Just my opinion but a feather blade might make things worse. I'd consider that an "advanced shaver" kind of blade, and I noticed I often had my face and scalp feel irritated more after trying a Feather. I felt the same way about Shark blades. I prefer Astra, Voskhod, or Ladas in general as good sharp blades which are still a little forgiving. Of course, as with almost anything here, YMMV.. I also do agree with the "give it time and work on your technique" approach. I noticed after switching from cartridges that it took more than a month before my skin didn't feel red and raw after shaving with a DE. And I also think a Merkur 34C, while a good razor some consider to be an "intro" level DE with a mild shave, may be too aggressive for someone starting out. If it were me, telling my earlier self what to change, I'd say find a vintage Schick Krona for around $10 and work on technique. I've found Schick Kronas to be very, very mild yet effective, and less likely to nick or irritate the skin. Not that you want to spend more right now, but for me at least, a Merkur of any sort might have felt too harsh that first month or so until I learned to let the weight of the razor do most of the work and apply less pressure. Hope some of these ideas are helpful.
Welcome to The Shave Den! As the others have mentioned, it really just comes down to giving yourself more time to learn and improve your technique and pressure you are using. Once you understand how to do this and have a good soap and good prep, you will definitely see an improvement. It took my one year to truly understand this! Berst of luck!
I recently started myself (34 shaves in), as others have said the 30 day rule is more than worth the effort once you find a blade. I started with the 34c and Gillette Silver Blue blades and found pressure applied, or really lack thereof was the key for me. I was worried about nicks and cuts (have a nasty scar on chin that carts always seemed to nick, but that's another story) when I started I was very conscious on the no pressure other than weight of razor. Technique was my focus, not the shave results and surprisingly I have great shaves as a result. I still have yet to have a nick or a cut, however I did go brain dead one time and applied to much pressure and had bad razor burn, lesson learned for me. I still have much to learn, but my key is to go slow and remember to enjoy the experience!
Gillette Silver Blue is my fave. I would recommend it to newbies and sensitive faces, based on my experiences with it. Voskhod is another I like a lot. Blades are intensely YMMV, but good thoughts about focus. IMHO shaving is technique driven, results fall in line behind technique, as you found out.
try proraso white cream,use cool water before ,during and after, use witch hazel after the shave. you also might try noxzema preshave and between passes. just my two cents. salute. -CAM- ymmv.
Welcome, in addition to no pressure, technique and sticking with the same blade for a while, if possible do a one pass shave for a few days. Sometimes we over do it when working on technique. Even long time DE shavers have to remind themselves to not over shave when trying out a new razor or blade. Your face can tell you immediately if you have made a mistake but razor burn from over shaving, pressure or poor technique isn't very noticeable until post shave. When you slap on the aftershave and feel like you have been selected to do the screams of Tom from Tom and Jerry then you know you did something wrong. Good luck and hang in there, it will get better.
