Ingrown hairs - HELP! Experienced DE shaver

[rfmacaskill]

Hi all, looking for some help re in-grown hairs. I've been DE shaving for over a year now and have settled after 4 months of trying different blades / soaps etc on the following daily regime:

1. Warm soap face wash. (Whatever soap is in the dish!)
2. Proraso 'Sensitive' Pre shave cream.
3. Proraso 'Sensitive' Aloe Green tea soap using a 'Kent' badger hair brush
4. Merkur 'Futur' on setting 1
5. Feather blades. (3 - 4 days per blade)
6. 1st pass WTG
7. 2nd pass XTG
8. 3rd pass ATG
9. Gentle buffing around the chin if needed.
10. Finally Proraso after shave balm. (The best I've found by a long shot!)

DE shaving taught me things about my skin that I didn't know...like I have 'very' sensitive skin but have a heavy daily growth. Over the last month or so I simply can't seem to get a decent shave without having some ingrown hairs on my neck the next day. I've tweaked and reviewed the blade angle, pressure, soaps / oils used (Taylors) and even gone without shaving for a day or so to try and resolve this but to no avail.

I've been using the above regime for ages now with no issues. I used to get 5 - 7 shaves from each Feather blade but have recently reduced that to 3 - 4 as I was beginning to get some minor irritation on my neck.

Do you think I should try some other less aggressive blades?

Any thoughts or suggestions would be welcome!

 

[Sledgehammer39]

Hi all, looking for some help re in-grown hairs. I've been DE shaving for over a year now and have settled after 4 months of trying different blades / soaps etc on the following daily regime:

1. Warm soap face wash. (Whatever soap is in the dish!)
2. Proraso 'Sensitive' Pre shave cream.
3. Proraso 'Sensitive' Aloe Green tea soap using a 'Kent' badger hair brush
4. Merkur 'Futur' on setting 1
5. Feather blades. (3 - 4 days per blade)
6. 1st pass WTG
7. 2nd pass XTG
8. 3rd pass ATG
9. Gentle buffing around the chin if needed.
10. Finally Proraso after shave balm. (The best I've found by a long shot!)

DE shaving taught me things about my skin that I didn't know...like I have 'very' sensitive skin but have a heavy daily growth. Over the last month or so I simply can't seem to get a decent shave without having some ingrown hairs on my neck the next day. I've tweaked and reviewed the blade angle, pressure, soaps / oils used (Taylors) and even gone without shaving for a day or so to try and resolve this but to no avail.

I've been using the above regime for ages now with no issues. I used to get 5 - 7 shaves from each Feather blade but have recently reduced that to 3 - 4 as I was beginning to get some minor irritation on my neck.

Do you think I should try some other less aggressive blades?

Any thoughts or suggestions would be welcome!

Try and change the blade and see if that might help. Also you may want to skip the ATG.

 

[MajorBurnz]

Try and changing the blade and see if that might help. Also you may want to skip the ATG.

+1 on nixing the ATG pass. If you're not getting a close-enough shave without that, you may want to try using a slightly higher setting on your Futur, and sticking to one WTG and one XTG pass.

As has already been said, you may want to try another blade brand. Go for something like a Red IP and see if that makes a difference. It's pretty different from a Feather. I know you've tried several blades already, but this may help with your ingrown problem.

 

[KiltedShaver]

+1 on nixing the ATG pass. I have somewhat sensitive skin and an extremely coarse beard. If I try and go ATG every day I end up with irritation and bumps on my neck. Try going every other day and see if that helps.

 

[Tommy Boy]

Here's a list of what I do from a previous post to help prevent ingrowns:

I use a variety of different blades (current favorite is the Red Personna, - and I've tried Feathers, Gillette yellows, Crystals, etc. - and all performed well).

Here is my routine after Kyle's prep and my last pass:

• Rinse with warm water
• Wash face with antimicrobial soap, Hibiclens - then use Alum block
• Pat dry
• Apply home made tend skin solution
• Apply ASB

A few things - don't apply the tend skin solution to a wet face, it will burn a bit. Secondly, I've used the Hibiclens product for years (you can find it at CVS or Walgreens) and have found it to be extremely gentle, as there is NO burn and it has held off the staph very well. Make sure you shake the bottle and just squirt out some of the foam on your hands and gently massage it in for a few minutes over your face and neck.

I've also found that I have more problems when my face dries out - so I've made an extra effort over the last few years to use a fair amount of moisturizer after washing my face at night (you can use the Hibiclens for that face wash too, followed by another application of the tend skin type solution, then face lotion prior to hitting the sack). Keeping my face hydrated has really help stem the ingrowns.

Hope this helps!

Again, a key piece for me is both tend skin solution and a moisturized face. I would try to go w/out the ATG pass for a while and see what happens, too.

Kyle's prep is key, too (just search this site if you haven't heard of it), as it preps the beard for shaving very well!

Best of luck - Tommy Boy