How long before you wash aftershave off?

[whodat]

Just a note on using talc on your face... Be very very careful not to breathe it in! It's very bad for your lungs and is a major carcinogen. Just make sure you take a couple deep breaths first and let the talc "settle" before you start breathing again...

I've never heard of using talc on your face -- I know it's an ingredient in some womens cosmetics and it's gotten a lot of flak recently.

That said, I don't think there's evidence that it's bad for your skin -- just bad if it's breathed in!

 

[sol92258]

well how'd it turn out for you? it may take several applications for you to notice a difference, but if you're as oily as you describe, you may try slightly more castor oil than olive, since it is the "cleaning" part of the equation. My most recent concoction, favorite so far, is 3 parts castor, 2 parts grapeseed oil, a few drops of tea tree oil and lemon EO...smells awesome
I'd keep the current setup for a few days then try higher percentage of castor oil, since the olive oil is mainly to help carry the castor oil into the pores as its thinner. I've also had good luck doing the hot towel first, to open up the pores and remove surface oil, then to the cleaning method.

So much information in less than a day! You guys are the best

Of course, I can't try everything at once, so this morning I made two changes to the routine, which now consists of using the oil cleansing method and shaving.

For the oil cleansing method, I:

1.) Covered my face with a 50/50 mixture of extra virgin castor oil and extra virgin olive oil.
2.) Applied a hot towel until it cooled down (did it a few times in the shower).
3.) Washed the oil off.

I will let you know about the results (if any). The only problem I had with this method was that washing the oil off was quite hard. It was very sticky and my hand kept on reaching for the soap, though since we're using this as a replacement for it I only used water.

For the shaving I did the usual:

1.) I rubbed a few drops of King of Shaves shaving oil into my face.
2.) I covered my face with shaving soap (using an Erasmic shaving stick). I don't know whether its a good idea to do so as the oil and the soap might cancel each other out (?) but this has given me reasonably good shaves in the past.
3.) I used my Merkur HD gold with a new Derby blade (that's what I do every day) to shave my face. One with-the-grain pass only as I'm very rash-prone.
4. I applied witch hazel as an aftershave, leaving my gilette and nivea balms alone for the first time in years!

I hope this works! If not then I will try the other stuff that you guys recommended. Oh, and if you guys can see flaws in my routine, please let me know! I still get rashes quite often and any suggestions are highly welcome!

Regards.

 

[ssidks]

Thanks guys!

Its been a couple of days since I've used witch hazel as the only aftershave and my skin looks better! I did get one small shaving bump in each of the shaves though, that's why I'm thinking of mixing some rubbing alcohol (say 20%?) in. Do you think that would help?
The good thing about using witch hazel is that I never feel "guilty" for washing my face, so the original question of the thread has been answered

well how'd it turn out for you?

I turned out better than I expected! Usually when I go for a nap, I wake up with a very oily forehead. Today, when I woke up, it was completely dry!! I am definitely making this a part of my routine The only thing that I have to note is that after the application, washing the oil off is quite tricky. Last time I couldn't help using my shaving soap to wash my forehead. I will probably put more castor oil into the mix as you said. Thanks for the advice!

 

[prometheus]

Thanks guys!

Its been a couple of days since I've used witch hazel as the only aftershave and my skin looks better! I did get one small shaving bump in each of the shaves though, that's why I'm thinking of mixing some rubbing alcohol (say 20%?) in. Do you think that would help?
The good thing about using witch hazel is that I never feel "guilty" for washing my face, so the original question of the thread has been answered

Well witch hazel itself has astringent properties, so if that's the reason you want to add alcohol (rubbing alcohol is also an astringent) to it, you most likely don't need to.