Allergic to something in shaving creams, need advice

[Steve56]

Order up a bunch of samples from shavedash. Try Martin de Candre and the Italian creams, like Santa Maria Novella, ABC, Acqua di Parma, XPEC....

 

[YouToo]

Alot of high-end English creams are heavily fragranced. You might be reacting to a top note like an aldehyde that creates a hazy, effervescent "perfume" effect.

Nivea Sensitive might agree with you more. It's very lightly scented. You might even get lucky with something like Palmolive.

Interesting, and thanks for the advice!

Order up a bunch of samples from shavedash. Try Martin de Candre and the Italian creams, like Santa Maria Novella, ABC, Acqua di Parma, XPEC....

Thanks a lot for the tip, that site seems to have lots of interesting samples.

 

[Scouser]

If the pH of a shave product is really 11.5... that explains why I find alot of shave creams and soaps uncomfortable.

I deliberately chose not to say the pH of lather shave cream is 11.5. Certainly if you put a pH meter's electrodes in shave cream the meter will read around 11.5 (and that gives an indication of how alkaline the product is) but attempting to measure the pH of such a concentrated viscous material opens up a whole bag of worms about the difficulties of pH measurement.
For many years Gillette used to run a pH test on each batch of shave cream but they measured the pH of a 10% aqueous mix of the final product. This gave a reading around 10.5. But they even dropped this test eventually.

 

[ShaverAZ]

Chicks dig guys with scars ...

Try a sample of NIL, a fragrance-free artisan soap that may be what you seek:
Artisan Shaving Soap - Tallow Based - https://www.shannonssoaps.com/handmade-shaving-soap.html

In fact, there's a contact link at the bottom of the website page. E-mail her about your concerns. She's a chemist, and should be able to provide more insight.

A little more detail about her process:

Handmade Soap: Skin-Friendly Soap, Crafted by Hand Near Cleveland, Ohio

Soft, smooth, and skin friendly: Experience the handmade soap difference with Shannon's bath soap, face soap, shaving soap and more.

www.shannonssoaps.com

l

 

[FireDragon76]

For many years Gillette used to run a pH test on each batch of shave cream but they measured the pH of a 10% aqueous mix of the final product. This gave a reading around 10.5. But they even dropped this test eventually.

My brother has a degree in chemistry and he said that's the correct way to detect the pH of soap.

 

[YouToo]

Try a sample of NIL, a fragrance-free artisan soap that may be what you seek:
Artisan Shaving Soap - Tallow Based - https://www.shannonssoaps.com/handmade-shaving-soap.html

Thanks for your tips, that NIL soap does seem interesting.

 

[Levue]

Have you tried Palmolive yet?

 

[YouToo]

Have you tried Palmolive yet?

I'm gonna wait with trying something else until I run out of the gel I'm using right now. Thanks to the brush I don't need to use much each time!

 

[steveclarkus]

I’ve had problems with soaps/creams and have settled on two creams, Palmolive Classic and Kapo as being the kindest to my face. Anything with “Cool” in the name is definitely out.

 

[naughtilus]

Looks like allergic reaction to Triethanolamine. Alkalinity doesn't explain the throat and lung irritation.

Triethanolamine is an amine produced by reacting ethylene oxide (considered highly toxic) with ammonia (another known toxin). It is used as a buffering agent, masking and fragrance ingredient, and surfactant, in addition to its primary use as a pH adjuster.

 

[FireDragon76]

Looks like allergic reaction to Triethanolamine. Alkalinity doesn't explain the throat and lung irritation.

Triethanolamine is an amine produced by reacting ethylene oxide (considered highly toxic) with ammonia (another known toxin). It is used as a buffering agent, masking and fragrance ingredient, and surfactant, in addition to its primary use as a pH adjuster.

Gillette Satin Care was mentioned, and it has triethanolamine as an ingredient, but it caused no reaction. Triethanolamine is used as an emulsifier in some shaving creams and gels (including English shaving creams that are popular on Badger & BLade).

Triethanolamine is much less likely to cause allergic reactions than many common fragrance ingredients.

If a person has allergies or asthma, sticking with sensitive skin or unscented creams is the most obvious choice.

 

[Scouser]

Gillette Satin Care was mentioned, and it has triethanolamine as an ingredient, but it caused no reaction. Triethanolamine is used as an emulsifier in some shaving creams and gels (including English shaving creams that are popular on Badger & BLade).

Triethanolamine is much less likely to cause allergic reactions than many common fragrance ingredients.

If a person has allergies or asthma, sticking with sensitive skin or unscented creams is the most obvious choice.

Triethanolamine is not an emulsifier. In Satin Care for example it reacts with the stearic and palmitic acids also in the formulation to produce triethanolamine soap which is, of course, an emulsifier.

 

[YouToo]

I had one additional thought about this: Is it possible that the amount of minerals in the tap water can affect how the shaving cream reacts when whipping up some lather? If so, maybe that can cause some scent that gives me an allergic reaction. I gotta try one of those premium shaving creams with distilled water sometime. Not that our tap water is that "hard" but it isn't perfectly free of minerals either.

 

[FireDragon76]

I had one additional thought about this: Is it possible that the amount of minerals in the tap water can affect how the shaving cream reacts when whipping up some lather? If so, maybe that can cause some scent that gives me an allergic reaction. I gotta try one of those premium shaving creams with distilled water sometime. Not that our tap water is that "hard" but it isn't perfectly free of minerals either.

I don't think it will make any difference.

If you do try a high-end shaving cream, make sure it's formulated for sensitive skin or unscented.