I can not shave every day without tearing up my face so every two days is perfect for me. Although it seems I get shaving pimples quite often. Or are they ingrowns? I don't know, but they are bothersome. I get them almost every time too!! Sometimes when it's pretty bad (like this time) I can't shave for days! It has been roughly 4-5 days! My shaves are very comfortable and the most irritation I get is very mild redness in some areas that will go away within the hour. Am I doing something wrong? Thanks
Please give us a list of what you're using and how you go about your shave. That may give us a bit more to go on.
I first take a hot shower where I wash my face with Burt's Bees face scrub which I leave on while I do everything else. At the end of my shower I rinse it off, towel off, change and am ready to shave. I am still trying to find my blade but I am using classic wilkinson swords in a merkur futur (a present from the GF) and usually have it on #3. I use either Van Der Hagen glycerine soap or Taylor Of Old Bond Street Sandalwood cream. My after shave is either Old Spice or Clubman. I take my time and apply no pressure while shaving. First pass is with the grain, second across, and last is against if I can if not I usually won't push it.
It may just take a while to get used to it. Prep is important, but so is lather and technique. I need to shave every day for work and the first couple of weeks with DE shaving were a bit rough, but now, almost 6 months into this habit, I am shaving 7 days a week without any irritation.
I should add that I have tried pre shave oil and it really didn't do anything for me at all. Just seemed like a waste of money for me. Also should add that I apply hot water to my face before each pass.
I'm wondering if your 'shaving pimples' are actually histamine bumps caused by an allergic reaction. Before you started DE shaving, how did you shave and what products did you use? Were you getting the pimples with that?
I didn't think about that, I'm not allergic to anything (that I know of) so I couldn't pin point a certain chemical or anything like that. Also my face doesn't react in any way as in itching or redness when shaving. However, my neck REALLLLLY itches a day or two after a shave on top of the "pimples" that appear. Before DE shaving I used a gillette mulitiblade razor, barbasol canned goo, and Nivia sensitive skin balm. I haven't been able to use that balm since de shaving as it makes my skin very moist feeling which leads to breakouts.
I would NOT use a scrub before you shave. Also, if you post a pic of your neck with the pimples, we may be able to help determine if they are ingrowns, etc.
It really sounds like an allergy to me. I'd suggest doing Barbasol goo with DE shaving for your next few shaves to see what happens. It's either going to be something in the products you started using when you switched to DE, or the actual blades themselves as it could be a metal allergy too. I've got skin allergies with a handful of things and I usually don't realize it until after using it. I react to some metals and some fragrances. It's not unusual.
Well first of all, I would as Randy stated earlier, suspend the use of the Burt's Bee Scrub for a time until you can lock in on other issues. Secondly, bowl lather for right now rather than using face lathering as a technique. Lathering in the bowl reduced the amount of lift and ex-foliation that occurs when face lathering. You might also want to get a transitional product as well. You are using a Glycerin soap which will be good to start a base lather. You might want to get some Barbasol in the tube (which is a brushless cream on Amazon or other sites) and when you generate a lather from the Glycerin soap, put a small dab of the Barbasol cream in to the lather and continue to work the lather up. That may put you closer to what was working without going all the way back to what you were using before.
When I started de shaving I had pimples and itching on my neck. It doesn't sound as severe as yours, but still a problem. But with some advice form the ladies and gents here it isn't a problem any more. What they told me was less pressure and for a while to just shave WTG, which on the neck could mean shaving south to north or sideways depending on hair growth. If you want to find out if your technique and pressure is a problem, use an Alum block after your shave, if you feel a burning sensation then it is probably because you used too much pressure or wrong angle, IMHO. The other thing that really made a huge difference was that after the shave I washed my face and neck thoroughly, to wash away all traces of alum and soap before applying aftershave, since then the itching has gone. I really hope some of this advice can help. But like Mr Shaverman said it could be an allergy. In any case good luck with your future shaves and I hope they become a more pleasant experience for you.
This is interesting as I have thought about shaving before I shower. I have read from other guys that if you have sensitive skin this can help.
Not heard that before, interesting idea though. Are you going to try it ? If you do I would be interested to know how it went. The reason I shower is I use a pre shave wash and leave it on for a couple of minutes, and also soak my beard a few times in the water to try and soften the hairs a little to make them easier to cut. If they are easy to cut then I don't drag the razor across my face so many times, leading to less irritation. That's the idea anyway. But as I was typing I am pretty sure I read somewhere that drier stubble is easier to cut as it stays upright instead of wet and floppy, making it easier to slice. I have totally confused myself now. Hopefully someone who knows more than me can shed some light on this.
Back when I used carts I used to shave before I showered. For some reason with DE that just doesn't seem right for me.
How many passes are you doing? I find when I do more than two passes, I get lots of irritation on the neck.
a . He has a very good point. Do you go ATG and XTG? I cannot go ATG or XTG. Check out a site like West Coast Shaving and order sampler pack or make your own.
Thanks for all of the replies. I should say that the face scrub isn't really a "scrub" it's just a face wash. I use it do to the menthol that's in it and I feel it made my hair softer. I will not use it next time and see how it goes though. And before de shaving I had much more irritation, not sure if it was due to the cart or the goo... But I tossed that can when I started de shaving and not sure I want to spend the money on another can LOL! I preform two- three passes depending on how much stubble I have. WTG, XTG, then ATG. Or just WTG, and ATG. Almost always need a few touch ups in some spots.
I don't remember if this was said or not in this thread (there's a lot of good advice here), but as far as your neck goes, instead of ATG or WTG, go north and south then south and north. I have a sensitive neck and when I started doing DE it gave me a lot of issues. Doing north/south was easier on the neck and either got it used to the DE blade or kept things easy on the neck until my technique got to where it needed to be. Maybe a little of both, but it worked and I still do north/south if my neck is irritated for whateve reason. Also, try doing a cold water shave and see ow that works.
