, but to start with use supermarket blades, they work just fine. When you start DE shaving it will probably be better than cartridge shaving straight away. But then as you gain the skill it will become much better. Keep us informed of what you do. Mantic59 is here: http://www.youtube.com/user/mantic59
Welcome!!!! Sorry for the inconvenience! I think the problem probably is not 'the razor (but' I will advise you to take a DE), perhaps the problem and 'the foam or other uses that .... and the technique relies heavily on a close shave, trust, up to a month ago I had never picked up a DE and now I rarely, and that 'a wonder! Good luck and let us know ...
Hi Stubbled, All good advice here. I also recommend ditching the can. There's another point her that I think would be worth mentioning that will help more that anything to relieve your razor burn. Razor burn is caused by too much pressure of a blades cutting surface to the skin. Think of your shave as being done in layers. Each successive layer gets your skin smoother and smoother. The idea is to make two or three passes with an absolute minimum of pressure applied. Here's my routine. 1. Shower, take a dab of hair conditioner and rub into my whiskers. This is optional but adds a little extra lube. 2. Fill my bathroom sink with hot water. Wet my brush and whip up my lather in my bowl/mug. 2. Lather up with a brush and shave soap. 3. Using very light pressure with a DE razor I go with the grain using 1" to 3" strokes holding the blade at a 30-45 degree angle to my skin. The angle you use with a cartridge is not something you can control so if your using a cart, you'll just have to make the pass as best you can. But the key is very light pressure. 4. Lather up again. 5. Using much shorter strokes, .5" to 1", I go over my whiskers across the grain. 6. Now I could stop there and be perfectly presentable, but for a BBS shave I need to do more work. Using my off-hand to dip into my sink of hot water I wet my skin as I go against the grain using very short, choppy strokes at a very shallow (10-20 degree) angle. My skin still has soap on it although I've scraped the lather away with the XTG pass. But by now my skin is drying, so I use my off had to wet as I go to keep the blade sliding easily across my skin. Again, I cannot stress enough the importance of using a very light touch. This holds double true for the ATG work because this is when you can really irritate the skin with too much pressure very easily. 7. Rinse the soap from my skin with the hot water, drain the sink and rinse again with cold to close my pores and tighten my skin. 8. Apply a dime sized dollop of after shave balm. This is very important because blade shaving removes skin cells and your face needs some protection afterwards. I use Neutrogena Razor Defense ASB and I like it quite well. Good luck!!
Thanks a lot for all the tips here, I will certainly check out mantics video's and let you know what I'm gonna change!
