How come the part of my face I shave is magically immune to acne?

[pangaea]

So I've had acne at least since high school. What I've noticed recently is that the acne magically stops at the part of my face that I shave. I tried rubbing aftershave over my cheeks but that doesn't seem to extend the effect. Here's what I've used lately:

-Inexpensive synthetic brush

-Van Der Hagen Glycerin shaving soap

-DE razor

-Pinuad Clubman aftershave lotion, sometimes an alum block as well. I used to just use an alum block but I've found that hard soaps, even a glycerin soap, won't hydrate my skin to the extent that a cream does.

This never happened when I used an electric razor. What is doing this?

 

[jmudrick]

Alkali in shaving soap neutralizing oils ?

 

[sharpstar90]

I believe it is a combination of things.

Acne comes from a bacterial infection deep beneath your pores. They get filled with dirt, oil, and dead skin fragments. Bacteria feed on this matter and the pore becomes infected, swollen and closed off. This forms a pimple and your immune system is constantly having to fight the invaders off, forming puss underneath the pore.

But with a DE shave you are 1) constantly exfoliating your skin, 2) washing your face with quality soap, 3) opening your pores and filling them with alcohol, a powerful antiseptic agent. You've removed the particles that clog your pores, dissolved the oils that clog your pores, and killed bacteria that infest your pores and given them nothing to feed on.

Case closed. No more acne where you shave.

 

[GearNoir]

Just resist the urge to touch your face too much, that’ll bring em back for sure!

 

[Razorcan]

Shaving=cleanliness.
Cleanliness=no acme.

 

[razorhead63]

Yeah I agree with all of the above responses.
You are keeping the acne off your skin with the whole wet shaving process.
Cleaning and scrubbing it away. Not a bad thing!

 

[Ad Astra]

Electric razors are simply dirty, hard to clean, zit-making machines.

A DE razor is the clean way forward! And you have discovered this.


AA

 

[BigJ]

Electric razors are simply dirty, hard to clean, zit-making machines...”AA

+1! Words of wisdom!!

 

[Ad Astra]

+1! Words of wisdom!!

Well, OP's results show it: pushing a foil razor or Norelco heads around on a dry face are sure to pick up oils.. then, the blunt and raggedy blades are shearing stubble like a dull lawnmower.

True in my case, and it took a while to make the connection.... Interestingly, I just recalled a farmer friend gave 18-yr.-old me a bottle of AV Blue as a "cure" for acne... He was intuitively right!


AA

 

[H4nk]

You are scraping off the top layer every day. Many people with acne say "If I could just sandpaper my face". This is essentially what you are doing but lightly and with sterility every day for years.

 

[Twelvefret]

Don't scrub your face with any type of abrasive. Like others have said, the problem is an overproduction of oil that will subside over time. Shaving truly helped my acne. I used an astringent like Sea Breeze, but Witch Hazel would probably have worked. Pick up some cotton balls to apply.