Hello everyone which shaving soaps are best for sensitive skin ? I have sensitive skin prone to razor bumps... Thanks
I don't have particularly sensitive skin, but I've used Proraso White soap and AS lotion. Green tree and oatmeal in both, light on scent if those pesky essential oils are an issue.
I'm sure this will upset some, and of that is the case, so be it. I highly, seriously doubt you have "sensitive skin" you may very well have "sensitised skin'', however if you continue to search for the holy Grail of a product that helps you fit a non existent problem all you will ever do is chase the rabbit down the hole. Try this, instead of looking for product, work on your technique, I highly recommend the 30day crew. Also, are you sure you didn't have an allergic reaction to something, and thought it was sensitive skin?
Agreed. Skin that is reddened or develops rashes, hives or outbreaks of pimples is often sensitive to some ingredient. Basically a contact allergy and, unless you can determine exactly what ingredient is causing the irritation, using a "sensitive" or "unscented" product is best because it eliminates the most common culprits. Skin that develops razor bumps is a sign of a problem with ingrown whiskers. And that is more commonly an issue of hardware (multi-bladed carts) and technique (usually too much pressure and/or an incorrect cutting angle that leads to scraping instead of slicing by the blade). I would echo the invitation to join us over in the 30DC thread in the Shave School section. We would be delighted to have you work with us using your existing equipment. Everyone is welcome using everything from carts and canned foam to the latest artisan offerings. We trade tips and suggestions so every one of us can come to enjoy the finest shaves possible. If you are interested, Rick @RyX is a longtime member and has a direct link to the group in his sigline. (Rick, you're slipping - you forgot the recruiting plug in your early answer to his question.)
I suggest a soap with lanolin and few fragrance oils. An unscented lanolin soap would be something worth trying. Lanolin is used in hospitals to soothe skin, preventing or treating bed sores. At least it used to be during my corpsman days. Just a thought.
With a completely unbiased opinion I think that Stirling are among the best soaps for sensitive skin and although the Wriggly Tin, Bundubeard, and River Valley Trading soaps which are from South Africa and probably difficult for most guys to get are also excellent because they’re all made with natural ingredients.
I have very sensitive skin, prone to razor burn and irritation. Even if I have the perfect shave with zero irritation and I don't use post shave balm, after twenty minutes, my skin is screaming! After a decade of DE shaving, MWF remains my #1 soap. My skin loves it and the shaves are always the closest with this marvel of a soap!!
So, if you have the "perfect" shave but get irritation later, doesn't that mean it's actually "not" the perfect shave? If you were to use a DE razor and shave off a patch of arm hair, say on your forearm, would it still have the same affect as your face?
Yes, it's still a perfect shave because my skin has innate limitations due to its sensitivity. The facial skin is much more sensitive than arm skin so the test you suggest is not a good comparison. Shaving, no matter how you look at it, is brutal on the skin, even if there's no visible razor burn. My skin can feel perfectly fine after the final cold water rinse but after about twenty minutes, it gets tight and feels irritated. This is how we judge whether we have sensitive skin relative to others right? My father shaves like a maniac but has leather skin so no issues. My technique and lather are both far better than his but I can only control the variables so much, the rest will be determined by my skin's capacity to bear the brutal act of a blade running across it.
No I don't. The cause is the act of running a blade across my skin. Just lathering up a soap on my face (even a pure olive oil soap my sis in law got me from Greece) does dry out my skin a little but zero irritation.
So if the soap is not the cause, then a different soap is not the solution. You can spend lots of money if you wish purchasing things that won't help. Or you could work on angle and pressure, and see improvement without spending a dime. You really should consider the invitation above to join the 30 day rule thread. A new one for December is just starting. https://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/december-2018-30-day-rule-focux-pix-discussion.60827/
I think you've interpreted my responses in a way that backs up what you wanted to say I've been at this for a decade and the only variable is soap. Technique doesn't change with different soaps right? MWF treats my skin the best of any soap and not just me...You can read endless comments about this on the forums. The post shave feel with MWF is what makes it so many shavers favorite soap. The shaves are closer too! It's pure performance with this soap, no fancy, overly complicated scent notes etc. All my other soaps don't provide this level of supple feel to the skin nor are the shaves quite as close. I think you should try to understand that everyone has different skin and when a person can use an ikon tech or r41 with no issues, it doesn't mean they have better technique than someone for whom these razors are too much for their skin to handle. In fact, if I don't use pre shave oil in dry winter months, my skin suffers a lot and so do my shaves...I'm pretty sure my technique is not changing due to climatic changes.
Not sure if you're referring to me but I use merkur progress or Rockwell 6S razors. I only use Polsilver blades. After trying 40+ blades, I settled on the Polsilver and have about 6700 of them in my stash.
No, your technique isn't changing. Your angle is too steep in the warmer months too. The dry winter air just makes it worse. My experience was no different until I figured out about angle and pressure. Fact is, nobody's skin likes being scraped. And scraping absolutely is caused by a steep angle. I guess we are not going to see eye to eye on that. I'll move on. But I will most definitely agree with you that MWF is awesome.
Assuming your problem is due to your soap and not technique, your first step is to find something with no perfumes or dies. They are the most likely cause of irritation for any one who has sensitized skin. You should also look carefully at the list of ingredients on the soaps you are using. Any soap I recommend may contain ingredients which function as a trigger for your irritation. Some people have sensitivity to ingredients such as shea butter, nut oils, wheat or milk byproducts, or lanolin. These are all common in shaving soaps. If you do indeed have a sensitivity, you will need to experiment to find what triggers your skin problems.
If you've used a merkur progress, you'll know this razor prefers a steeper angle, go shallow and it's rough! I've gone through 60 razors and 40+ blades to come down yt the progress and Rockwell, along with Polsilver blades. The razors are very smooth and minimise the innate damage shaving causes to skin...some people have skin that can handle it, some don't. No matter how comfortable a shave I get, if I use an alcohol aftershave, I'll get irritation that I otherwise would never have gotten!...logically this can't be technique related. In addition, I've tried 12 injector razors and 6 GEM SE razors, all of which force the ideal angle but they didn't suit me at all...Could not even achieve a DFS with them and sold them off. Or what about carts? They don't need angle or pressure technique and yet they caused so much irritation that I had to slather my wife's moisturiser at night as my neck would be glowing red! Based on your assumption that the one and only variable at play is angle/pressure, the above razors should give me perfection. In the same way, my beard is on the coarser side and whilst feathers cut through like butter, they irritate my skin whereas the Polsilver is the perfect combination for me. Any less sharp and the blade feels dull and causes irritation. Also, in winter my skin suffers whether I shave or not. The oil helps either way. I put a few drops at night before bed and it helps my skin a lot. And if I'm shaving, it helps with that too. I'm sorry to say but no matter how much logic one applies, if the assumptions are incorrect, the outcome will always be flawed.
