My Friend challenged me to cure his razor burn

[kamhafiq]

Hi,

So, I was chatting to a friend about shaving, and he typically feels the antiquated way of shaving does not work for everyone.

He shaves with a Fusion in the shower, and he has a coarse curly beard. When he shaves it is fine, but the day after he ends up with razor burn / irritation (I'm not sure which) and he thinks the only way to cure this is to shave more regularly i.e on a daily basis instead of letting it grow.

Now I'm different because I've never had razor burn or irritation before, and my beard is different to his. My first thought would be brush, lather... And then maybe Proraso red because it is better for coarser beard types? He seems to think his problem is incurable, because it it caused by the hair curling back in on itself as it grows back, and a shave a cartridge / DE or a straight would yield the same result.

 

[Cartier]

First off you could try and get him on a DE if you have a spare set.

I would add one thing at a time and see how it progresses.

I used to suffer from irritation a lot and a couple things that have helped.

1) DE Shaving (Remember, no pressure.)
2) Cold Water Shaving
3) A good alcohol free aftershave balm

As we all know, YMMV but these are some things to consider.

 

[kamhafiq]

2) Cold Water Shaving

As we all know, YMMV but these are some things to consider.

Thanks for the reply. Just curious: what is the benefit of cold water shaving?

 

[Cartier]

First I take a nice hot shower. Wash my face and clean out the pores.

So the idea behind the cold water shave is that it does a couple things.

1) Causes the muscles around the hairs to contract and make the hair stand on end. This allows you to get a nice clean cut at the base of the hair.
2) The hair itself becomes stiffer. The cold water causes the hair to harden. Cutting through firm hair is much easier than plump, soft hair.
3) The skin also constricts and hardens a bit so it is not as easy to take a layer of skin off, which can cause irritation.

Perhaps someone with more technical knowledge can give you the scientific names for the processes at work but this is the short of it.

While a cold water shave is not nearly as luxurious, it has been helpful to soothe my face while I get my DE and Straight techniques down.

Hope this was helpful for you.

 

[kamhafiq]

First I take a nice hot shower. Wash my face and clean out the pores.

So the idea behind the cold water shave is that it does a couple things.

1) Causes the muscles around the hairs to contract and make the hair stand on end. This allows you to get a nice clean cut at the base of the hair.
2) The hair itself becomes stiffer. The cold water causes the hair to harden. Cutting through firm hair is much easier than plump, soft hair.
3) The skin also constricts and hardens a bit so it is not as easy to take a layer of skin off, which can cause irritation.

Perhaps someone with more technical knowledge can give you the scientific names for the processes at work but this is the short of it.

While a cold water shave is not nearly as luxurious, it has been helpful to soothe my face while I get my DE and Straight techniques down.

Hope this was helpful for you.

Thanks for the explanation: yup, cold water is not nearly as luxurious nor is it as pleasant as warm water, but there are options to consider.
I will loan out my Merkur 33C with blade (Wilkinson Sword Classic) and see how he progresses.

Thanks.

 

[kharb22]

Maybe give him a few blades to try. What may work for you may not work for him.

 

[mblakele]

Hi,

So, I was chatting to a friend about shaving, and he typically feels the antiquated way of shaving does not work for everyone.

He shaves with a Fusion in the shower, and he has a coarse curly beard. When he shaves it is fine, but the day after he ends up with razor burn / irritation (I'm not sure which) and he thinks the only way to cure this is to shave more regularly i.e on a daily basis instead of letting it grow.

Now I'm different because I've never had razor burn or irritation before, and my beard is different to his. My first thought would be brush, lather... And then maybe Proraso red because it is better for coarser beard types? He seems to think his problem is incurable, because it it caused by the hair curling back in on itself as it grows back, and a shave a cartridge / DE or a straight would yield the same result.

That does not sound like razor burn: more like ingrowns. But here are some ideas.

Shaving too closely often aggravates any tendency toward ingrowns. So shave less closely, but shave often enough that the hairs cannot grow enough to curl back into the skin. That may mean shaving more often. I would ditch the fusion: it is probably adding skin irritation to his problems. Jumping to a DE might be too ambitious, but a Bumpfighter handle with Trac II cartridges might be an easy improvement.

Trapped hairs may also be a problem. To free these, gently exfoliate about halfway between shaves. He sounds like a morning shaver, so the idea is to gently exfoliate the skin in the evening, when the hair is starting to grow back. If he is interested in using a brush, face-lathering without shaving can work. Or any gentle exfoliation will do the job.

These are the main things, I think. Dull blades may also contribute to the problem, and some folks find that products with allantoin are helpful.

 

[buca3152]

Straight razor is the gentlest on the face IMO. There a bit of a learning curve but once your there your there. Cold water shave and ice facial rub. Alum and alcohol scent free creams and balms. The carts cut below the skin so that's a no no.

 

[chrisf8657]

Witch hazel helped stopped ingrowns for me, just a piece of info for ya...

 

[Cartier]

Straight razor is the gentlest on the face IMO. There a bit of a learning curve but once your there your there.

There is a bit of a learning curves on straights. I have been getting way more razor burn as a result. I know this is user error, but damn, I hope I fix my technique soon. It also doesn't help I am getting my start on a Shavette. I'll have a proper blade soon enough.

However that said, when I do get a good shave on the straight, or on areas I don't burn.... man that skin is so smooth and the shave so close. This drives me to continue on even though the burn is not fun. I'm trying to learn from my mistakes as best as possible.

 

[Go West Young Man]

Get him off canned goo and onto a decent lathering soap/cream, and then.point him to Mantic. He's doing something wrong, obviously , but its hard to diagnose what without more info.

 

[OMEN]

You could give him a loaner for a while and see what happens. I noticed I got better shaves and no razor burn and since starting my neck and chin area has healed 100% after two weeks.

 

[auk1124]

That does not sound like razor burn: more like ingrowns. But here are some ideas.

Shaving too closely often aggravates any tendency toward ingrowns. So shave less closely, but shave often enough that the hairs cannot grow enough to curl back into the skin. That may mean shaving more often. I would ditch the fusion: it is probably adding skin irritation to his problems. Jumping to a DE might be too ambitious, but a Bumpfighter handle with Trac II cartridges might be an easy improvement.

Trapped hairs may also be a problem. To free these, gently exfoliate about halfway between shaves. He sounds like a morning shaver, so the idea is to gently exfoliate the skin in the evening, when the hair is starting to grow back. If he is interested in using a brush, face-lathering without shaving can work. Or any gentle exfoliation will do the job.

These are the main things, I think. Dull blades may also contribute to the problem, and some folks find that products with allantoin are helpful.

I believe this nailed it. Sounds like he has curly hair and is getting ingrowns. The exfoliation suggestion is a very good one. If he is secure in his masculinity, Oil of Olay makes some nice exfoliating creams he could try out, available in any Walmart or drugstore. Another thing that might possibly help is a very thin layer of udder balm after the shave - someone else on here was the first to come up with this idea, and it is a good one. The udder balm will help soften and moisturize the skin between shaves, and it also has a mild topical antibiotic. The combination of these two products would go a long way toward minimizing ingrowns.