OK, here is my experience as a guy with VERY sensitive skin that wanted to shave pretty much everything below the neck.
The first time I tried it I listened to all the advice I could find because I knew I had sensitive skin. I got a brand new expensive razor, rubbed baby oil all over for about 15 mins before, got in the shower, shaved with an expensive cream, dried off and put a moisturizing lotion on. Things seemed pretty OK for about the first couple hours before the razor burn started to show up. By the end of the second day I was pretty certain that I had DIED, gone straight to HELL, and was being punished for a horrible crime!!! I could barely even sit down comfortably for almost two weeks and certainly didn’t sleep well. The razor burn was HORRIBLE and extremely painful. The wife was just amused as she didn’t want me to try it to begin with. I pretty much vowed NEVER to attempt such a thing again. It just didn’t seem like it was in the cards for me.
Nevertheless, about 3 years later I DID decide to try it again but limit it to the pubic area and avoid shaving against the direction of hair growth. I did still get some pretty bad razor burn, but it was limited to just one area, it didn’t affect me sitting, and I didn’t have to be concerned about other people seeing the damage, like wearing shorts when you have it bad on your legs. I decided to grin and bear it really. After a couple months I wasn’t getting the razor burn so bad. I did that for about a year. Then, I decided to try shaving crosswise against the hair growth for a smoother shave. The razor burn flared up again, but not quite as bad, and eventually subsided after about a month. I then started shaving against the hair growth and the same thing. A bit of a flare up for a month, and NOW, and can shave completely smooth there and not worry about it at all!
A couple years after that, about two months ago, I decided to give it another try on my legs, butt, chest, etc. I only used soap and a new razor in the shower. After that first shave I did get razor burn, but it was not NEARLY as bad as I remembered the very first time. Still bad, but it didn’t render me disfunctional. I continued doing this about every 5 days for the first month and noticed the razor burn getting less every time.
At one point, having gotten out of the shower and noticing that my skin on my legs was getting pretty dry, I decided to put lotion on. After about 5 hours I was having flashbacks to the very first time I shaved! The razor burn was horrible!!! It got better after 24 hours, but WOW, lesson learned there!
I’m about two months into shaving my legs, butt, and chest, in addition to pubic area, and the razor burn is MUCH MUCH less.
My lessons learned from all of this:
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Your best weapon is a good sharp razor and TIME! Your skin has to toughen up and get used to it. No other magical product is going to do a damn thing.
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For God’s sake DON’T use a moisturizer after you shave. My theory here is that it causes the skin to swell slightly above and over the cutoff point of the hair and softens the hair. The hair then ends up pushing against the skin as it grows! This would be a BAD THING! I found that using baby powder actually helped keep things dry and smooth under clothes.
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As much as you may want to some times, DON’T SCRATCH or RUB to hard. This will inflame the skin and you will be worse off then when you started. If things get too unbarable then what I found helped A LOT was Benadryl itch stopping gel ( sold at Walmart or your local drug store for about $7.50). It is a clear gel that is not a moisturizer. I found that it made the pain and itching subside in about 30 mins. I would sometimes put it on any inflamed areas before bed.
So, to review … sharp razor, baby powder, don’t scratch use Benadryl gel, and grin and bear it!