I have quite sensitive skin. I don't get much by way of irritation, but I am very prone to ingrown hairs on my neck.
I shave usually on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday, so I normally have 2 or 3 days of hair growth when I shave
My usual routine that I have gotten into the last few shaves has been:
1- Hot shower. Making sure that the facial hair is nicely soaked and soft.
2 - Face Scrub
3 - Poraso Sensitive Pre-Shave cream.
4 - Wickham's 1912 Cashmere face lathered with a Boar brush.
5 - 1 x WTG pass on my neck. 1 x WTG pass and 1 x XTG pass on my face. Razor used is a Merkur 34C HD loaded with a Perma-Sharp blade.The 1 pass on my neck means I often have an uneven shave on my neck.
6 - Alum block.
7 - Face wash with warm water.
8 - Poraso sensitive post shave balm.
Although I don't get a particularly close shave with the above, I do get a comfortable shave. I am still left with ingrown hairs though. If the ingrown hairs are bad, I'll miss a "shave day" or two before shaving again.
I've read into cold wet shaving recently and found that it helped those who are prone to ingrown hair. I gave it a try tonight.
Steps 1 and 2 were the same. However before step 3, I splashed my face with cold water a few times before moving onto steps 4, 5 and 6. I used a face wash with cold water as well for step 7. Step 8 was normal.
The positives I noticed from my first cold wet shave were:
1 - It was easily my most comfortable shave to date. So comfortable and smooth, that I felt confident enough to do a second WTG pass on my neck to get an even shave.
2 - The post shave felt amazing.
3 - The initial quality of the lather appeared to be better.
There was a couple of big issues that I noticed.
1 - Although the initial quality of the lather appeared to be better, the lather quickly started to kind of solidify and turned quite pastey. Lost a lot of slickness as a result. Had to wash off the lather each time and reapply when it started to go pastey. I couldn't go a full pass without re-applying.
2 - The razor clogged up frequently with the pastey lather.
Are these issues common with cold wet shaving or was it that some soaps don't do well with cold water?
I'll report on whether my issue with ingrown hairs is helped over the next few days.
I shave usually on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday, so I normally have 2 or 3 days of hair growth when I shave
My usual routine that I have gotten into the last few shaves has been:
1- Hot shower. Making sure that the facial hair is nicely soaked and soft.
2 - Face Scrub
3 - Poraso Sensitive Pre-Shave cream.
4 - Wickham's 1912 Cashmere face lathered with a Boar brush.
5 - 1 x WTG pass on my neck. 1 x WTG pass and 1 x XTG pass on my face. Razor used is a Merkur 34C HD loaded with a Perma-Sharp blade.The 1 pass on my neck means I often have an uneven shave on my neck.
6 - Alum block.
7 - Face wash with warm water.
8 - Poraso sensitive post shave balm.
Although I don't get a particularly close shave with the above, I do get a comfortable shave. I am still left with ingrown hairs though. If the ingrown hairs are bad, I'll miss a "shave day" or two before shaving again.
I've read into cold wet shaving recently and found that it helped those who are prone to ingrown hair. I gave it a try tonight.
Steps 1 and 2 were the same. However before step 3, I splashed my face with cold water a few times before moving onto steps 4, 5 and 6. I used a face wash with cold water as well for step 7. Step 8 was normal.
The positives I noticed from my first cold wet shave were:
1 - It was easily my most comfortable shave to date. So comfortable and smooth, that I felt confident enough to do a second WTG pass on my neck to get an even shave.
2 - The post shave felt amazing.
3 - The initial quality of the lather appeared to be better.
There was a couple of big issues that I noticed.
1 - Although the initial quality of the lather appeared to be better, the lather quickly started to kind of solidify and turned quite pastey. Lost a lot of slickness as a result. Had to wash off the lather each time and reapply when it started to go pastey. I couldn't go a full pass without re-applying.
2 - The razor clogged up frequently with the pastey lather.
Are these issues common with cold wet shaving or was it that some soaps don't do well with cold water?
I'll report on whether my issue with ingrown hairs is helped over the next few days.