***The Official Manly Shaving Thread***

dirtychinchilla said:
I’ve learned a few things about avoiding irritation. I think if you do them all then hopefully it’ll improve! Some of this stuff is repeated information, but just my two cents:

  1. Thin your beard with a trimmer first so the hairs are as short as possible
  2. Have a hot shower and make sure you get a lot of hot water on your beard
  3. If you can’t do this then use a hot flannel on your face for a few minutes
  4. Use a shaving brush to apply the shaving soap to your face - this made a huge amount of difference to me actually, my shaved have improved dramatically after getting a brush
  5. Shave carefully. I have an old school safety razor type thing that everyone else has. Spin it every stroke to even out the shave
  6. Clean your face with cold water afterwards and then put moisturiser on afterwards
Hope that helps! As a few other people have said, the first shave isn’t too good but the second is better.
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And if you struggle with it still, do both 2 and 3. Hot shower, thin it out with a trimmer and then use hot flannels to soften.

Exfoliating helps a lot too, helps give me a closer shave. And perhaps even using a pre-shave oil or cream of some sort.
 
dirtychinchilla said:
Clean your face with cold water afterwards and then put moisturiser on afterwards
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I always rinse with warm water to clear the shaving cream etc. then give a couple of rinses with cold water to close the pores and finally a liberal wipe around with a alum block (or stingy block as I like to call it), when I've finished cleaning everything give my face a nice rinse with cold water again to get rid of the alum block residue and then apply a post shave balm.

I get almost no irritation ever now where when I used to use disposables I'd always have a rash on my neck.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Osma-Bloc-...TF8&qid=1505031263&sr=8-1&keywords=alum+block
 
I have just updated my shaving setup to the following:

https://www.executive-shaving.co.uk/product.cfm/product_ID/7571/category_ID/238

ES Natural Shaving Cream

https://www.executive-shaving.co.uk/product.cfm/product_ID/8110

Big Jock Brush

https://www.executive-shaving.co.uk/product.cfm/product_ID/6952/category_ID/277

Muhle R41 Twist

Just had my first shave with these today and I am impressed. The shaving cream gives a great lather and the brush certainly makes it easy. These two were actually the biggest difference I found from my old setup. I was using an old Wilkinson Sword brush and the difference is like night and day. I was also using Taylors Of Old Bond Street shaving cream - which is quite good - but I found the new cream gave a better lather.

As for the razor, I changed from a Murkur Futur to this one. Mainly, though I liked the Futur, the size of the head put me off. Add to that the fact that I had a nasty accident which resulted in some serious finger damage (my own fault), and I was put off enough to want to change. Anyway, the R41 give quite an aggressive shave, so I wouldn't recommend it for beginners, but you can't argue with the smoothness after you are done. I tend to only shave once a week or so, which leaves me with quite a bit of hair on my face, and the R41 sliced through it without any issue in one pass. This is using Personna blades as I personally found the Feather ones too aggressive.
 
Not a problem mate, it's amazing how much easier it makes shaving when you have good stuff to use, I don't mind shaving now whereas before I really hated it with a passion.
 
Rroff said:
What works for me is to go with warm water for washing off, slap on something with good anti-bacteria action (I use alcohol based aftershave but generally people recommend avoiding due to it drying out the skin) then use something like a wrung out or cooled down face cloth or block rather than lots of cold water before finishing up with moisturiser. Works for me - almost no spots or irritation, etc. post shaving. IMO going cold water too soon just blocks in bacteria, etc. Not to say that is necessarily good advice or would work for everyone but works a treat for me.
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Which anti-bacterial stuff do you use? I found myself getting a lot of spots recently with straight soap, but after swapping to some king-of-shaves stuff it seems to have improved. I'd welcome some suggestions of other products to use too!
 
ci_newman said:
I must admit, it depends on how long I have left it between shaves. If I am shaving daily, I will moisturise otherwise my skin feels tight / dry. If I am waiting 3-4 days between shaves, usually my skin doesn't feel dry
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You should moisturise everytime you shave and every time you wash your face. If you don't rehydrate your skin it will rehydrate itself by producing excess oil, which could be a reason for you getting unwanted spots.
 
ci_newman said:
I must admit, it depends on how long I have left it between shaves. If I am shaving daily, I will moisturise otherwise my skin feels tight / dry. If I am waiting 3-4 days between shaves, usually my skin doesn't feel dry
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RoboCod said:
You should moisturise everytime you shave and every time you wash your face. If you don't rehydrate your skin it will rehydrate itself by producing excess oil, which could be a reason for you getting unwanted spots.
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And using the right stuff, if you use oily moisturisers you might cause your skin to produce even more and you'll have an oily mess :p


I tend to exfoliate (twice a week max) prior to shaving as not only is it good for your skin it helps soften the hair.
Then shave
Then wash with something like Aesop Amazing Face Cleaner
&
When moisturising, twice a week I'll use monu hydrating mask, this makes my skin super soft.
Other than that its Neals Yard for Men Moisturiser



Being only 20 and sadly I didn't hit my acne period until about 15 I'm still struggling, the above routine is the best thing I've ever done.
 
Hi, I've been using a Merkur Progress now for around 5 years or so.
I recently saw the Ming Shi 2000s advertised for pennies (think I paid $12 for two).
It arrived and I did not like it, however it did pique my curiosity to try a few different razors.
I sold the Ming Shi (shame they don't clone the Progress, because the metallurgy was excellent).
I have ordered a 1940s style super speed and a 1960s Gillette slim adjustable.
 
Anyone have any views on this, Panasonic ER-GD60 i-Shaper? I don't need anything to clever as I am just an old guy trying to keep his beard and moustache looking reasonably neat. I hate feeling moustache growing to close to my mouth so like to keep it cut back on the upper lip and the beard was grown only to stop my head looking like a skull after undergoing radiation treatment and it is more goatee as it does not grow up the sides of my face much.
I have a couple of Wahl's at the moment and to be hones I am not impressed with the moustache trimming attachments hence the search for something else.
http://www.panasonic.com/uk/consumer/personal-health-care/men-s-trimmers/er-gd60.html
 
I am shaving this months growth into a silly Hulk Hogan style moustache tonight, not for Movember but because a group of us are doing it for this weekends festivities and its probably the most acceptable time of year for silly tashes. I sharpened the straight edge last night in preparation and have the cream at the ready.
 
Oh look it’s my very first spec me thread.

Anywho seeing as the past year I’ve grown a bit of a beard. The only issue I come up against is keeping those lines sharp as a razor and my trusty mach3 razor isn’t really up to the job.

So the good people of OCUK can you spec me a good easy to use razor, something easy to manuever around my face without hacking it to bits and most importantly doesn’t need a lot of maintenance.

Budget is around £50 but can go higher if need be.
 
As above, do you mean straight or double edged safety razor? Going to a straight from a mach 3 is going to be a steep learning curve and a lot of cuts! Id go half way with a DE personally! Love mine and really starting to be able to use it will after a year or so and was actually thinking of looking at a straight razor just to try it out more than anything else.
 
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