Wow, thanks so much for the warm welcome and all the replies!

You folks are awesome!
I'm returning the electric razor burner to the store I got it from this week. Obviously I haven't shaved since so things are pretty rough up top, but the irritation in the back is nearly gone now. I did enjoy the day and a half of smoothness. I really don't like this "I do not have any hair yet my head is very very rough and sticking to the pillowcase" situation, so it seems to me that I will be happier either shaved entirely smooth with a manual razor of some type or I will need at least 1/16th inch of hair or so. This in-between isn't working for me. I think this is 4 days growth at this point.
I know I need to spend more time reading the forums, but could you give me the 25 cent version for baldies 101? I read about exfoliating and tried to make my own exfoliating scrub today with so-so results. You see, I have MAJOR food and gluten and outdoor allergies. I have severe celiac disease and gluten ataxia. I CANNOT be around gluten...period. Also nut allergies and lots of other stuff going on. So many health and beauty products aren't things I can use. I normally use just a pure glycerin soap for head, body, and face, which has worked well thus far.
Why do you all exfoliate?
If you had to pick just 1 or 2 common household natural products to use as shave gel/foam/whatever slippery stuff for actual shaving, what would you use? (Thinking aloe, soap bar, baby oil, etc)?
I've been using witch hazel for years and love it, so plan to stick that for after-shave.

Oh, and I read that using a razor when you have several days of growth can be a bad idea. So do you guys use a trimmer without guard to keep it real close to the scalp, then shave if there's a few days between razor shaves?
Thanks for the help!