Every time after I shave, I get more acne in those areas. I use a safety razor and an oat based cream. I always wash my face beforehand. Is there a way I can reduce the amount of acne I get after shaving?
I have the same problem and switched to an electric foil shaver. It’s not as close a shave so it does leave a bit of a stubble. That look might not work for everyone but it works for me
Foils are good, but the rotary style electric shavers create the least irritation. I use one, and would recommend it. It also comes with a little cleaner base that keeps the heads disinfected and clean of hair particles.
A Phillips One-Blade will give you a decently close shave, but not razor close, but it also doesn’t cause nearly the irritation and doesn’t cut hairs below the skin.
One trick is to prep your skin with cold water, not hot or warm, which will cause the hairs to stand up, making the shave easier.
Disagree. Really depends on the hair. Rotary pulls mine. I switched to foil a long time ago and haven’t had issues since.
Fair enough. I had the opposite, where foils caused irritation (even my Braun Series 7), but my Philips Norelco 9500 has been the superior shaver, all around.
I still use the One-Blade to pre-trim though, especially if the whiskers are longer.
I use that for my face too, super easy and I can’t cut myself with it lol
can’t say it leaves any stubble for me though
Stop shaving.
Haven’t shaved my face in 10 years. Haven’t had a haircut in 11 years. This is the way.
“Shaving” with hair clippers or a beard trimmer is adequate for any work or social situation I’ve been in for the last 20+ years.
My policy for the last 30 years has been; I shave for weddings and funerals. Worked well so far 👍
Are you black? I ask because in prison pretty much every black person got a shave pass meaning they only had to shave once a week instead of stay absolutely clean fucking shaven like the rest of us with the cheap razors we got each week.
They got to use the barbers electric razors instead and that seemed to really help
Sanitize your razor more often. Before and after every shave.
My two cents are the following : avoid irritation as much as you can. This means doing as few passes as you can, if possible shaving somewhat less often, and/or shave less close to the skin, for exemple using an electric trimmer. You should wash beforehand using hot water, and afterwards using cold water, and then dry before moisturising. I personally use and beeswax and olive oil based cream but a lot of products will do the trick. Remember that every skin is different, and sometimes, you can do everything right and still have symptoms, so you should adjust your shaving habits to accommodate those
Using hot water beforehand was what caused my irritation. I had a dermatologist recommend using a tri-head electric razor before showering with a dry face. I bought one for $50 a few years back and it’s been a night and day difference for me. I used to get pretty bad skin irritation, despite doing all the suggested things. It’s not as close of a shave, but my skin is a lot healthier. I’ve seen some people say they’ve benefited from only using cold water when shaving, but dry shaving has been the best route for me.
Didn’t realize that hot water can cause irritation. I’ll try doing it cold.
It might not be acne but ingrown hairs or an allergic response (hives) from the shaving cream you use.
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Exfoliate before and after you shave to limit ingrown hairs.
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Try a different shaving cream
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Use some kind of astringent after shaving
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In addition to what everyone else says, I’ve done well with rubbing aloe on after. I’m not usually a natural goop guy but my ex bought it for me and I found it actually works pretty well.
See a dermatologist, there are multiple causes of acne and you may need to treat it with diet or medication.
This!
Many people’s hormones are out of balance due to a diet with lots of sugar and fructose. It never hurts to cut down and see if things improve
Have you considered an electric shaver? It doesn’t cut as close, but by the same token, it also doesn’t scrape across the skin. You’ll avoid catching the tops of any spots that you may have, and until your skin becomes happier with wet shaving, it’ll keep the whiskers away.
My skin drastically improved once I figured this out, it hates having the top layer scraped off with a blade. Electric razor is perfect.
Feather blades, single blade, use foam and this brush to apply it. Then alcohol.
Another recommendation for Feather blades. There is a learning curve where you take the name literally when applying pressure, especially while learning. If you ever decide to try a safety razor, something like the Lord L6 safety on Amazon is inexpensive. A basic cream like Porasso or any canned cream will work (don’t invest in a brush yet, use hands to lather at fist) and don’t forget a styptic pencil for the war wounds.
Then consider investing in a brush and something like a Merkur 34C. A pack of 100 Feather razors lasts a couple years when changing the blade weekly and the shaving soap/cream lasts the better part of a year.
I shave after showering, soak brush in the sink with warm water and use a shaving soap. Shave short strokes one pass with the grain. Rinse with cool water and pat dry with a clean towel.
Good luck and don’t go down the straight razor rabbit hole.
Then consider investing in a brush and something like a Merkur 34C.
i had a really bad experience with the 34c. Basically the posts for the blade to ‘register’ to, allowed a relatively significant amount of play I’ve never seen in any other razor. This made seating it and using it at the ‘proper’ angle impossible- it also tended to make one side vastly more aggressive than the other, since a significant amount of blade was exposed on one side and not-enough on the other. (or worse, it was twisted so that on half the edge was too exposed and the other half was not, on both sides the blade.)
maybe they fixed it, but, I sort of doubt it.
Safety razor is prolly easier option for a rookie.
It is always cheaper than disposable long term
Good shaving cream and maybe pre shave if cream itself doesn’t work.
Its a bit pricey up front but it lasts as you need very small amount to get desired results. Then after shave. I just use cream and it is fine but when I started I used pre and after since I had similar issues to OP
Alcohol will dry the fuck out of your skin & may cause further blemishes to form.
the alchohol is there to kill to the bacteria- which is the immediate cause of acne. most aftershave splashes will also include some glycerin to re-moisturize the skin.
if you don’t want a scented product, you can do IPA and then some aftershave balm instead.
Get medication against acne from a doctor. That was the only thing that finally helped me get rid of it.
Do you have any metal allergies? If you think you do, you might consider looking for a blade without that particular metal. Most stainless steel contains nickel, which is a fairly common allergy.
IMO pre-shave balm before shaving cream makes a noticeable difference in irritation.
so, how quickly does the acne show up after shaving? are you sure it’s not irritation from shaving itself?
some general advice for sensitive skin:
- use facial cleansers as part of the pre-shave routine (and maybe also after if it is indeed acne. this will remove whatever product is causing the clogged pores as well as the bacteria)
- use a non-gel shaving cream. (or any goop-in-a-can.) instead use something you have to whip up. (I’m not sure what you mean by ‘oat based’ there’s both the goop-in-a-can versions, and poraso has a cream-in-a-tube of the stuff.) (in extreme cases you would want something unscented as well.)
- use cold water, both for the rinse and whipping the cream.
- use a hot towel to open up your skin’s pores. -use a fresh, clean and sharp razor every time. I would also suggest if you haven’t already, getting a sample back of many different brands of blades.
- rinse with cold water, and apply an alum block (and rinse again,) (the styptic pencils aren’t very good. you want a smooth block of alum.) also, in this vein, check your safety razor. when seating a new blade, there should not be any real play with the cap off. the blade should pull into a seat so that it’s constantly centered (and parallel!) on both sides the blade. I found the often-recommended “entry level” Merkur 34c to be horrible in this regard. I now use a Muhle closed comb (if you look at the prongs the blade registers against, they’re more conical to the merkur’s straight pillars, as you tighten it just centers the blade perfectly.)
- use a product with witch hazel in it, I use a post shave balm by thayers which is lightweight and moisturizing as well. this soothes further irritation and mends the dehydration from everything else. pretty much any lightweight post-shave balm will do. Again, look for something unscented.
- use an alcohol based aftershave. among other things, it’ll absolutely destroy the bacteria involved in causing acne. something like eucalyptus green if you want to limit scents (it fades quickly,) but anything traditional aftershave splash will do.
For me a double edged safety razor as well as drawing a face map of the directions my hair grows so I could shave “with the grain” for the first pass.
