Alum/styptic reacting with products

It seems that alum/styptic reacts badly with some products.

Proraso gunks up if it touches alum/styptic. I have also seen it react with lather. Even after rinsing the area.

Is there anyway to stop this from happening? Or are there any other products that react badly with alum/styptic?


Andrew

I have no idea. I don't use either one!

Randy

are you talking about the cream/soap, or the aftershave balm?

I use alum every day followed by an alcohol based splash and the asb. Sometimes I just go straight to the asb. I havent noticed any gunking up.

I used to use a Nautica aftershave gel. It would gunk up my acne medication. It seemed to work better if I let the aftershave dry for a few minutes before applying the acne cream.

The only thing I can think of that would be a problem is if you use styptic during a shave, make sure you rinse the area. Also, rinse your face after you use the alum. This might keep it from reacting with any aftershave you might use

The Proraso Pre/Post gunks up and becomes useless if it touches alum or styptic. I don't know of a way to counteract it. I actually gave up using it as a pre-pass lubricant, because I'm one of the ones here who if I get a nick, I styptic it immediately and then the pre/post won't go on at all. I still use it as a preshave before I use a hot washcloth though.

The alum decomposes my usual after shave balm from a milky cream into a watery fluid that just fall off my face if i ever manage to apply it before it falls from my fingers.

As a sidenote the instructions on the alum bar i have got tell to use it before shaving if you are using an electric shaver and after shaving if you do a wet shave, this to me is another sign that it won't mix well with soap and fat acids containing products.

An intelligent chap here came up with a brilliant idea, the 2nd cold water splash to reduce the alum. Then apply your favorite ASB as usual.

I've been doing this since I read that post and it works great!

Thanks for the tip


Andrew

jduffy said:

An intelligent chap here came up with a brilliant idea, the 2nd cold water splash to reduce the alum. Then apply your favorite ASB as usual.

I've been doing this since I read that post and it works great!

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I've had the same experience.

I also do the 2nd cold water rinse and sometimes a few hydrosol spritzes. I normally don't experience any adverse effects with the ASB after.

Floris Santal ASB gunks up after alum. I'll try the 2nd cold water splash as recommended above to see if that fixes the problem.

A second cold water splash worked for me. It seems you need to make sure you rinse every where well or the little bit of alum will screw it all up.


Andrew

You can also use a toner or an astringent to wipe away the alum before applying your ASB.



Marty

I don't know about aftershave, but some of the shaving creams I have (sorry I can't remember which ones exactly) definitely react and gunk up if I use my styptic pencil. Because of this, I have to wait until I'm totally done shaving to stop any bleeders.

I wash away the alum with a splash of witch hazel, then I apply aftershave when that dries.

zachster said:

I wash away the alum with a splash of witch hazel, then I apply aftershave when that dries.

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Thats my normal. Alum -> Witch Hazel -> A/S balm

The only exception to that sometimes when I use MB's A/S balm I won't bother with the witch hazel since she uses HW in her balm. Never had the alum react adversely to her balm though.

By second cold water rinse do you guys mean..

shave, cold water rinse, alum block, cold water rinse, asb?

I used an alum block for the first time today and I really enjoyed it. My skin has felt great all day long, however I did have a bad experience with Proroso pre gunking up afterwards.

Exactly.


Andrew