Safety Razors

Michael G

mailburner wrote: »

after reading a lot of this thread i switched to a safety razor (progress)
with a sample pack of blades
very good shave but i have this redness/rash under my nose and
on my neck and the last time i ever got this was when i tried
cheap bic razors 20 years back
i watched mantics vids on youtube also
i use tob avacado with a badger brush

any ideas why this is happening and what i could use to
get rid of it
i do take my time shaving and after a month i can say
i cut myself every second time

If you are using a sample pack of blades and finding the same thing happening with all of them, it's not likely that the type of blade is your problem.

It sounds to me like you may be over-shaving or putting too much pressure on the razor. When I started a few months back I developed a rash on my throat and neck that I put down to an allergy to shaving soap (and threw away some expensive TOBS and Trumper stuff), but I discovered that the problem was that I was being over-ambitious in those areas — too many passes, too much XTG. I settle for a single, very light pass on those areas and don't have a problem.

DonJose

mailburner wrote: »

any ideas why this is happening and what i could use to get rid of it

Try shaving on a very low setting 1-2, for the shaving rash I recommend the following, its an excellent product and shipping is only $4 on packages up to 3lbs in weight,

Thayers, After Shave Witch Hazel
http://www.iherb.com/Thayers-After-Shave-Witch-Hazel-4-fl-oz-118-ml/6793?at=0

SeaSide

I have a bottle and a half of this which I wont be using. PM me and I'll post it out to you.

My own preference is for a aftershave balm Prorasa or Veleiro. The Thayers gave me a rash as bad as any multiblade.

Gran Hermano

SeaSide wrote: »

I have a bottle and a half of this which I wont be using. PM me and I'll post it out to you.

My own preference is for a aftershave balm Prorasa or Veleiro. The Thayers gave me a rash as bad as any multiblade.

SeaSide, which Thayers have you tried? I found the ones labelled 'after shave' or 'medicated' too strong to use post-shave but the
'Thayers, Original Witch Hazel Toner with Aloe Vera Formula' ideal as a post-shave treatment.

SeaSide

Which would be this one?

Michael G

Michael G wrote: »

I tried a Wilkinson today with the Vision at the same setting as when I had the bloodbath the other day with the Feather. I was left with as much stubble as if I had used a GII disposable. Going to crank it up a notch tomorrow.

For the last three days I have been using a Wilkinson in my late father's 50-year-old Gillette. Perfect shave; no nicks or rash. Sometimes the simplest solutions are the best. Here is a picture: razor.jpg

Cabaal

My latest buy on ebay for about 12e including shipping
Although this is not ther exact one I did manage to get a case with the deal

CrowdedHouse

Great

The one in the pic looks like a 58 TV Special

seosamh

SeaSide wrote: »

Which would be this one?

Don't forget to use the coupon BUY123 to get $5 off as a first time customer. Kiss My Face shave cream can be gotten here too.

Cabaal

seosamh wrote: »

Don't forget to use the coupon BUY123 to get $5 off as a first time customer. Kiss My Face shave cream can be gotten here too.

feck it anyway, just placed an order last night
guess I'll have to reg a second account next time

mailburner

Gran Hermano wrote: »

Are you having a shower/bath before shaving? I find time spent on pre-shave pays off big-time.

What blades are you using currently? I'd recommend the Red Israeli Personna or IP Crystals as a good average blade.

What setting is your Progress on? (Long handled or short Progress?)

Are you re-applying lather with the brush between razor passes?

Make sure you are not 'leaning' on the razor whilst shaving, avoid adding
pressure and let the weight of the razor do the job.

im using a sample pack at the mo

my progress is set on 2

always shave after a shower

i was leaning on the razor a bit too much at
the start but now now

i dont reapply the lather that much tho

mailburner

bigfeller wrote: »

Which blades are you using? Are you getting the irritation with all blades?

Perhaps you're having a reaction to the TOBS cream? Perhaps try another. Are you using anything post shave?

When I started out I was using the razor at the wrong angle. I try to imaging a line between the top and bottom of the razor (think the shortest distance over the blade...err I'm not explaining it very well) and then try to keep my skin parallel to it.

im using a sample pack

so far ive used a mercur super
feather
de
and ive just used a personna platinum a few mins ago (no reall irritation with this one)
i found the de gave me the best shave from those four tho

i use nivea balm post shave

tried shaving at an angle like mantic in one of his vids
but im obv still doin that part wrong

MediaTank

mailburner wrote: »

im using a sample pack at the mo

my progress is set on 2

always shave after a shower

i was leaning on the razor a bit too much at
the start but now now

i dont reapply the lather that much tho

That's good. Try setting the Progress to 1 and use plently of lather. What blade are you using?

mailburner

Michael G wrote: »

If you are using a sample pack of blades and finding the same thing happening with all of them, it's not likely that the type of blade is your problem.

It sounds to me like you may be over-shaving or putting too much pressure on the razor. When I started a few months back I developed a rash on my throat and neck that I put down to an allergy to shaving soap (and threw away some expensive TOBS and Trumper stuff), but I discovered that the problem was that I was being over-ambitious in those areas — too many passes, too much XTG. I settle for a single, very light pass on those areas and don't have a problem.

a single pass doesnt seem to remove all the stubble for me

right now im not putting too much pressure on the razor

maybe i rush a little towards the end

septern

Hi all,
Been reading this thread for a bit and having suffered from shaving rash on my neck for years, took the advice of this thread and replaced my can of foam with an Omega 83 bristle brush and Proraso shaving soap and Col Conk Almond shaving soap.
The brush is the job – after about 2 weeks the ends of the bristles split and it works way better. I love proraso and col conk and switch between them.

Using these + finally checking the direction of hair growth on my neck and only going WTG means I get a great shave with a gilette fusion, with no rash.

So a big thank you to all in this thread!

Yesterday, when in boots I picked up their generic DE razor. Got an ok shave with it on my face, but shredded my neck, especially aroun my adams apple area, which is quite 'angular', if you get what i mean.

Question to you guys:

is the boots razor rubbish, or is it me ( combination of technique and contours of my neck) ?
is it worth me trying our a decent DE razor, like a Merkur, or should I just quit while I am ahead and stick to the brush/soap/fusion now that I can get an irritation free shave that way?

DonJose

Cabaal wrote: »

My latest buy on ebay for about 12e including shipping Although this is not ther exact one I did manage to get a case with the deal

Nice razor, I was on the lookout for a Gillette Red Tip and put bids in one 2 ebay auctions, ended up winning them both I'm looking forward to getting them as they have great reviews on B&B

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?ltr=G&t=58679

MediaTank

septern wrote: »

Question to you guys:

is the boots razor rubbish, or is it me ( combination of technique and contours of my neck) ?
is it worth me trying our a decent DE razor, like a Merkur, or should I just quit while I am ahead and stick to the brush/soap/fusion now that I can get an irritation free shave that way?

If yoy get a great shave with the Fusion, maybe you should stick with that. OTOH, if you want to learn how to DE shave and save (big) money on blades then a decent DE razor is the way to go. Difficult to beat a Progress and a sampler pack of blades.

Cabaal

septern wrote: »

Question to you guys:

is the boots razor rubbish, or is it me ( combination of technique and contours of my neck) ?
is it worth me trying our a decent DE razor, like a Merkur, or should I just quit while I am ahead and stick to the brush/soap/fusion now that I can get an irritation free shave that way?

In short yes it is, its poor quality when compared to other DE razors on the market.

In relation to shaving your neck, this depends on a few things such as type of blade and also how you shave your neck and adams apple (there's a trick to it)

Goto youtube.com and search for mantic59, he has a number of videos about shaving with DE razors including how to do your adams apple. His videos include a wealth of information and are well worth a watch.

I personally don't do what he shows in the video...instead I simply pull the skin to the side so its tightand flat and shave it and I do this on both sides of the adams apple, I;ve never had a problem doing it this way.

mailburner

MediaTank wrote: »

That's good. Try setting the Progress to 1 and use plently of lather. What blade are you using?

personna platinum today form the sample pack
already tried mercur super, feather and de
found de incredibly sharp but a great bloody shave

seosamh

Cabaal wrote: »

feck it anyway, just placed an order last night
guess I'll have to reg a second account next time

Cabaal, I forgot to include the coupon when I placed my own order but they have one of those 'instant chat' customer service features so I got an immediate response and the agent changed my order to include the coupon. Give it a try.

seosamh

Cabaal wrote: »

In short yes it is, its poor quality when compared to other DE razors on the market.

In relation to shaving your neck, this depends on a few things such as type of blade and also how you shave your neck and adams apple (there's a trick to it)

Goto youtube.com and search for mantic59, he has a number of videos about shaving with DE razors including how to do your adams apple. His videos include a wealth of information and are well worth a watch.

I personally don't do what he shows in the video...instead I simply pull the skin to the side so its tightand flat and shave it and I do this on both sides of the adams apple, I;ve never had a problem doing it this way.

Coincidentally, I tried out Mantic's technique for shaving the adam's apple which can be best described as doing a paused half-swallow whereby the adam's apple retracts and the covering skins flattens. Although this is quite uncomfortable to do, I found it quite effective although I ended up up with a rash there (but this may be related to the harsh Weleda a/s balm I applied afterward).

Going on the theory that there is a best blade for a particular razor I am beginning to think Derby is best for the Progress. Anyone agree?

As for the Kent BK4, I am impressed with its performance, at first I thought it was too gentle and lack a bit of scratchiness that my previous Muhle brush has. Worked better with cream than with soap and whipped up a lovely lather using Avene shaving cream.

Cabaal

seosamh wrote: »

Cabaal, I forgot to include the coupon when I placed my own order but they have one of those 'instant chat' customer service features so I got an immediate response and the agent changed my order to include the coupon. Give it a try.

Too late its shipped, they shipped it about 2hrs after I ordered it

seosamh

Cabaal wrote: »

Too late its shipped, they shipped it about 2hrs after I ordered it

it shouldn't be too late, they can still credit your card. Americans are more flexible in doing this than here - they are interested in keeping you as a customer whereas here it's more a case of 'computer says no'.

Gran Hermano

I find Iherb a pleasure to deal with. Orders take about a week to arrive from either USA or New Zealand. They were working on their warehouse last month and gave all customers who ordered a ten dollar voucher to compensate for any shipping delays. My order wasn't delayed but I got the voucher.

I use a small spray bottle I picked up in Boots amongst the travel stuff, just fill it up with Thayer's for a post-shave spritz. Less messy for me than splashing on.

Iherb also stock 'Kiss my face' shaving cream. It's a very good cream and lather's up a storm, can also use brushless. Reviews on B&B and a large pump bottle of any of them is cheap and well worth ordering. It's great for super-lather

seosamh

Gran Hermano wrote: »

I find Iherb a pleasure to deal with. Orders take about a week to arrive from either USA or New Zealand. They were working on their warehouse last month and gave all customers who ordered a ten dollar voucher to compensate for any shipping delays. My order wasn't delayed but I got the voucher.

I use a small spray bottle I picked up in Boots amongst the travel stuff, just fill it up with Thayer's for a post-shave spritz. Less messy for me than splashing on.

Iherb also stock 'Kiss my face' shaving cream. It's a very good cream and lather's up a storm, can also use brushless. Reviews on B&B and a large pump bottle of any of them is cheap and well worth ordering. It's great for super-lather

I am looking forward to receiving Kiss My Face (Unscented) which I ordered based on your recommendation before - it does get some great reviews on B&B alright although the packaging is a bit feminine. I like that in their ingredients list they claim to be 'obsessively natural'. The spritz idea for the Thayers is good, might give that a go.

Amalgam

I'm staying in a house with very soft water, the shaving experience seems easier and a tad more pleasant.

Is there science behind that, or is it me just thinking it is easier?

I've gone back to Gillette Black, from the BlueBird blades..

Gran Hermano

Amalgam wrote: »

I'm staying in a house with very soft water, the shaving experience seems easier and a tad more pleasant.

Is there science behind that, or is it me just thinking it is easier?

I've gone back to Gillette Black, from the BlueBird blades..

Lather should be richer and easier to whip up with soft water. I too have soft water at home, might be why I've had no problems with MWF soap.

Cabaal

Gran Hermano wrote: »

Lather should be richer and easier to whip up with soft water. I too have soft water at home, might be why I've had no problems with MWF soap.

I have awful hard water in my area, even with a water softner its far from perfect (though it stops my shower sounding like it has rocks in it!)

mailburner

mailburner wrote: »

personna platinum today form the sample pack
already tried mercur super, feather and de
found de incredibly sharp but a great bloody shave

day two using the personna platinum blade
i dont rate this blade at all compared to
others ive tried
was leaning on the progress and set it to 5
to get a decent shave and no blood drawn at all

seosamh

Have any of you come across this - apparently what seems like a pre-shave oil being marketed as a 'total shave solution'? 10ml of oil and you just need 3 drop per shave and guess what - there is no soap or cream involved. Where's the fun in that? And not aftershave friendly, EDT only.
Is this crazy? Is it compatible with DE shaving? The oil is activated by water so no need to relather, just splash with some hot water and go for the next pass.
Could this make DE shaving faster - with no lather, visibility would be greatly improved?
This is an Irish company and they have managed to make it onto the shelves of Boots pharmacy - they must be doing something right. www.totalshave.com