I’m a guy, but I have very sensitive skin (genetic), and I have also shaved partners’ body hair (with a straight razor in one case… so hot) without problems so I feel somewhat qualified to comment.

Regarding 1 :

– Good lather is the basis of any decent shave. If the blade doesn’t glide over the skin rather than scraping across it nothing else you do will make a blind bit of difference. I personally get best results with a lather made of half generic shaving soap, half Dove with a good badger brush. The dove massively improves razor glide. Razor glide is better if the skin is already really clean (the grease breaks down the soap lather), so give it a gentle scrub first. Lather up after each pass.

– Hair hydration : Hair becomes dramatically easier to cut when it has absorbed water. Shave right after you shower while the room is nice and steamy, or leave the lather for a few minutes and then re-later before shaving.

– Pressure : if you press hard the blade will start to scrape the skin. If you shave the way people do in adverts you’ll make face into prosciutto. Use the lightest pressure possible.

– Blade : If your blade is dull you’ll have to press harder to make it work which will scrape the skin.

– Skin tension : If your skin has no tension it will sneak up between the blades and yet again, scraped skin. You need to apply a little tension with your other hand, ideally pulling in the opposite direction to razor movement. Too much tension will shave too close and probably give you ingrown hairs.

– Direction : If you shave against the hair straight off the razor will have a hard time cutting it, the skin around the hair will pucker up and get scraped. Voila, shave bumps. Start by shaving with the grain, then across the grain and then finally against the grain on the third pass. You can probably stop after the second pass and get decently smooth skin. The skin tension thing is _super_ important on the against the grain pass to avoid the puckering around each hair.

– Razor : Actually less important than good technique really, but I love my gillette ‘fat boy’ adjustable because i can dial the blade exposure right down for the against the grain pass. Multi blade razors aren’t terrible when new, but safety razors (aka double-edge / DE) make it cheap to use a fresh blade every couple of shaves which makes a lot of difference.

Now, assuming you’ve cocked up your shave and your skin is covered in tiny cuts, how can you stop them getting infected?

– Pat dry, don’t rub.
– Treat with something antibacterial. Tea tree, alum etc.
– Don’t touch the area unless you have just washed your hands
– Keep it dry and let the air get to it for a bit.
– Sterilise your razor before use in alcohol

The trade off is that they take maintenance. If you want use a blade more than once, you need to protect it or all the water will make it rust. I know safety razor shavers who keep a tightly sealed little mason jar of 95% rubbing alcohol next to the sink and dunk the whole razor after shaving; the alcohol displaces any clinging water droplets, and evaporates right away. It’s more trouble than I’ve been willing to take, and it’s probably less of an issue with body hair (it’s possible I’m being too fastidious, but I use a fresh blade for each session when removing body hair; facial hair seems much less demanding).

Some of the dedicated online shaving suppliers offer sampler packs of their various double edged packs so you can see what you like.

UnderTheDark, in the world of shaving nerds, “safety razor” refers specifically to old fashioned razors that use the now-standardized double edged razor blades, as opposed to the modern multiblade cartridge systems, which are developed less to improve the customer’s experience and more to restart the patent clock and prevent third-party manufacturers from undercutting the big manufacturers’ prices. It’s pretty much the same business model printers run on (the doodad’s pretty cheap, but the refills are exorbitantly overpriced), but with little to no actual improvements outside the marketing hype. ;)

BTW, if you’re not already using a safety razor, what are you using?

P.S. Now I think I need to Netflix The Wings Of The Dove.

Some multi-blade lines make cartridges that are “hypoallergenic” or “sensitive skin”. Basically, no nickle etc in the blades or cartridge, extra moisturizers in the gel band, sometimes antimicrobials impregnated in the blades. I’ve got a nickle sensitivity, so for me that makes a big difference.

The last thing is the one that makes the most difference, for me. Right after you dry off from the shower, gently roll some unscented (or just powder scented) solid deodorant over the problem areas. I’ve been using it on thighs and mons for years, though I’ve never tried the lips. It makes sense – they formulate those things to prevent razorburn and redness and irritation from popping up in our pits after we shave, so we know they work!