Reccomend an AS for me!

[Aldarith]

Gentlepeople of B&B!

I have tried Pinaud Bay Rum and Lilac Vegetal, both of which I like the smell of.Lately however, my skin has been particularly prone to irritation (pimples,zits, razorburn/bumps, small ingrown hairs).

I was wondering if anyone out there could recommend a nice smelling aftershave that will help minimize these problems?

I'm fair haired (Redheaded, Ginger, Soulless, whichever you prefer) and equally fair skinned. I'm sitting in the dark right now, holding the keyboard vertically and typing by B&Bs white light (which, I may add, Is extremely useful for when you always type in the dark). I am so fair that I actually avoid going into sunlight. No. I do not jest. Hopefully it provides some context as to why my skin is so sensitive!

 

[Luc]

Do you have any problems with Bay Rum or LV? Are you looking for another splash or a balm?

I would recommend Witch Hazel or an AS containing WH such as HBG for Men

Proraso splash works quite well for me!

 

[smrex13]

Provence Santé Green Tea. Amazing stuff!

Scott

 

[Aldarith]

No, I don't have any problems with the veg or with Bay Rum, but despite using them my skin still becomes heavily irritated under my jawline.

I will definitely look into those!

 

[BCatl]

I have fair skin too. It's strange that Barbasol Pacific Rush (which I like) makes my skin go crazy with irritation. The Brisk does not. The only difference seems to be the castor oil in the Pacific Rush which perhaps I'm allergic too. Who knows?

On the other hand, Florida Water burns like hell, but doesn't irritate me at all.

Swiss Pitralon is very mild. So is Aqua Velva Musk. I'm sure that the Provence Sante & HGB are good too. You might try some of those.

 

[mdevine]

An unscented WH would be your safest bet. Out of all the *** that I've tried, Speick treats my face the best.

 

[sfactor23]

Speick is probably a good possibility in the sense it will probably not adversely affect your skin - the only question will be if you like the smell -

 

[Mr. O]

Gentlepeople of B&B!

I have tried Pinaud Bay Rum and Lilac Vegetal, both of which I like the smell of.Lately however, my skin has been particularly prone to irritation (pimples,zits, razorburn/bumps, small ingrown hairs).

I would recommend perhaps an ASB. I like Bigelow Blue Elixer. If ASBs are not your thing and you would like a AS, try Skin Bracer. It has a crisp, barbershop smell, the scent lasts (at least on me) nearly a full working day and its mentholated. More and more this is my go to AS.

 

[RayH]

Is it just from the AS you're using or could there be other factors like the blade in the razor or maybe you need to change your technique. What are you using, what kind of prep are you doing before you shave? These things could be a factor also.

 

[Aldarith]

I'm not sure what it is - I'm not irritated by the aftershave. It seems that I'm irritated by shaving too often. If I let the hair grow out to about 1 or 2 mm before shaving I never have the same irritation as when I shave every day.

As far as my routine goes, I strop my razor between 60-80 times and put it into the Barbicide jar before I have a good hot shower to get nice and clean. I also let my brush and soap soak in some hot water. When I shower I use a soapy scrub brush (not as abrasive as it sounds) to scrub myself and my face. I work in a restaurant, so I pay extra attention to this part because I get relatively greasy and sweat a lot at work.

Once I'm out of the shower, I pat my hair dry and wrap a towel around myself and use a comb to brush my hair back and out of the way. I shake my brush (shaving brush now, not scrub brush :] ) out a little bit and load my brush for 15-20 seconds or so and scrape the extra lather out of the mug and into my bowl. I spend a good time lathering, sometimes I wander around the house and look at things while doing this.

Once the lather has grown to an appreciable amount I rub the brush all over my face and do a very small bit of face lathering to help soften up my facial hair. I smooth on some bowl lather over this until I have a big Santa lather beard.

At this point I take up my straight and begin to wage war upon the little face hairs, conquering first the right side of my face under the ear. I use my left hand to pull the skin tight and flush the cowards out, and use my right hand to cut them down. I use repetitive, short strokes WTG until I reach my chin. Having eviscerated my diminutive enemies on the right side of my face, I do the same on the left.

By this point, all that it left is the hair on my neck, upper lip and chin. I take all of those off with the same method described before.

Next I do XTG and then ATG (this is getting long, I'll leave it at that).

Having thusly completed my facial campaign against the hair, I splash on some Pinaud Bay Rum, or some Veg if I'm feeling adventurous. I rub it on my face and neck, and use the excess on my chest and shoulders so that I smell good all over.

Then I get dressed.

And that's my procedure! Sorry, it's a bit long.

 

[BCatl]

Razorpete (dermatologist) was on here last week and advised a less is more approach for a similar situation. The AS is probably not healing at this point, but actually contributing to the irritation. Going by what he said, I would not apply AS to any area where you have irritation. You might want to rub AS on your chest or behind your ears (I do this) so you can still enjoy the scent.

Personally, I have found being lightskinned myself that sometimes my skin goes wild for a few days no matter what the technique. I don't know exactly what it is, maybe a fragrance I'm sensitive to, so I have to really back off for a while during these times.

We probably don't have the type of skin you can wage war on.

 

[BCatl]

By the way, here's the discussion I was talking about. Hope I linked it correctly.

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=160086&highlight=neck+irritation

 

[Aldarith]

I'll give the vaseline a go, or try to find some ASB. Any specific kinds come to mind?

Woah... Some music on TV just made me nostalgic about my Unreal Tournament days.....

 

[Go West Young Man]

Here's a few thoughts that come to mind reading your routine. Don't take them as gospel, just stream of consciousness ramblings The best and aftershave product can do is slightly minimize the trauma inflicted by bad technique. You really need to focus on learning to avoid the irritation/burn in the first place.

Scrubbing before a shave only serves to pile irritation on top of irritation. Maybe try a gentler cleanser?

Sounds like your face may be drying out before the lather hits it. Maybe try lathering up immediately after getting out of the shower, then let it sit on your face while you do all the other futzing around. Either way, a bowl of lather shouldn't take more than a minute or so to create.

Santa Beard sounds like too much lather, and probably too foamy. The best lather is closer to greek yogurt in texture.

It's not recommended that you do ATG until you've conquered all your technique issues. Maybe try a 2nd XTG in the opposite direction instead? That'll be much kinder to your face overall.

 

[Aldarith]

Perhaps my angle is a little bit off?

As far as the timing for the lather goes, I don't actually take too long to lather it up - I just occupy my mind sometimes while my hands do the work.

If the lather is too foamy should I reduce the amount of water I put into it?