It does seem unreal, but I may be starting to crack through to the perfect case scenario. For the last few weeks I grew a beard again. My skin underneath it got a break but recently it threw my balance off and I started getting some breakouts. I stuck to shaving as frequently as possible while not overdoing it. By shaving I mean cleaning up my neck - but that's where the trouble is. Overall I did some changes to my skincare and my it seemed to improve my skin. And now I randomly decided to lose the beard. That also helped to improve my skin overall, even if I am a little out of practice above and around the jawline.
I also started to use a single exfoliating product after I noticed how flaky my neck gets and how this dead skin is trapping the hair. I found a really nice balance where, I am not over-exfoliating to the point of having sensitive skin and I can shave with a straight razor without getting much irritation. And it is enough to not trap as much hairs while they grow out. For the past week I started to notice visible improvements. I will keep this up. I also switched to a boar brush and to my surprise I can work it on my face for a bit without upsetting my skin. Maybe that also helps towards improving my results.
Once I get up to speed with shaving my whole face again, I should cut some time needed to complete a pass, and then reduce any damage that I do while performing it. That should also help a lot. It takes work to tame this new near-wedge of mine. But I like how confident it is in removing hair - it does not need any help to go through even my denser areas. It only needs to be held back at all times. And while that is tricky sometimes, I enjoy using it and I can see myself never using another straight. With the way I am, I rarely can stick to something for more than a few days. But this razor after 5 weeks is not getting old at all. My modest vintage SR collection will not see much use in the near future. And I should get myself an Ark and lap it to keep this beautiful edge. Oh well, seems like I am finally getting into the groove.