Alum and styptic pencils

Mong. said:
To elaborate on my current condition, three days or so after my shave my neck broke out in a painful red rash on either side of the 'pipe' (if that makes sense) with some raised red bumps.

My guess is that I tried to shave too close, with too much pressure and a sub-standard lather
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Sounds like a little of all three, with a possible extra not mapping that part of your face properly, and shaving against the grain on the neck.
That is the only time I seem to get irritation these days. I get a little lazy (or cocky) and try to shave ATG, and 9/10 I get razor rash.
 
Just an update for everyone. I had another shave and it went better, used less pressure and worked up a better lather and I think it shows. My neck has come up in a rash again, but it's half as intense as it was last time. Used the styptic to fix up my first nick. Oh, the pride, the glory...

So I forgot whether it was the Astra or Derby I meant to use, and I used the Derby. I thought it was okay, it felt sharper than the Merkur. Kinda felt like it was dragging across my skin in some places though.

I'm pretty sure I've worked out the problem here though. In the areas where I'm getting irritation, my beard seems to grow somewhat sideways. I'm pretty wary manipulating a blade like this side-on around my throat, so I was a bit tentative and I guess I kinda just scraped my skin. Maintaining the correct angle of the blade is a bit awkward, but practice will help.

Used the Nivea Sensitive Post-Shave Balm too, and that could be why it was better this time. Mum chucked some Body Shop razor rash repair cream in my lap too which smells like, but is mostly aloe vera. Nice thought though.

Any technique tips for shaving sideways guys?
 
Mong. said:
I'm pretty sure I've worked out the problem here though. In the areas where I'm getting irritation, my beard seems to grow somewhat sideways. I'm pretty wary manipulating a blade like this side-on around my throat, so I was a bit tentative and I guess I kinda just scraped my skin. Maintaining the correct angle of the blade is a bit awkward, but practice will help.


Any technique tips for shaving sideways guys?
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I do this along my jawline.

I just use the weight of the razor (Progress or R41) and let that do the work, I don't do the stabby scrape-scrape-scrape thing that a lot of people do.

Otherwise it stays stubbly.

So go really slow and use a lof ot slick lather, otherwise you will get rash or ingrown.
 
gthomas04 said:
Lie on your side on the floor - then its up and down not sideways. :)
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Too cold on the tiles mate! :p

JugV2 said:
I just use the weight of the razor (Progress or R41) and let that do the work, I don't do the stabby scrape-scrape-scrape thing that a lot of people do.

Otherwise it stays stubbly.

So go really slow and use a lof ot slick lather, otherwise you will get rash or ingrown.
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I am still a bit impatient with my strokes, so slowing down and using shorter strokes might be the answer. Potentially a sharper blade might help too, I had a strong sense of the razor dragging across the hairs rather than cutting them. I expect this comes down to technique again, though.

I'm not discouraged at all about this, I'd estimate that there is only half the irritation currently compared to the same time in the first shave.

Is it a good call waiting for the redness and bumps to subside before shaving again? I assume it is, but the downside is that my beard gets longer than I'd like while I wait for it to heal. Just wondering if shaving more frequently would help, despite the potential to antagonise whats already going on.
 
Mong. said:
Potentially a sharper blade might help too, I had a strong sense of the razor dragging across the hairs rather than cutting them. I expect this comes down to technique again, though.
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Angle and lather, both are probably fairly poor. A sharp blade and off angle will still scrape more than cut, and probably won't fix irritation.

Mong. said:
Is it a good call waiting for the redness and bumps to subside before shaving again? I assume it is, but the downside is that my beard gets longer than I'd like while I wait for it to heal. Just wondering if shaving more frequently would help, despite the potential to antagonise whats already going on.
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Depends how bad it is. You could just make it worse. I'd take a day off. Practise your lather, that'll help a lot while your sorting the angle.
 
Drubbing said:
Practise your lather, that'll help a lot while your sorting the angle.
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This strikes me as a potentially creepy request, but are you equipped to take a high-def photo of what you would consider a good lather? I really do think it's pretty good after I made some adjustments this time, but without anything reliable to refer to, it's hard to tell if I'm on the right track or lost in the scrub.
 
Pics can't help a great deal. It's needs to be wet and yoghurty, with few or no visible bubbles. If you think yours is good, it's going to come down to the blade angle and some practice. Take it gently and forget about the result, just go for comfort.

It doesn't take long, it's just that everything is unfamiliar at first.
 
I like to think good lather is like really good micro foam on a coffee, or meranguie to make a lemon meranguie pie or bombe alaska.
 
Good lather, light light light pressure. Make sure you know your neck growth direction and go ATG at your peril.

If you are so inclined check out some Mantic vids on youtube. I like his j-hook technique for the neck.

Finally...get the shave comfortable. No-one cares if your neck is perfectly smooth. If your neck looks like Jason from Friday the 13th has been practicing on you, that is what people notice. Not the difference between 0.0mm neck hair and 0.1mm neck hair :D
 
Today I had a job interview so I had no choice but to shave a day early than I had planned, but I'm gunna call today the best one yet by quite a long way. Every time I shave, I refine my blade angle and technique a little bit, and I'm happy to report no obvious irritation today.

My face isn't smooth at all compared to the first two, but as suggested, this is much more comfortable. Closer inspection of my growth suggested that I'm a muppet; looks like I was shaving somewhere between XTG and ATG (mostly this). No wonder it got irritated.

Thanks very much for all the advice guys, assuming that my neck isn't horrible over the next few days I'll stop updating this thread with shave-by-shave progress and jump into the other forums. Very grateful for your help, folks.
 
Hey Mong no one is going to crucify you for posting shave-by-shave progress or reports.

If anything it helps people know how to give advice to assist you, and it gets our forum more active.
 
Mong. said:
My face isn't smooth at all compared to the first two, but as suggested, this is much more comfortable. Closer inspection of my growth suggested that I'm a muppet; looks like I was shaving somewhere between XTG and ATG (mostly this). No wonder it got irritated.

Thanks very much for all the advice guys, assuming that my neck isn't horrible over the next few days I'll stop updating this thread with shave-by-shave progress and jump into the other forums. Very grateful for your help, folks.
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It's not a problem, no one here has a life anyways...

I think nearly everyone doesn't 'get' their growth patterns to begin with, and it's one of the keys to it all. Carts let you slash around any which way, but the multi blades can still irritate.

Some beards are tricker than others, but over time, by paying attention to what you're doing, you can get most of it shaved in the right direction.
 
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