I am unable to shave my facial hair. What do I do.

[Fat-Elvis]

I just shaved my face for the first time in at least three months. I've just been trimming it with a beard trimmer up until today. Every time I try shaving my face I think "maybe this time it'll turn out alright", but it never does. I've tried both electric razors and wet shaving. No matter what I do I'm left with a faint five o'clock shadow on my cheeks and nasty looking stubble on the area around my adams apple. I can run a razor over my neck for an hour and it'll still look nasty afterwards. Not to mention how red it leaves it looking.

Do I have ANY options? I can't imagine I'm doing anything wrong, I mean shaving shouldn't be THIS hard. Are there any really expensive electric razors that would be more effective? Any special techniques to use? Would a professional barber/shaver be able to get a good shave outta me or am I just stuck with incredibly stubborn facial hair? I'm even thinking of getting laser removal for the hair at level with my adams apple. Anyone else have this problem?

 

[jkennett]

Are you noticing the "grain" of your hair, as in what direction it's growing in... Normally it's recommended to follow the grain so you don't irritate your face. But, then again... if you want it cut really close you'd probably want to go against it. I suck at shaving though, so that's about it from me.

 

[Fat-Elvis]

If I only shaved with the grain it wouldn't look like I shaved at all. At least towards the bottom of my neck.

 

[BDC2823]

The area around my adams apple will get red as well. I just have to be careful to make sure I shave with the grain. This should help out alot. I'm sure others will have better input.

 

[lovely]

what about going to a barber?

 

[Fat-Elvis]

Like I said, I'd consider going to a barber if I thought it would work. I just don't want to have to spend money on a trip to the barber every time I want a decent shave.

 

[dfagdfsh]

Have you ever used something like a pre-shave oil? How do you prepare your face to shave?

 

[Charles55]

This is my shaving list.... I HAD some problems with irritations too.

- wash your face with warm water
- put on the foam (i use gel)
- shave with the grain (face and neck)
- put on more foam to the face and shave against the grain.

I don't shave the neck against the grain because it turns red and burns after it. It's enough if you shave carefully from outside to the middle.

Wash your face with low warm water to put off the rest of the foam/soap. Then get a cold and fresh washing!

There are 2 more important things:

a good shaver with good blades (i use Mach3)
a good after shave or emulsion ( i use Biotherm, especially the "repareteur cream" and aquatic lotion). Both creams will be 70 USD together but it helps...



Hope that will help you.

 

[Threadbearer]

Originally Posted by Fat-Elvis

Like I said, I'd consider going to a barber if I thought it would work. I just don't want to have to spend money on a trip to the barber every time I want a decent shave.
You don't have to go to the barber every time you need to shave. Just go once and ask a lot of questions.

 

[mack11211]

Electrolysis?

 

[SwimmingWatch]

Man, I feel for you. Beards rock!

 

[Thomas]

Yeah, my first thought was to check your beard's grain.

For the most part - my beard grows down, so my first pass is straight down. Once I've shaved my face, I re-lather and my next series of passes are chin to ear. For this pass I take a little more time to make sure I'm stretching my skin - which keeps the hair from sliding under the blade.
Once this pass is done - and before rinsing - I check for any obvious misses. I have two spots that always give me problems, so I splash on a little hot water and mix it with the leftover lather to make a really thin, clear lather (which still has good slip), and I shave the trouble spots, going from ear to chin, again making sure I stretch the skin. If I have to get really close, I go south to north, but on most days that's too much work.

By now my face is smooth. Your face should be smooth at this point, but you just may have some really dark hair or open follicles that just make your face darker. If you still have stubble - you've got some options:

Really dark, thick, coarse stubble - shave after a hot shower, and use hot damp towels (and a good soap) to soften your beard. I think Proraso just might be the best for softening a coarse beard. If you still have trouble after that, I'd consider switching razors - try a Merkur HD or a wedge-type straight razor.

Fine hair - your best bet here is a really sharp blade - I'd take a Merkur HD with a Feather blade over anything else in this case.

In either case, be sure to stretch the skin. In fact, give that a shot the next time you shave and see if that helps.

 

[phil47]

Check out Mantic59's youtube videos (especially this one) and blog.

 

[MCsommerreid]

Single blade safety razor. The multiple blades on regular razors is whats causing the redness, as is the craptastic canned goo and lack of aftershave that is the norm.

It's possible, if you have dark enough hair, to always have what looks like 5' o' clock shadow. I wouldn't worry so much about that at first, and instead focus on taking care of the irritation. One variable at a time, though perhaps luck will take care of all the issues at the same time.

 

[Fat-Elvis]

Maybe I'll try a safety razor. Although right now I'm already using shaving soap and a badger hair brush.