head shavers...

I've been shaving my head for almost 6 years now, about half of that with a DE/SE.  I have extremely thick, dense hair, and sensitive skin.  I shave every 2 - 3 days.  Any more frequently and my folliculitis acts up.  My routine, all with cold water.

Wash with Neutrogena Liquid Soap
Wet towel soak for a couple of minutes
Nivea Creme for pre shave
Use soft synthetic (anything else irritates my skin)
Lather up your favorite soap or cream.
Shave using aggressive razor (Fatip, Fatboy at 9 are probably my top 2). I've found I get way more irritation using mild razors.
Use a smooth blade (Astra SP, Personna Red, Perma-Sharp Super).
WTG, XTG one direction, XTG the other direction. Absolutely no ATG for me
Rinse thoroughly
Apply Aftershave with cotton ball. Usually just witch hazel, but occasionally an alcohol based splash. No menthol.
Nivea Creme or Olay Daily Defense with SPF.

I think for my next head shave (I'll probably give my skin 2 days to heal up), I'll shave in front of my large mirror before showering, using my cold water methods. I'll probably stick with my gillette guard and the cremo shaving cream for a few more tries to see if it's working out or not..

I shave before shower, some do it the other way. I definitely recommend learning to do without the extra mirrors. Use the front facing mirror around the ears and such, but do the back of the head blind. The mirrors are too distracting and lead to more nicks.

I've been shaving my head for almost 6 years now, about half of that with a DE/SE.  I have extremely thick, dense hair, and sensitive skin.  I shave every 2 - 3 days.  Any more frequently and my folliculitis acts up.  My routine, all with cold water.

Wash with Neutrogena Liquid Soap
Wet towel soak for a couple of minutes
Nivea Creme for pre shave
Use soft synthetic (anything else irritates my skin)
Lather up your favorite soap or cream.
Shave using aggressive razor (Fatip, Fatboy at 9 are probably my top 2).  I've found I get way more irritation using mild razors.
Use a smooth blade (Astra SP, Personna Red, Perma-Sharp Super).
WTG, XTG one direction, XTG the other direction.  Absolutely no ATG for me
Rinse thoroughly
Apply Aftershave with cotton ball.  Usually just witch hazel, but occasionally an alcohol based splash.  No menthol.
Nivea Creme or Olay Daily Defense with SPF.

sounds similar to how I shave my face with the exception of the aggressive razor.  maybe I should stick with what works on my face and adapt it to my head shaves!

any reason you use a cotton ball rather than rubbing the witch hazel on your head with your hands?

I think for my next head shave (I'll probably give my skin 2 days to heal up), I'll shave in front of my large mirror before showering, using my cold water methods.  I'll probably stick with my gillette guard and the cremo shaving cream for a few more tries to see if it's working out or not..

I shave before shower, some do it the other way.  I definitely recommend learning to do without the extra mirrors.  Use the front facing mirror around the ears and such, but do the back of the head blind.  The mirrors are too distracting and lead to more nicks.

good point about the mirror.  I did find it annoying trying to find a proper angle to see the back of my head when I was shaving.

Using mirrors is too much trouble for shaving my head. I'll look into one to do the top and sides but after that, it's all by feel.

Not sure if you have a problem with it or not but if you tilt your head forward or use your free hand to stretch the skin, you'll be able to shave that little hollow where the base of the skull and neck meet better. Good luck!

any reason you use a cotton bowl rather than rubbing the witch hazel on your head with your hands?

I just found it worked better for me. My head seems to break out less. I used Tend Skin for a while, and the instructions were to apply it that way. I tried carrying that over to my other aftershaves, and it seems to work better for me.

had another head shave tonight after letting my head heal up for 2 days.  I probably should of gave it more time.

prep for tonight (all cold water):
- wash head with burt's bee facial wash
- clean off head with cold rag
- let cold towel sit on my head while I prepped my razor and brush
- apply noxzema deep cleansing cream with moisturizers
- apply cold tag to head while I loaded up my brush
- lather head with MLS the kraken soap using my synthetic brush


after that was finished up, I went at the shave with a razorock baby smooth DE with a brand new astra sp blade loaded up.

few things: I don't think I loaded my brush up long enough and I think my lather may of been a tad dry as when I got to certain parts of my head to shave, the lather was starting to flake up.  I did reapply some more lather when I noticed this

some irritation from the shave:









I'm probably going to let my head heal up for a good week before I try another head shave. during that time, I'm going to practice lathering on my head so I can get that right.

had another head shave tonight after letting my head heal up for 2 days.  I probably should of gave it more time.

prep for tonight (all cold water):
- wash head with burt's bee facial wash
- clean off head with cold rag
- let cold towel sit on my head while I prepped my razor and brush
- apply noxzema deep cleansing cream with moisturizers
- apply cold tag to head while I loaded up my brush
- lather head with MLS the kraken soap using my synthetic brush


after that was finished up, I went at the shave with a razorock baby smooth DE with a brand new astra sp blade loaded up.

few things: I don't think I loaded my brush up long enough and I think my lather may of been a tad dry as when I got to certain parts of my head to shave, the lather was starting to flake up.  I did reapply some more lather when I noticed this

some irritation from the shave:









I'm probably going to let my head heal up for a good week before I try another head shave. during that time, I'm going to practice lathering on my head so I can get that right.

Was there any tugging or was it smooth going? Passes? ATG?

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

Hey andrewjs18
You'll get the hang of it. I had some similar irritation my first couple times around (I still get some spots near my ears). I've noticed it's due to me applying too much pressure during my shave. Since you're not used to shaving your head yet it's easy to forget the most basic rule. I noticed you don't have any irritation near the top of your head, but mostly the crown. This is likely the problem as it doesn't look like you went ATG. Concentrate on not applying pressure and focus on angles.

When I'm shaving my head my wife often walks by and asks "What's wrong?" due to the blank expression on my face. I tell her I'm "seeing" the back and sides of my head with my brain lol. Visualizing the contours of your head and blade angle takes some time.
I shave by feel, a mirror is very little help for me.
When it comes to the nape of my neck, I don't go for BBS, I notice I am prone to ingrown hairs and irritation there. Everywhere else seems just fine with it.

I've also noticed that head irritation doesn't tend to last too long unless they're ingrown hairs. My post shave routine is piping hot water from the tap, followed immediately by the coldest water from the tap. Dry, then apply Medicated Superhazel from Thayers. Occasionally I will then apply Stirling's post shave balm.

had another head shave tonight after letting my head heal up for 2 days.  I probably should of gave it more time.

prep for tonight (all cold water):
- wash head with burt's bee facial wash
- clean off head with cold rag
- let cold towel sit on my head while I prepped my razor and brush
- apply noxzema deep cleansing cream with moisturizers
- apply cold tag to head while I loaded up my brush
- lather head with MLS the kraken soap using my synthetic brush


after that was finished up, I went at the shave with a razorock baby smooth DE with a brand new astra sp blade loaded up.

few things: I don't think I loaded my brush up long enough and I think my lather may of been a tad dry as when I got to certain parts of my head to shave, the lather was starting to flake up.  I did reapply some more lather when I noticed this

some irritation from the shave:









I'm probably going to let my head heal up for a good week before I try another head shave.  during that time, I'm going to practice lathering on my head so I can get that right.

Was there any tugging or was it smooth going? Passes? ATG?

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

not really, but I do think I was going ATG in a few spots.

Hey andrewjs18
You'll get the hang of it. I had some similar irritation my first couple times around (I still get some spots near my ears). I've noticed it's due to me applying too much pressure during my shave. Since you're not used to shaving your head yet it's easy to forget the most basic rule. I noticed you don't have any irritation near the top of your head, but mostly the crown. This is likely the problem as it doesn't look like you went ATG. Concentrate on not applying pressure and focus on angles.

When I'm shaving my head my wife often walks by and asks "What's wrong?" due to the blank expression on my face. I tell her I'm "seeing" the back and sides of my head with my brain lol. Visualizing the contours of your head and blade angle takes some time.
I shave by feel, a mirror is very little help for me.
When it comes to the nape of my neck, I don't go for BBS, I notice I am prone to ingrown hairs and irritation there. Everywhere else seems just fine with it.

I've also noticed that head irritation doesn't tend to last too long unless they're ingrown hairs. My post shave routine is piping hot water from the tap, followed immediately by the coldest water from the tap. Dry, then apply Medicated Superhazel from Thayers. Occasionally I will then apply Stirling's post shave balm.

last night I put on some witch hazel that I let dry then applied some cool fix from shave works.

I've never admitted this before (therapy anyone!)  but I too am a head shaver...now.  I love it. I used the Oster Classic 76 clipper once or twice a week but passed that on to my brother.  

Look, running to the barber for a quick cut got a bit silly. Some men recede as we age. Some don't. Poor barbers, as a lot of us are doing it ourselves these days and they see it.

I'm probably in the minority. I shave my head a couple times a week not everyday. More summer, less winter. Everyday is too much and irritated the scalp. Twice a week is great.

Gillette Fusion Proglide/Schick Hydro on the head. SO much better than a Gillette Guard or DE for me. DE for the face. That's where a double edge shines. Head hair loves a cart.  

Welcome Andrew, you have some irritation. My thing is just don't overdo it. If you skip a day or three your head might thank you.

my sister was cutting my hair every 2 weeks with wahl balding clippers...basically as low as you can go before using a razor blade. by the end of the 1st week after the hair cut, you could tell I was balding in some spots in the front and top of my head. I wasn't a fan!

for now at least, I think I'm going to have to let my hair grow out for a few days between shaves until I get the hang of the shaves. I'm not going to lie - I'm considering picking up one of those headblades since they're cheap enough. from my understanding, you can use atra blades with it, which I believe might only have 2 or 3 blades.

Yeah andrewjs18 Atra is a twin blade. I've got one too, haven't used it in awhile but I imagine it could help ease you into DE headshaving