So I've been into crossdressing for some years now (mainly just at home, but I enjoy looking girly all the time - but going into this would take too long), but I've always suffered with horrible stubble. I cannot get a clean shave. When there is no hair left there is a visible grey area, or if the skin was irritated during shave, it goes red and bumpy as well as grey. This whole thing currently has come back to haunt me again in the past few days and I'm begging for help on the matter. My confidence has already shot with moving to Uni and the stress of teamwork etc, the last thing I need is to have this problem hanging over my head.

I've been told moisturizing can help the redness - so I give that a go. But is there anyone that can help with the grey patches? I used to use foundation but I left that at home; and to be honest I didn't work very well anyway.

I really hope someone can help, this problem is seriously getting me down.

I can't shave every day because my skin gets either irritated or has those damn patches too that you know- you try endlessly to shave but no avail. My only form of advice I could give you is for you to have patience. I think at some point in my life I was hellbent on getting that smooth, perfect shave repeatedly but I couldn't consistently, unless, well, I let my hair grow in for a couple of days, then shaved again. That's how it works for me.

A cutthroat razor is the only way you'll get a perfectly clean shave, but you'll end up hacking lumps out of yourself a few times before you get that good.

@Nishi - Yeahh I tend to find having a clean shave and then leaving it for 2 or 3 days works fine, but I really don't want to do that if possible.

@RobbyBobson - Very good idea, I may see if I can invest in one. But I'll make to sure practise very, very slowly

I wonder if I should try some hair removal cream. I would ideally get laser surgery, but it would cost a bomb - and maybe when I'm older my outlook on facial may well be different!

I don't think I'd use hair-removal cream on my face. It can cause irritation and if you have thick hair it sometimes won't work at all.

If you ever come into possession of lots of money and are sure you'll never regret permanently stopping hair from growing on your face, go with laser surgery. It's expensive, but might be worth it.



Yes, that or a safety razor is supposedly the best way to get a close shave. I've yet to buy either a safety razor or straight razor though since I keep researching the damn things to make sure that I won't end up purchasing something that I'll regret buying. But right now I have my eyes on the Feather FHR-RG-ER and the Edwin Jagger EJ-DE89L. If I get the EJ-DE89L I'll likely be using it with Feather blades.

If I were you, Jo, I'd probably start with a safety razor and get good with that before bothering to buy a straight razor. Some people never get the hang of shaving with non-cartridge razors.

Good idea Aillas, I think I'll find myself a safety razor and see if that will do the trick. My dad bought me a bunch of ASDA disposable razors, no wonder my face is messed up. Although I've never really trusted buying those super fancy razors, I bet they'd be better for my already sensitive skin. I will let it grow for a while first I guess, then start again from scratch!

Thanks a lot for the tips guys, I shall report back to this thread when I'm (hopefully) clean as a whistle!

laser doesn't work, Electrolysis is the only way and its expensive, painful and incredibly slow. Expect it to take over a year and cost 1,000+

Says who? I've come across tons of people online that swear by it.

As an update; after buying some moisturizer, facewipes, new razors and shaving cream I had a really nice clean shave, and I'm happy!

Only problem left to tackle really is the grey that is left afterwards - even after a completely smooth shave. Any suggestions guys?

Do you make multiple passes when you shave? Do you shave once with the grain, once against the grain, and once from right to left/left to right? That will give you a closer shave. But if you're using plain old razors, it won't give you nearly as close of a shave as DE razors or straight razors ever will.

What type of razors did you get? I've no clue how much money you'd be willing to spend on shaving stuff, but you seem to really want to tackle this problem so I'm guessing that you'd be willing to spend over $100. I've done lots of research on wet shaving and if I were you I'd consider getting an Edwin Jagger razor (this razor in particular; lots say that's one of the best razors you can get and it's often recommended to people who're new to wet shaving), a high-quality badger-hair shaving brush (Edwin Jagger supposedly makes high-quality ones), Feather blades (Japanese blades which are supposedly the sharpest you can get) and either Proraso shaving soap or Proraso shaving cream which are relatively cheap and are of high-quality.

Once you get the razor and brush you'll just have to buy blades (which are cheap as hell) and shaving soap or cream. On Ebay you can get 100 Feather blades for $30 CAD (with shipping) which could last a person years.

I'm still a shaving noob and haven't even bought any high-end shaving stuff yet (I'm still using my Mach-3 until the blade goes dull), but I've done a hell of a lot of research. If you look on forums such as Badger and Blade you'll see that the stuff I mentioned is highly recommended.

I've just been using cheap disposable razors for trying out facial products and seeing how clean a shave I can get without a real, nice razor.

Those straight razors sound really tempting, but I think I will start of with buying a safety razor to see if that will improve on the grey area first, before diving into really expensive stuff. I'm just worried because last night I had a perfectly clean shave, completely hairless, but it almost looks like skin is dyed grey underneath - and I don't know if any razor will ever get rid of that.

I wonder if there is some form of specialist at a hospital or something that could take a look and determine the cause.

The cause is hair you can't shave, the roots are actually 3-4mm under the skin.

try foundation.

I usually do use foundation, I just left it home after moving to Uni by accident, should be picking it up this weekend - so I guess I'll go back to that for now. It actually works really well with a totally clean shave, so here's hoping it will work really nicely now!

I'd suggest trying to look for some hair growth retardant.
A mixture of compounds that after six months or so actually kill the hair follicles on your face from the roots.
I'll ask some of the guys I rep for and see if they have any ideas.
They do fitness shows and are always trying to get rid of hair.