I do like alum myself, however I don't rinse after. Apply alum, let dry a bit Followed by moisturizer. I haven't had any problems thus far.
Well, I used the alum block for the first time today; and I thought it worked well. I noticed that my skin felt tighter afterwards. I also used my new Astra SP blades- which arrived with my alum block. What a difference these blades make, from the Sharks and Derbys I was using! This was the best shave I've had, and the feedback from the alum was very minimal. I even used the alum for under my arms, so we'll see how that goes as well. I can truly say that I was pleased with the overall shave experience today!
Is there a "right" way to use alum for post shave. Honestly, I never heard of the stuff until I started coming to shaving forums. I'm pretty sure I've never run across it in the shaving section of the "old" drug store before but then again, back in the day, I wasn't looking for it.
Ditto. As an experiment, I shaved, rinsed, applied alum, "pat" dried any excess water and then applied my EMJ post shave lotion on top of the alum. A number or great things happened (for me): 1) The lotion has menthol in it, so the cooling sensation took the edge off of the alum sting, 2) The lotion helped with the "tight face" feeling - now, I like the tight face feeling, but I also noticed that just using alum not only tightened, but also left my face feeling..."dull" if thats a good description. The post shave lotion helped "soften up" the tight face and 3) there were no reactions of any kind having combined both products. I will continue to do this as my post shave regimen. Side note, @ rweb82 - I did another experiment this morning similar to you; I used just alum under 1 armpit and my normal deoderant/antipersperent under the other. It's been a few hours since application and on my recent trip to the men's room, I did give both armspits a sniff and the just alum pit had no oder thus far. I will be monitoring it all day (brought my normal deoderant just in case its reguired by mid day). I told my co-workers that if they smell me at any point in the day, that I need to know ASAP. It's risky business, but think of the cost savings if you just used alum...and from what i've read, these things last just about forever...if you don't drop it Will let you know if re-application is needed.
From what I've found, after you shave do a quick cold water rinse. Then run the alum block under cold water to wet it, and rub it on your face. Some people like to leave it on, others will rinse it off after a minute. It just depends on how sensitive your skin it, I imagine. If you're looking to get an alum block, I recommend the Shavex brand. It does not leave any residue, and you can get it on Amazon.
I look forward to an "odor update." (I never thought I would utter that sentence). I guess this is what traditional grooming methods do to people!
My Pop was a member of the Greatest Generation who made the WWII hang....He was a regular user of alum, said it would keep you from getting neck wrinkles....and sure enough he never had any loose neck skin...even at 82.... And back in his day he always got it from his pharmacist...He would often pour alum powder into his witch-hazel bootle...then everyday give it a shake and splash liberally....
@ rweb82 - I never thought I'd be using something called alum as a deorderant And I will perform an end-of-day sniff test (maybe even get the wifey to participate) and post my findings. I'd like to say "we could be on to something" but as Bird Lives wrote about in his post, old timers have been doing this before we were even twinkles in our parents eyes. The way I feel is, if it was good for them, it should be good for me. That's mostly true...mostly. Smell ya laters!
If it wasn't for my great desire to keep my pits dry, I'd probably try alum as a deodorant. I never want to let 'em see me sweat, and Brut anti-aspirant/deodorant fits the bill for me.
I think many deodorant products contain alum in some form or another. It gets confusing, because some big brands advertise being alum-free, presumably in an effort to seem more "natural," while other "natural" brands are nothing but alum. I think we're dealing with 2 different alums here. For what it's worth, I'm now curious about how it feels pre-after shave, and will pick up a block of it the next time I shop for shave goods.
I use alum stick as under the arms as well. It certainly is better than regular deodorant. I normally would use Toms unscented. Not looking back.
Quick update: I used alum under my arms at 7am, and I'm still scent-free at 2pm. So far, I'd say it has lived up to the hype.
The day is not over for me yet and I work in air conditioned, so putting the "miracle-crystal" to the test won't really happen until the drive home (it's all about windows down today...or should i hot box it all the way home in the name of science!? Nah, windows down is good . Anyway, another recent trip to the men's room also revealed for me, like it did for rweb82, an oder-free armpitt. If this keeps up, I might be making yet another drastic grooming change soon, but it's too soon to tell. However, less than $5/yr for deodorant ain't smellin' too bad...not at all! Here's a link to my google search re: the different types of alum, enjoy.
I can understand that. I noticed that I have only been using a deodorant anyway. I looked at my stick, and it is not an antiperspirant. It's the Dove Men's Care deodorant. So for me, using the Alum wouldn't sacrifice any antiperspirant properties. It may be a good source of cost savings- if it works as well as my stick.
Just thought about it...you could double up, alum first and then antipersperant, then BAM! Double the flavor, double the fun! Maybe when you're attending an engagment that you reeeeally want to be odor/sweat free. Wedding, job interview, meeting the fiance's parents, uh...court? Idk, lol. A little extra protection is never a bad thing in my book!
Update #2: It's 10:15pm, and the alum has kept my underarms odor free all day. I'm surprised how well it works!
Here goes - I had an average day at work in regards to sweat production. Once home, I gave both underarms a good sniff and these are my findings. As expected, this pit that I did apply "real" deodorant to, smelled normal - no complaints. The other pit than only got alum applied, at first had no odor. I did have to get pretty close to the inner pit to notice any smell. Although I can't say I was odor-free as rweb82 did, I can say that the alum did hold its own and if I were in a pinch I would definitely reach for the alum stick. But, the question is, am I considering tossing out my scented Arid antiperspirant and converting to Alum only...probably not. For now, until the Zombie Apocalypse, I'm going to continue to use actual deodorant on my pits and my alum stick on my face. Good work today rweb82, Bill Nye would be proud!
