Mixed results with first d/e razor

Slickers

Slickers

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13
Hi folks, I've a bit of a problem and I hope you'll chip in with your thoughts. First the back story.....
I've been shaving with a shavette for a while now and can get good smooth irritation free shaves 95% of the time. I spend a bit of time each year bobbing about on boats and skulking about in the woods and thought that a d/e razor would be just the ticket while away from the bathroom mirror. I could skip it but stubble, salt and drysuit neck seals are not easy bed fellows. Obviously after a bit (ahem) of online browsing I know I want a open comb and the R41 looks stunning, but after reading up put it to the back of my mind and looked elsewhere for something milder (new term to me), came across a Merkur 11c and it looked just the ticket for a first O/C and d/e razor.
Well, I loaded it with a green Gillette 7, all good except for the neck, a bit of burn either side of the throat. Next time I tried a feather, much the same, gave it two days rest and tried again (tonight), this time real gentle, 3 passes, cheese grater. Grrr

With the shavette I only do 2 passes on my neck, wtg and xtg, and its BBS, with the 11c even after 3 passes its not that smooth, 2 still feels real rough hence needing an atg pass.
I know I pull the skin tight when using the shavette contortionist style but I believe this isnt done with a D/E, true? Could it be the mildness of the 11C coming into play?
Otherwise I'm loving the D/E, my face is super smooth, its quicker than the shavette and it looks great on the shelf. Just need to sort this neck business out.

Thanks for reading this tome, if you think I've skipped some vital piece of info ask away.

Slickers
 
Slickers said:
Hi folks, I've a bit of a problem and I hope you'll chip in with your thoughts. First the back story.....
I've been shaving with a shavette for a while now and can get good smooth irritation free shaves 95% of the time. I spend a bit of time each year bobbing about on boats and skulking about in the woods and thought that a d/e razor would be just the ticket while away from the bathroom mirror. I could skip it but stubble, salt and drysuit neck seals are not easy bed fellows. Obviously after a bit (ahem) of online browsing I know I want a open comb and the R41 looks stunning, but after reading up put it to the back of my mind and looked elsewhere for something milder (new term to me), came across a Merkur 11c and it looked just the ticket for a first O/C and d/e razor.
Well, I loaded it with a green Gillette 7, all good except for the neck, a bit of burn either side of the throat. Next time I tried a feather, much the same, gave it two days rest and tried again (tonight), this time real gentle, 3 passes, cheese grater. Grrr

With the shavette I only do 2 passes on my neck, wtg and xtg, and its BBS, with the 11c even after 3 passes its not that smooth, 2 still feels real rough hence needing an atg pass.
I know I pull the skin tight when using the shavette contortionist style but I believe this isnt done with a D/E, true? Could it be the mildness of the 11C coming into play?
Otherwise I'm loving the D/E, my face is super smooth, its quicker than the shavette and it looks great on the shelf. Just need to sort this neck business out.

Thanks for reading this tome, if you think I've skipped some vital piece of info ask away.

Slickers
Click to expand...
There is no reason why you should stop pulling your skin tight even with a DE razor, if you needed to with the shavette then why not now?
Give the old skin pulling thing back into your routine and see how you get on.
:) P.
 
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11C is a very nice DE, don't really know why it was discontinued as they are alwaysin demand. Normally I'd have suggested that you're using too much pressure, however if the shavette works well for you I can't see that as the problem. As B/monkey says, no reason not to stretch the skin. My best suggestion would be to just go back to one pass when you resume shaving, even though that won't give you the closeness you want. Give yourself a few days with one pass to really workout the direction(s) of hair growth and then think about resuming the across or against the grain pass. Because, for most of us, the hair kinda swirls around on the neck it's easy to irritate the neck skin by inadvertently going atg when making more then one pass. Enjoy the 11C.

JohnnyO o/
 
The only explanation for the 11C going out of production I've found is that the tooling for the head was wearing out and they didnt think it was worth the expense to re tool, plausible if it wasn't a big seller for them, but then I believe the handle is shared with the 34c so how much could it cost, not my area of expertise so maybe it is loads.
 
I agree with the others, there's no reason why you shouldn't stretch your skin to make it flat.
Maybe get a selection of blades, to see which are best for you.
Is it an AC type shavette you use?
If so, have you considered an SE? The thicker blades may suit you better.
You can pick up a vintage British Ever-Ready 1912 for buttons, or a vintage injector for a few buttons more.
 
I've been using the blue beards revenge shavette, couldn't see how the actual shavette would make much difference, the blade choice being the only bit in contact with your face so went into the shop and bought the heaviest one, tried astras, wilkies, yellow and green 7's, derbys, feathers and my current favorites Dorcos!
I've got a couple more blades to try in the Merkur, but I'll try pulling the skin taught like I do with the shavette and only doing WTG and XTG, think/hope it'll sort things out.
I think my next razor purchase will be a Kamisori, only the day to day upkeep has stopped me pulling the pin on one already.
Thanks for all the guidance folks, much appreciated.
 
Happy days, one almost irritation free shave, pulling the neck taught and only doing the two passes worked a treat, only blood shed was just under the chin, caused by opening the angle out too much on the up stroke (ATG), nothing a bit of practice wont sort out.
Proraso red pre(and post)-shave cream , D.R.Harris Windsor soap, no name boar brush and 2nd use Feather just in case anyone's interested... Can't wait for christmas so I can open my Stirling synthetic from under the tree, I'm starting to spend more time picking loose hairs out of my lather than the actual shaving :mad:

Thanks everyone :D
 
Well, 8 shaves with the DE now, still get a little redness on the neck but that soon goes. The green 7 o'clocks are really bad for it, Dorcos are nice but need 3 passes, the feathers do a grand job (2 passes and a touch up), but then they are 2 or 3 times the price of the dorcos.
Shaved yesterday with the shavette for the first time since before Christmas, 100% time increase for a 50% improvement in smoothness.

Thanks again everyone
 
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