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Outbreak Of Ingrowings. Caused By Daily Shaving?

Hello Gents!

An outbreak of ingrowns has occured. Almost all on the jawline and upper lip. I am unsure why.

I am using a couple of new items which I received at Christmas, a tub of Cella, which is lovely stuff, and an excellent little synthetic brush which Mrs Ladd bought for me as I had mentioned I needed a low maintenence travel brush. Non scritchy, nice backbone and very soft. A great little workhorse.

Blades are Nacets, which are fast becoming my No.1 now, and pretty much over the past 10 days or so, the great English aluminum handled English Rocket from 1953-54, a mild and very efficient razor. I am using the same 3 passes, merely refining strokes as I learn my growth pattern more, and adapting to it. After 18 months obviously I am still evolving technique.

I have been daily shaving for the past fortnight almost exclusively, this is the one significant variable that has changed.

Can daily shaving make you more prone to ingrowns?

Any thoughts and advice most welcomed!
 
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Hi Simon,

Sorry to hear your turn in the quality of your shaves. I am a daily shaver myself and this past year of DE shaving gave me one maybe two ingrown hairs but that’s it. And backtracking those two it was from too much skin pulling and wanting to have an even closer shave. Both of those hairs I abandoned immediately.

Not shaving daily and then turning to shaving daily could be a cause although I would need to understand why. I would assume daily shaving reduces the chances.

I would be inclined to state that the change in blade might be the culprit. If I recall correctly you shaved with Super Diamonds most of the time. The Nacet is stainless without specific coating. Personally I find the Nacet to be a harsh blade. I don’t keep ingrown records but the once or twice I mentioned where also with a blade I use less regularly (could be my imagination filling this in).

A suggestion would be to shave with your favourite blade for the same period of time and compare results.

Hope the irritation is manageable and soon in the past!

Cheers,

Guido
 
Hello Gents!

An outbreak of ingrowns has occured. Almost all on the jawline and upper lip. I am unsure why.

I am using a couple of new items which I received at Christmas, a tub of Cella, which is lovely stuff, and an excellent little synthetic brush which Mrs Ladd bought for me as I had mentioned I needed a low maintenence travel brush. Non scritchy, nice backbone and very soft. A great little workhorse.

Blades are Nacets, which are fast becoming my No.1 now, and pretty much over the past 10 days or so, the great English aluminum handled English Rocket from 1953-54, a mild and very efficient razor. I am using the same 3 passes, merely refining strokes as I learn my growth pattern more, and adapting to it. After 18 months obviously I am still evolving technique.

I have been daily shaving for the past fortnight almost exclusively, this is the one significant variable that has changed.

Can daily shaving make you more prone to ingrowns?

Any thoughts most welcomed!
Not hearing anything in what appears to be a really sound shaving approach that could be a definitive root cause. Outside of the increased number of ingrowns have you noticed any additional irritation when you shave?

Recall years ago, in my pre DE electric shaver instructions, that there was a lot of messaging around giving the new razor time until the shavers skin became used to the new shaving process. That may be the case here with your increased frequency. Wondering if taking a day of from shaving once a week for a while could allow your face to get used to daily shaves. Another option could be to go easier a couple days a week with a 1+ pass DFS versus the standard 3 pass (BBS?) shave.

Hope this is helpful.
 
@Guido75 and @Lane101 thank you for your thoughtful responses.

I have never had this before, although I have noted some ingrowns in the past shaving daily but I have never reported it.

It's a narrow area on both sides of jawline. Upper lip affected but less so. I do ATG quite freely.

No skin irritation to report.

Obviously @Guido75 the world of blades in our world is the most 'ymmv' thing I suspect. I do love those Super Max Diamond Edge, and Plats, and I always thought I was quite 'safe' with blade choices. I do find the Nacet to be smooth and nicely sharp, I'm sorry that you had a bad experience with them Brother! It's a bummer because I got a 100 before Christmas and I thought I had found an ideal blade, being inexpensive and efficient and 'kind' to my skin.

It may be a host of things? My technique and many other aspects are still a work in progess, and I think most of us are always learning.

Any other experiences and input welcomed. It's a new one for me.
 
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Jawline you say? And do you do across stroke specifically on the jawline from ear to chin and/or chin to ear? Because that’s exactly the area where I have had ingrowns and it was (for me) because of the stretching and biting that it happened. Particularly the stretching in wanting to get everything to BBS thereby risking cutting too much under the skin.

And I am with Lane in the accustoming your skin to the shave - I was much more prone to ingrown hairs in my electric shaving days by the way.

And the Nacet - it’s not that they don’t work, it’s just that they are the rave on B&B and I can’t get them to work the same way for me (maybe I am too focused on longevity rather than switching blades after 3-4 shaves because I got lucky with Dorco’s and KCG blades with 10 and 30 shaves easily).

Cheers,

Guido
 
From what I remember off the top of my head, ingrowns come from shaving below skin level. I see Guido has just typed this and a likely method of shaving below skin level. I would suggest doing your normal passes and resist going back over those areas for awhile. I would employ the safety bar and avoid stretching too. That's frustrating because you are probably going to have some itchiness from having left over stubble for awhile. You might want to find Bump Patrol and at least have it around so you can use it next time before the ingrowns start. Sorry to hear of your troubles and I hope everything else is well with you.
 
Jawline you say? And do you do across stroke specifically on the jawline from ear to chin and/or chin to ear? Because that’s exactly the area where I have had ingrowns and it was (for me) because of the stretching and biting that it happened. Particularly the stretching in wanting to get everything to BBS thereby risking cutting too much under the skin.

And I am with Lane in the accustoming your skin to the shave - I was much more prone to ingrown hairs in my electric shaving days by the way.

And the Nacet - it’s not that they don’t work, it’s just that they are the rave on B&B and I can’t get them to work the same way for me (maybe I am too focused on longevity rather than switching blades after 3-4 shaves because I got lucky with Dorco’s and KCG blades with 10 and 30 shaves easily).

Cheers,

Guido
Ear to chin and I skin stretch.

Interesting.

I'm still looking for a blade which can go 15-40 shaves which I got with the remarkable Israeli Personna and their 'saloon' cousin, the X Series. They have almost magical properties to my mind. I can't buy any more blades because I am in the Village for 2023 after all! :wink2:
 

lasta

Blade Biter
First of all, congrats on returning to the daily shave club, I knew you could do it!

As for bumps, ingrowns, cysts etc...just cut them off the next shave! Bwah!

You face will get used to it and stop fighting.
 
I never had a problem with ingrown whiskers since beginning DE shaving - well, maybe once in a blue moon.

But then back around the beginning of December I had the same problem. About a 1/3 of the way up on the underside of my jawline. One or two about every other shave whether I shaved every day or the 3rd or 4th day. It was making me mental. I started buying face scrubs, bump patrol, even an exfoliating brush to use in the shower. My shaving technique was about the same as always so it was a puzzle.

After about a month, no more problem. My new prevention ritual is Magic Shave Exfoliating Cleanser (the one with charcoal) during my shower. On the jaw: pass 1 wtg, pass 2 atg... no more running along the jawline from ear to chin. After the shave, I apply Speick then a few minutes later I dab a small amount of Bump Patrol on those two problem areas and anywhere I notice a red spot.

So far, so good - knock on wood. Lately, my blades have run the gamut from Dorco ST300HQ to Perma-Sharps... razors, Superspeeds to Wolfman 1.25 and no ingrowns. I have no clue if any of this made a difference or if it was just a passing fluke condition. Like I say, I went years with no problem at all but I'm not taking any chances. Having an ingrown really puts a damper on my next shave - I detest them. I hope you get it sorted.

edit: yes, I stretch. Picked up the habit when I ventured into SR and just can't stop.
 
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@Guido75 and @Lane101 thank you for your thoughtful responses.

I have never had this before, although I have noted some ingrowns in the past shaving daily but I have never reported it.

It's a narrow area on both sides of jawline. Upper lip affected but less so. I do ATG quite freely.

No skin irritation to report.

Obviously @Guido75 the world of blades in our world is the most 'ymmv' thing I suspect. I do love those Super Max Diamond Edge, and Plats, and I always thought I was quite 'safe' with blade choices. I do find the Nacet to be smooth and nicely sharp, I'm sorry that you had a bad experience with them Brother! It's a bummer because I got a 100 before Christmas and I thought I had found an ideal blade, being inexpensive and efficient and 'kind' to my skin.

It may be a host of things? My technique and many other aspects are still a work in progess, and I think most of us are always learning.

Any other experiences and input welcomed. It's a new one for me.
Simon, I think you remember my thread not long ago about something similar (I think I've lost it). Out of the blue some red dots below my jawline and my ATG pass became a no go. Why? how?

I really don't know, our skin is highly influenced by hormones, environment, hydration, stress and so on. More than we think.

First I thought It was my technique, it wasn't. Blades, razors, everything came into analysis. Even my balms and creams were put to test.

I went to a dermatologist who recommended tons of creams and rest. Didn't solve it. put the razor down for days, skin cleared up, then shaved WTG only and I could see the red pimples rise again. Simply frustrating.

I began watching and reading a lot of stuff trying to figure this thing out. Spoke to my cousin, who is a dermatologist.

At the end of it and a couple of weeks ago, after all that, I've come to find that I probably had a mild case of folliculitis just in that area. Inflamed pores that seemed to heal alone but with the slightest WTG shave would rise up again.

So I had to give that hypothesis a go. The solution?

Benzoyl peroxide 10% cream. It kills the bacteria that feeds acne and is also used for ingrowns and folliculitis. It's an exfoliant and it's amazing for those cases.

With just a couple days of use I already noticed the skin peeling and all those red spots drying up. Just a small layer before bed. I can now tell that it worked and probably that was the issue from the beginning.

The weird thing is that my ATG passes were never the same after that. I don't know why as I've never had anything like it and have always shaved 2 ATG passes on autopilot mode. I'm enjoying a nice WTG/XTG shave and I'll keep it like this until it comes back naturally like it once was.

As to why? I still don't know, our skin is a mistery sometimes and it changes like that, quickly. I've read some similar cases here on B&B. "I shaved like that, now I can't anymore".

Give Benzoyl Peroxide a go, you can find in a cleanser too, but I prefer the cream.

Keep us updated.
 
Occasionally I would get an ingrown on my neck and sometimes along the jawline or moustache area. What works well for me is to suspend the ATG pass until things have cleared up and most helpful is to use a nylon Japanese style washcloth along with a very mild and gentle soap. When in the shower I will lightly scrub my face(with a little extra focus on ingrown areas) using the nylon Japanese style wash cloth and a very mild olive oil soap. The helps to gently exfoliate the face and whisker area and has completely eliminated ingrowns.
 
Sorry to hear you’re a bit under the weather. Hopefully you’ll get well quick.

I’d recommend going easier in the area that you’re getting the ingrown hairs for a while until they are gone. Maybe modify your routine to skip the ATG pass in those areas.

I hope they heal quick and you can continue with great daily shaves.

Hang in there!
 

JCarr

More Deep Thoughts than Jack Handy
I gave up on daily shaving. Every other or every three days works best for my skin and schedule. I also find it to be extremely satisfying to remove the extra growth right down to a BBS finish.

Hoping your ingrown situation improves overnight. Just a thought, but skin can go through rough periods just like anything else.
 

thombrogan

Lounging On The Isle Of Tugsley.
Hoping you feel better soon, Alum Ladd.

My personal experience with resolving ingrown hairs has been part technique and part equipment.

Technique was finding and keeping the angle giving maximum blade/edge feel; respecting the danger it presents to my skin; and having the bottom of the handle always in some sort of contact with my hand or fingers so a light ATG or XTG touch on a tough whisker doesn’t guide the edge into some capillaries.

Equipment has been running through my sharper DE blades before their initial edge has long been worn down by any silicates trapped in skin or stubble. No more “ermahgerd, it’s shave 21 of my Shark Super Stainless!” for awhile.

The result of intentionally scaring myself and wantonly consuming blades has been a dramatic decrease in ingrowns and weepers only occur when my mind wanders from the terror (so less dramatic reduction for those…).

Would scaring yourself and being an even more fair weather friend of DE blades than normal be worth a try for you?
 
Ear to chin and I skin stretch.

Interesting.

I'm still looking for a blade which can go 15-40 shaves which I got with the remarkable Israeli Personna and their 'saloon' cousin, the X Series. They have almost magical properties to my mind. I can't buy any more blades because I am in the Village for 2023 after all! :wink2:
I thought the village allows you to obtain the supplies you need. Its restraint not a sabattical.
 
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