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Coarse beard razor bump prevention ( African, Indian, Euro ect) info & tips thread.

This thread is dedicated to helping those with tough coarse beards/hairs that may experience razor bumps or other irritation issues from shaving. :thumbup1:

Please pass on any family secrets, ideas, techniques , shave gear usage, or anything that may help others. What may help you can help thousands of others too.

....Just info and help posts only!
:thumbup:
 
I am of mixed race heritage with my grandmother being of Burmese and Chinese descent, I have always had an issue with razor bumps on the lower part of my neck. Once I converted to DE shaving I found it reduce greatly in the amount of bumps I get, this has been improved to the point where I do not experience this at all through the use of a pre Shave oil and using witch hazel astringent after my shave[emoji1303][emoji1303]
 
I have found the following to be very useful:
  • Prep your beard with a good wash using a soap containing glycerin and leave your face wet. Leaving a film of wash soap works well but rinse water is fine.
  • Make and use a wetter and slicker shave lather. Apply to your washed and wet face.
  • Find and maintain correct shaving angle for your blade and razor combo. Particularly for the neck area.
  • Replace your blade before it gets dull and stops making smooth, clean cuts.
 
  1. NO ATG. EVER. I'M SERIOUS.
  2. Limit number of passes. Single WTG pass is ideal. Try a more aggressive razor if you can't get close enough with a single pass.
  3. Tend Skin. I make a homemade version using a recipe I found online.
  4. Synthetic brushes. I've found that stiffer brushes tend to irritate and inflame my large follicles.
  5. Cold Water. Warm or hot water swells the skin and gives hairs more opportunity to curl back in.
  6. Moisturizer as both pre and post shave. I use Nivea Creme.
  7. Fresh blade every shave. Every other shave at the absolute most.
 

captp

Pretty Pink Fairy Princess.
As always, Alex, you have some of the best questions on the boards. Excellent suggestions so far.
 
As always, Alex, you have some of the best questions on the boards. Excellent suggestions so far.
.
Thanks for the compliment , Dave/Skypsyd over at B&B Radio forum also asks good questions on his B&B interviews . ..

I grew up watching John Carson , listened to Howard Stern and Larry King . Today Howard is popular and asks the best informative questions . Johny was always genuinely fascinated and intriguing with his questions , and King said that his secret was staying curious in all his interviews . ......I just take a combination from all of these Legends and apply them in my questions :thumbup:
 
  1. NO ATG. EVER. I'M SERIOUS.
  2. Limit number of passes. Single WTG pass is ideal. Try a more aggressive razor if you can't get close enough with a single pass.
  3. Tend Skin. I make a homemade version using a recipe I found online.
  4. Synthetic brushes. I've found that stiffer brushes tend to irritate and inflame my large follicles.
  5. Cold Water. Warm or hot water swells the skin and gives hairs more opportunity to curl back in.
  6. Moisturizer as both pre and post shave. I use Nivea Creme.
  7. Fresh blade every shave. Every other shave at the absolute most.
Garrett.
Thanks for sharing your time and information , you are among the best informative and reliable members that always share the best suggestions and honest advice .
 
I have found the following to be very useful:
  • Prep your beard with a good wash using a soap containing glycerin and leave your face wet. Leaving a film of wash soap works well but rinse water is fine.
  • Make and use a wetter and slicker shave lather. Apply to your washed and wet face.
  • Find and maintain correct shaving angle for your blade and razor combo. Particularly for the neck area.
  • Replace your blade before it gets dull and stops making smooth, clean cuts.
Mike
Any suggestions on blade and razor combination .
 
I have found the following to be very useful:
  • Prep your beard with a good wash using a soap containing glycerin and leave your face wet. Leaving a film of wash soap works well but rinse water is fine.
  • Make and use a wetter and slicker shave lather. Apply to your washed and wet face.
  • Find and maintain correct shaving angle for your blade and razor combo. Particularly for the neck area.
  • Replace your blade before it gets dull and stops making smooth, clean cuts.
Mike
what technique works best for you on that always troublesome neck area ?
 
I am of mixed race heritage with my grandmother being of Burmese and Chinese descent, I have always had an issue with razor bumps on the lower part of my neck. Once I converted to DE shaving I found it reduce greatly in the amount of bumps I get, this has been improved to the point where I do not experience this at all through the use of a pre Shave oil and using witch hazel astringent after my shave[emoji1303][emoji1303]
Jonno
What's your preferred razor and blade for your shaves and shave technique for your irritation free shave?
 
Ok so I have 4 Razors which I use regularly and all have the same effect. They are my R41, Aristocrat Adjustable on setting 8 and my Fatboy on setting 6. I use Feather hi steel in all 3. I also use an Alumigoose and I use a feather professional In that. My technique is a ten minute shower using a plain face soap, pre Shave oil which I massage in for a while and then leave for approx 2 minutes, I then shave with three passes WTG, XTG, ATG washing my face between each lather with hot water. I then wash my face in ice cold water and use witch hazel, once that has dried I use fine snakebite, leave that for about 5 minutes and then finish with Nivea cream. When shaving I use no pressure and use short ( about an inch) scrapes, I never go over an area without lather on it and I use a fresh blade every shave.
 
Mike
Any suggestions on blade and razor combination .

Mike
what technique works best for you on that always troublesome neck area ?

Razor suggestions: As a DE user, I can recommend an adjustable such as those made by Gillette and Merkur although other brands should work fine. The idea here is to take advantage of the ability to tune the shave to the beard. In the non-adjustable arena, I'd recommend a heavier razor like the Red Tip, Merkur HD or Slant. These razors offer a bit more wiggle room in the blade gap which can help locate the best cutting angle in the least amount of time.

Blades: I'd recommend Astra and Gillette Yellows (SharpEdge) for starters. They work well in multiple razors and offer a good combination of sharp/smooth.

Neck: This can be a headache (was for me) because it's so easy to keep a stiff fixed shaving angle when the contours of the neck and beard are changing. Next thing you know, the blade stops cutting and starts scraping and you didn't realize what was happening. To get around this, I started keeping a lighter razor grip and moving it up the handle closer to the head as I shaved under the jawline. This way I could follow the neck and make those small corrections in blade angle on the fly as needed. Also shave the neck with short strokes-helps keep angle, pressure and speed consistent from stroke to stroke.

As others have mentioned, don't skimp on shave prep. Good prep enables the rest of the solution to work the best way it can.
 
I'm as lily white as they come but have a really sensitive neck. I find a slant razor and sharp blade are most effective.
 
Garrett.
Thanks for sharing your time and information , you are among the best informative and reliable members that always share the best suggestions and honest advice .

Thanks. I struggled with this for almost a year, and it took almost another entire year of experimenting to find things that actually helped, so I'm happy to share what worked for me.
 
Another black guy here that fought with bumps for years. STAY AWAY FROM ATG! Every so often I get ballsy and want to try then I pay the price for weeks. Cool to cold water seems to work best for me. I also do not use aftershave. Witch hazel that I added tea tree oil to is my go to. If I have nicked myself alum. As a moisturizer raw Shea Butter.
 
  1. NO ATG. EVER. I'M SERIOUS.
  2. Limit number of passes. Single WTG pass is ideal. Try a more aggressive razor if you can't get close enough with a single pass.
  3. Tend Skin. I make a homemade version using a recipe I found online.
  4. Synthetic brushes. I've found that stiffer brushes tend to irritate and inflame my large follicles.
  5. Cold Water. Warm or hot water swells the skin and gives hairs more opportunity to curl back in.
  6. Moisturizer as both pre and post shave. I use Nivea Creme.
  7. Fresh blade every shave. Every other shave at the absolute most.

This is almost word for word what I would have suggested. One pass would be ideal but I absolutely have to do two passes because I have thick, dark hair and even if I were to shave against the grain and get a totally smooth shave, you would still clearly see my beard.

I love my synthetic brushes, especially my Whipped Dog because it's as soft as a pillow and it plays nicely with my sensitive skin. I can't even tolerate a little bit of scratchiness and the less backbone for me, the better. Larry listened to my request and accommodated me as best as he could, finding me a soft knot with just the right amount of backbone.

I can't stress number 6 enough. A lot of people write off pre-shave but it's incredibly important for me. Some have the wrong idea about pre-shave. It's not meant to replace the lather's job of providing slickness. It's simply a moisturizer that increases comfort for those who have very dry skin like me. Scraping dry skin with a sharp blade never turns out nicely, hence pre-shave whether it be some kind of oil or cream. Just ensure that it's something that's absorbed into the skin, not something that sits on top of the skin and ruins the lather like some super oily pre-shaves.

I still get lots of pain and razor bumps every single shave but with the right tools, it has been drastically improved. The blades that work best for me are either extremely sharp like Feathers or they have some silky smooth coating like Voskhods. Also be weary of certain fragrances in soaps that can cause milk allergic reactions, which leads to bigger problems that you'll notice later on.
 
  1. NO ATG. EVER. I'M SERIOUS.
  2. Limit number of passes. Single WTG pass is ideal. Try a more aggressive razor if you can't get close enough with a single pass.
  3. Tend Skin. I make a homemade version using a recipe I found online.
  4. Synthetic brushes. I've found that stiffer brushes tend to irritate and inflame my large follicles.
  5. Cold Water. Warm or hot water swells the skin and gives hairs more opportunity to curl back in.
  6. Moisturizer as both pre and post shave. I use Nivea Creme.
  7. Fresh blade every shave. Every other shave at the absolute most.
Thanks for your advice, , I will start to incorporate your No.1,2,5,7..on certain areas of my face,,
and neck, and I only use a Blade two times and sometimes only once. ..
 
  1. NO ATG. EVER. I'M SERIOUS.
  2. Limit number of passes. Single WTG pass is ideal. Try a more aggressive razor if you can't get close enough with a single pass.
  3. Tend Skin. I make a homemade version using a recipe I found online.
  4. Synthetic brushes. I've found that stiffer brushes tend to irritate and inflame my large follicles.
  5. Cold Water. Warm or hot water swells the skin and gives hairs more opportunity to curl back in.
  6. Moisturizer as both pre and post shave. I use Nivea Creme.
  7. Fresh blade every shave. Every other shave at the absolute most.

Ok so I have 4 Razors which I use regularly and all have the same effect. They are my R41, Aristocrat Adjustable on setting 8 and my Fatboy on setting 6. I use Feather hi steel in all 3. I also use an Alumigoose and I use a feather professional In that. My technique is a ten minute shower using a plain face soap, pre Shave oil which I massage in for a while and then leave for approx 2 minutes, I then shave with three passes WTG, XTG, ATG washing my face between each lather with hot water. I then wash my face in ice cold water and use witch hazel, once that has dried I use fine snakebite, leave that for about 5 minutes and then finish with Nivea cream. When shaving I use no pressure and use short ( about an inch) scrapes, I never go over an area without lather on it and I use a fresh blade every shave.

Another black guy here that fought with bumps for years. STAY AWAY FROM ATG! Every so often I get ballsy and want to try then I pay the price for weeks. Cool to cold water seems to work best for me. I also do not use aftershave. Witch hazel that I added tea tree oil to is my go to. If I have nicked myself alum. As a moisturizer raw Shea Butter.
Ok
COLD WATER is a very important element in the razor bumps and irritation prevention process so far....more tips from our members to follow
 
Thanks for your advice, , I will start to incorporate your No.1,2,5,7..on certain areas of my face,,
and neck, and I only use a Blade two times and sometimes only once. ..
.
Don't forget to post helpful insightful reviews :thumbup:
 
Another black guy here that fought with bumps for years. STAY AWAY FROM ATG! Every so often I get ballsy and want to try then I pay the price for weeks. Cool to cold water seems to work best for me. I also do not use aftershave. Witch hazel that I added tea tree oil to is my go to. If I have nicked myself alum. As a moisturizer raw Shea Butter.
.
Any tips on fast recovery from bumps besides Coldwater ?
 
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