I won't recommend plucking, I did that on my chest hair and now they are leaving marks.

Maybe you could tell us how you go about shaving, there is an art to it, and only we men can understand what that's like. Is the irritation coming from the products you use, the type of razor blades or is it simply your skin condition?

I'm still growing my beard out so it requires intricate work around my lips, I use this single blade lady's facial razor for that area, and instead of using shaving foam, I've been using facial lotion because I have ton of free samples laying around.

I'd go for stubble look if you think you can rock the look, minimizing the damage to the skin is very important IMO. Good luck!