Best Soap or cream for Softening And Raising hair

[billgoat94]

I'm struggling with my beard between my jaw line and my neck. The hair is very coarse and it lays flat against the skin. When i do manage a decent shave in this area, i get irratation and/or that area gets porcupine prickly as the hair starts to grow within a few hours. I feel that if I could soften it better, and get the hair to stand more on end, I could get a better shave. I've tried Kyle's prep and pre-shave oil without much benefit. Conditioner seems to help. I'm wondering if anyone has gotten good results with a particular soap or cream? I do have some proraso pre-shave on order.

thanks in advamce

Bill

 

[SliceOfLife]

From what I've read, getting close shaves below your jawline for most people is more a matter of what directions you shave in, the sharpness and angle of your blade, and the quality of your lather than any special property that makes hair easier to cut.

Of course showering or in some way saturating the hair (hot towel) before the shave is always advisable.

If you're speaking of the area I think (bottomside of the jawline), then I do down and back WTG, Directly up (towards my brow) XTG and slightly up and forward (towards chin) ATG. It's actually far easier for me (with a straight) than the neck in general. Stretching is key (but not that difficult on the jawline).

 

[billgoat94]

Thanks,

I do mean the area between the adams apple and the chin.

 

[SliceOfLife]

That spots ALL about razor sharpness with straights. It's where I distinguish my different finishes for the most part. Not sure how to help with DE's. Literally if a razor struggles there the solution for me 100% of the time is to use a finer finisher. It's about the only spot on my neck where there's an absolutely flawless ATG for me (straight up), but it's difficult for a good XTG. Hence... requires an extra sharp razor to jump the XTG pass.

 

[smalltank]

DR Harris Arlington pre shave works great for me..try it..

 

[mblakele]

Ian has the right advice here: sharp blade and careful attention to grain. Some judicious stretching can help, and for me an open comb works well. Let the lather sit on your beard for a few minutes, too.

Or just accept a little stubble in some places: much better than irritation, if those are the choices.

 

[mctmatt]

My beard is just like you described. I will say that there are many great shaving soaps, creams, sticks that help, but it is just one part. A sharp blade is another, but the main thing is Prepping the beard. I started to use a facial scrub to exfoliate dirt, oil from my face. I then noticed how much better my beard would soften when hot water was applied especially if I jumped into the shower and just ran hot water on my face for a few minutes. My shaves have greatly improved since using this method. I have also started using a Pre-shave cream that I purchased called Prep, but there is also 3P and Proraso. I like them but they are not necessary.

 

[Sledgehammer39]

Ian has the right advice here: sharp blade and careful attention to grain. Some judicious stretching can help, and for me an open comb works well. Let the lather sit on your beard for a few minutes, too.

Or just accept a little stubble in some places: much better than irritation, if those are the choices.

+1

 

[billgoat94]

I really appreciate the advice and am going to try it all. I'm intrigued by the soap point. I did recntly change face soaps to a nutragena liquid soap. Maybe this is impacting the beard softening. I dont remeber being so bothered with it a few months ago.

 

[Seraphim]

Lather making the whiskers stand up better is an out and out myth, or more directly: a bald faced lie!

If you have whiskers that are so limp and flaccid as to be able to be coaxed into standing upright via a coating of bubbly soap suds, you would probably be wearing a dress and be named Sally.

Men have whiskers. Whiskers are tough sons o bitches that must be violently cut down with sharpened steel instruments, not gently massaged and coaxed into position with lilting brush strokes.

Yes, the whiskers must first be straffed with a fine barrage of soapy lather to soften them up. The primary function of soaps is both to aid water retention, and to add lubrication to the blade. But those tough bastards are still gonna dig in for a good fight. They're laying down in the trenches, and won't come out until you take em out vis a vis a battle charge of cold steel right through their midsection!

Are you with me, men?

 

[bobkhan]

Lather making the whiskers stand up better is an out and out myth, or more directly: a bald faced lie!

If you have whiskers that are so limp and flaccid as to be able to be coaxed into standing upright via a coating of bubbly soap suds, you would probably be wearing a dress and be named Sally.

Men have whiskers. Whiskers are tough sons o bitches that must be violently cut down with sharpened steel instruments, not gently massaged and coaxed into position with lilting brush strokes.

Yes, the whiskers must first be straffed with a fine barrage of soapy lather to soften them up. The primary function of soaps is both to aid water retention, and to add lubrication to the blade. But those tough bastards are still gonna dig in for a good fight. They're laying down in the trenches, and won't come out until you take em out vis a vis a battle charge of cold steel right through their midsection!

Are you with me, men?

I'm scared of shaving now.....

 

[billgoat94]

Lather making the whiskers stand up better is an out and out myth, or more directly: a bald faced lie!

If you have whiskers that are so limp and flaccid as to be able to be coaxed into standing upright via a coating of bubbly soap suds, you would probably be wearing a dress and be named Sally.

Men have whiskers. Whiskers are tough sons o bitches that must be violently cut down with sharpened steel instruments, not gently massaged and coaxed into position with lilting brush strokes.

Yes, the whiskers must first be straffed with a fine barrage of soapy lather to soften them up. The primary function of soaps is both to aid water retention, and to add lubrication to the blade. But those tough bastards are still gonna dig in for a good fight. They're laying down in the trenches, and won't come out until you take em out vis a vis a battle charge of cold steel right through their midsection!

Are you with me, men?

NICE! I'd go to war with this guy.

 

[SEnSE]

Try a preshave soap.

 

[VerbaVolant]

Lather making the whiskers stand up better is an out and out myth, or more directly: a bald faced lie!

If you have whiskers that are so limp and flaccid as to be able to be coaxed into standing upright via a coating of bubbly soap suds, you would probably be wearing a dress and be named Sally.

Men have whiskers. Whiskers are tough sons o bitches that must be violently cut down with sharpened steel instruments, not gently massaged and coaxed into position with lilting brush strokes.

Yes, the whiskers must first be straffed with a fine barrage of soapy lather to soften them up. The primary function of soaps is both to aid water retention, and to add lubrication to the blade. But those tough bastards are still gonna dig in for a good fight. They're laying down in the trenches, and won't come out until you take em out vis a vis a battle charge of cold steel right through their midsection!

Are you with me, men?

NICE! I'd go to war with this guy.

I am with you.

 

[SiBurning]

My beard is just like you described. I will say that there are many great shaving soaps, creams, sticks that help, but it is just one part. A sharp blade is another, but the main thing is Prepping the beard. I started to use a facial scrub to exfoliate dirt, oil from my face. I then noticed how much better my beard would soften when hot water was applied especially if I jumped into the shower and just ran hot water on my face for a few minutes. My shaves have greatly improved since using this method. I have also started using a Pre-shave cream that I purchased called Prep, but there is also 3P and Proraso. I like them but they are not necessary.

+1
...

To the OP...

I don't think it's the soap. It sounds like you have mild ingrowns. Assuming you're already doing a good 2-3 minute prep, you should probably start with a good scrub to loosen the hair from the skin, and then do the normal prep, and follow the other advice here. Also, I think a more aggressive blade can help a bit here, because the head and safety bar aren't pressing down as much, but it might also cut away too much skin, and end up more irritating and more prickly, so you'll need to experiment with milder vs. more aggressive, and whether or not to go ATG or stick to WTG and a less close shave.

There's a good discussion with pictures in the thread about "Insights Into Shaving and its Impact on Skin" published in the British Journal of Dermatology, and you can read the original article, too. If you don't read it, you might want to read the other article mentioned in post #32 there--When Razor Meets Skin--or at least note one thing from it: "For sensitized skin, use the exfoliant as part of the evening cleansing routine rather than directly before shaving."

 

[Kentos]

Maybe a bald headed lie ? If you think of it, hairs that stand up would be harder to shave IMO. Not to mention the safety bar on Closed Comb razors would flatten them anyways.