Newbie with sensitive skin

Bezoar said:
skip the hot towel crap. all you need is a quick rub down of the face with your brush directly from the cup you soak it in. its how it was actually done in the days when Gillette was CREATING his razor.

hot water will just strip the oils from your face, and from the hair. Youll notice that soap is an oil... no sense in removing what you have in place already...
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:rolleyes:
 
the original Gillette pamphlet says to soak the brush, when its nice and pliable and amenable to shaving, rub it on the face to moisten the facial hair. then get it soapy and work the soapy lather into your face.

Oddly, if read literally, the brush is just used to wet the facial hair and the fingers are used to lather the face or to work the lather into the stubble.
 
Cream - Anything TOBS is a great start, if you can get your hands on it Speick is a great cream too.
Brush - Synthetic might be a good start for sensitive skin
Blades - I like Wilkinson Sword blades that you can get a Asda, Boots, etc. They're smooth and sharp, but not crazy sharp like Feathers
Pre shave
Do I need a bowl? - Maybe. Face lathering is not for everyone, so start with a bowl and then give face lathering a try when your more confident?
Do I need post shave? - Definitely! Keep it simple, Nivea balm is great.
Do I need alum block? - Possibly not the best idea for sensitive skin and I'm not sure it adds much to your shave.

Other bits of advice:

  • Beard mapping - this was a game changer for me, especially on my neck
  • Comfort over closeness - when I first started wet shaving I aimed for closeness and suffered some horrible shaves. When I dropped this and tried instead for comfort, I learned a lot more about my beard and my skin and what works.
  • Less is more - If you have sensitive skin and you run a shave routine like; a sclading hot shower, using a face scrub, pre shave cream, hot towel soak, three pass shave, ice cold wash, alum, rinse, alcohol splash then balm... your face is going to hate you for it!
  • For me: Face wash, 2 pass shave, rinse, balm, done!

Good luck
 
When starting out, Taylor of Bond Street Sensitive was a game changer for me. Also don't go for dolphin smooth - just the standard 3 passes and check where you've missed so you know for next time.
Palmolive irritates me - other than that it's all been said above. One thing maybe to try is cold water shaving, you won't get as close but irritation levels are much lower.
 
luke warm water. if you wont stick your tongue out and pour it on your tongue for fear of injury, its to hot for your face.
Stay with the grain. 2 passes.
 
I'm sure this has been mentioned before, but try to work out which way your beard grows. Have a check each day and you'll find out which direction your beard grows which will make it easier to work out shaving with the grain and across the grain, if you got sensitive skin I wouldn't recommend shaving against the grain. I bought some Myrsol Emulsion, I think it's amazing stuff, have a look at some reviews.
 
I'm a relative newbie in this game and the biggest lesson learnt for me was that mentioned by Aegidus. Get to know your face and my second would be how to produce lather.

Likewise sensitive skin here, but I find a pre-shave oil does help and after time I have found my skin has adapted to the new shaving routine. Witch Hazel (cheap as muck for what it does) has gone a long way to shaving happiness. Some great assistance from this place and some great knowledge to take onboard.
 
When I first started wet shaving with a DE I thought I had sensitive skin. I got razor burn and like you looked for answers.
I have found that the more I shaved and learned how to shave the razor burn disappeared and I'm fine now. I think it takes a while to have your skin adjust to a new way of shaving and people think that by pressing harder the shave will be better. Nothing could be further from the truth. You will learn and your skin will become more tolerant of the new shave. Stick with it. Only try to shave off the lather and not the whiskers that way you will use almost no pressure allowing the blade to glide across the skin. Good luck. It will get better.
 
wayne mattison said:
When I first started wet shaving with a DE I thought I had sensitive skin. I got razor burn and like you looked for answers.
I have found that the more I shaved and learned how to shave the razor burn disappeared and I'm fine now. I think it takes a while to have your skin adjust to a new way of shaving and people think that by pressing harder the shave will be better. Nothing could be further from the truth. You will learn and your skin will become more tolerant of the new shave. Stick with it. Only try to shave off the lather and not the whiskers that way you will use almost no pressure allowing the blade to glide across the skin. Good luck. It will get better.
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+1
 
Hi all

An update for anyone that's interested:

I had my first FE shave tonight; 2 passes WTG using Palmolive stick. It went well! I was ultra cautious so still have some rough areas but thought i would quit while I was ahead and not chase it. No cuts and although it's early stages my skin doesn't feel as sore was when I'd wet shaved before with cartridge blades. I took a bath, washed my face well, held a hot flannel on my face and neck for a minute or two then went for it. Plan is to leave it 2 or 3 days to check for any irritation then go again.
 
skip the hot towel. your just causing a lot of irritation.

when I first started, I did the hot towel crap. I had massive irritation. I stopped the hot towel crap because it wasn't actually doing anything. and my irritation went down by half.
 
I would invest in some 99% pure minimum Aloe Vera gel. I get mine from amazon. It is clear and perfume free. apply a little the size of 10p all over the area after shaving. It is brill for the skin and will take care of any redness and sooth the whole area. It costs pennies compered to fancy balms give it a go you will never regret it.
 
As Billy alluded to we all have sensitive skin or soon don't after learning how to shave properly and for a beginner it's far easier to lather creams so perhaps invest in a tube of Palmolive or what ever is easily available. If you haven't had any ill effects from your prep routine stick with it, hot towels/showering all help to clean then soften the beard. Try not to go crazy with too many post shave product(s) as the better you shave the less you need, pick and stick with a good one.
 
Adjusting from mindlessly scraping five blades across your face to gently gliding one very sharp blade takes a while, it's not rocket science though. Make sure your hot water and hot towels aren't piping hot, just pleasantly warm or you'll strip the protective oils out your skin and begin the road to irritation.
Most of all - enjoy it. Sounds odd that people can enjoy removing hair from their faces but it's both a time to relax and very rewarding thing to shave like a real man.
 
Thanks again all

Purbeck, fully understand about enjoying it. I've had one DE shave and am actually worried that I'm getting s bit obsessed with it! My face feels so much better than before after only one shave so thinking I'm getting a bit carried away. I want to find the perfect products etc but realise after reading so much in here that I need to just take my time and enjoy experimenting with different things. I'm actually adjusting from using an electric rather than a cartridge razor so the transition is all the more exciting.

If all continues to go well then I've decided I'm just going to stick with these products for at least s month, then I can try changing one thing (maybe soap or maybe a different blade etc) and eventually I can fine tune everything to me.

Thanks again for everyone's help and advice :)
 
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