When I was working in the office , I was shaving every morning, Now with the lockdown the discipline has gone a little . This is my reason to try DE shaving. I want to get some discipline back into my life, get out of the sweat pants and have a shave regularly. There is the question. How often should I shave with the DE.? I have been using a TOBS cream and a brush with my Cartridge razors for many years. Should I shave every day, If I do shave every day should it be just one pass.? Frankly if I was in the office, I could perhaps easily get away with a shave say on Monday morning and the next one would be acceptable on say Tuesday night. I guess this would be around 36 hours. Now I am at home, I guess I could stretch it out to shave every other day.
I'm looking forward to starting my DE experience.
How often do you shave?
How often ?
When you 'need' to shave - when you're new to DE shaving, your skin is going to react differently to how it does when using a cartridge razor.
Cartridges provide more protection from the cutting edge of the blade, and encourage you to apply more pressure without causing cuts and irritation.
Apply too much pressure with a DE and you're going to suffer the consequences.
Shaving too soon after inflicting cuts or irritation will only worsen the issue, and likely make you go back to using cartridge razors.
You'll know when your bristles are long enough or 'in need' of shaving (Your wife/partner will let you know if you've passed the usual with a remark such as, "ain't it time you shaved?"
Try to avoid chasing a close finish like you can with a cartridge - instead, get used to how the razor cuts (angle and pressure) - tecnique is everything in the early days.
With the grain (direction of growth) single pass shaves for a couple of weeks or so is where to start - you'll be shaving for the rest of your life, so there's plenty of time to practice, there's no need to chase a baby bottom smooth finish during the transition.
YouTube is your friend . . .
Search for Nick Shaves and Mantic59, their videos will help you a great deal at this stage.
One last thing, post shave . . .
Don't be tempted to over-do your aftershave routine.
One or the other is fine - balm or alcohol based splash - use both and you (could) irritate your shaven skin, which can make subsequent shaves uncomfortable, leading to more irritation/redness.
Very last point . . . . DO NOT USE ALUM !!! (Some use it to gauge if they've shaved too close) . . .you will know this already, so whats the point??
It doesn't do anything but sting your face and neck.
Only use alum to help stop cuts from bleeding.
Good luck