sometimes after shaving i get a my skin feels really dry and tight, this is mostly with stirling soaps. i really like the scents of stirlings soaps so im tryin to figure out what im doing wrong. i usually load the brush (boar) for about sixty five seconds. i like to do a three shave pass and then a 2 shave pass on my head which is why i load for so long. i bowl lather in a georgetown pottery scuttle with anywhere from 2 to three teaspsoons of distilled water. im wondering if im making the lather too thin or if i need to add more water, sometimes i get a pretty good shave with sitrlings soaps and then sometimes i dont. Tryin to figure out how to get a better shave with this paritcular soap. im using a gillette slim with astra sp blades on a setting of 7. any thoughts would be grweatly apreciated. thx
dry tight skin after shaving
- Thread starter newwetsahver
- Start date
All of what you have mentioned is immaterial when it comes to dry skin. Soap will remove skin "oils", for want of a better word, no matter what marketing will tell you. Add to that the trauma of scraping a sharp blade across your skin... Having said that, some soaps are worse than others. For me residual slickness is a key factor. If it's good, shave will be better. Other than that, use after shave balm and avoid alcohol - on your skin anyway.
Do you use any witch hazel or balm after the shave? I find Stirling soaps pretty good on the skin and it feels even better with addition of WH and balm.
Always moisturise after a shave; your skin will be better for it and you will see the benefits later on in life.
Aftershave treatments such as alum, alcohol or witch hazel along with several other standard treatments can all dry and tighten the skin. Choose carefully for your skin type, and compensate by using a suitable moisturizer.
Sir Newwetsahver, congrat's on your explorations!!
Perhaps two suggestions for your consideration.
First, spend more time on your pre-shave prep. I like to use a glycerin soap and lather the face, using badger brush, then wipe off the lather before applying regular shave lather. This leaves a residual layer of glycerin on the skin that, for me, lasts even through the shave. Or, you might want to use one of many preshave oils.
Second, after the last pass with razor, I re-apply any leftover shave lather from the brush, smear over the shaven skin. Wipe that off and proceed with a wash cloth rinse and whatever aftershave.
These two steps, imho, can substantially reduce the skin's loss of moisture and oil.
Enjoy the journey!!
Agreed, sounds like this would benefit the OP. Not universally applicable though.
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- #8
for stirlings soaps i only have witch hazel in the bay rum formualtion, i do however have the aftershave balms for stirlings soaps but still somtimes that isnt enough if i have a bad shave. do you guys use witch hazel in conjuction with and aftershave lotion? do you think a badger brush would better in this case to use instead of a boar brush?
Just use some aftershave balm.
Nivea is inexpensive and it works.
I use it sometimes. Many stores sell it.
Oh I just noticed you have said you tried AS balms and they don’t help. Not sure what advice to give you then..... sorry!
Nivea is inexpensive and it works.
I use it sometimes. Many stores sell it.
Oh I just noticed you have said you tried AS balms and they don’t help. Not sure what advice to give you then..... sorry!
Is already being said that soaps dry the skin, some more than others, so I agree using a good aftershave balm or moisturizer after the shave and avoid alcohol or alum, but you mentioned adding water to your lather, that can definitely help too, you would be surprised at how much water some lathers can hold.
I started to experiment with water content on lather a few years ago cause I used to think that my lathers were really good but my razors would clog and sometimes the lather would just dry like a paste on my face having some drying effect, so I started loading less and adding more water, sometimes till the lather fell apart for having too much water, so I found the threshold right before the lather falls apart for several soaps and that basically got rid of my problem.
And my lathers, wow! You think you know a soap is good but not until you see how much water some of them can hold making a shave super comfortable and so slick that it feels the razor is just floating all around your face!
I started to experiment with water content on lather a few years ago cause I used to think that my lathers were really good but my razors would clog and sometimes the lather would just dry like a paste on my face having some drying effect, so I started loading less and adding more water, sometimes till the lather fell apart for having too much water, so I found the threshold right before the lather falls apart for several soaps and that basically got rid of my problem.
And my lathers, wow! You think you know a soap is good but not until you see how much water some of them can hold making a shave super comfortable and so slick that it feels the razor is just floating all around your face!
+1! Good advice! Some products are definitely better, and this depends on the season for me.
This (although if you add your water slowly you can get any consistency you like with your lather). Some of us have dry skin and some don't. Some skin is happy with a high alcohol AS followed by nothing. My skin is happy with Thayer's WH w/aloe and no alcohol, followed by balm (Clinique Moisturizer for me).
It sounds like you're closer to my dry skin. Lot's of balms/moisturizers out there, I'd try a few.
I have sensitive, occasionally dry skin. A very well hydrated lather will normally give me a comfortable, non drying post shave, with maybe a touch of tightness, so try to make sure you add plenty of water to your lather. However, many soap scents cause me mild irritation and now I use Proraso Green Preshave for every single shave. Not only can I use any soap I like, my skin is never dry or tight post shave, quite the opposite in fact. Cool, comfortable and very well moisturised. And I use nothing on my skin post shave other than a cold water splash.
- Thread starter
- #15
how do you know if you have added too much water? with stirlings i have experimented with 3/4 of a teaspoons up too 3 teaspoons of water. i usually start out with pretty wet brush as well. how do you find the threshhold of where you adding to much vs what is the right amount of hydration for your lather?
Sounds like too much soap to me. They're all drying if you overload them. Stirling is pretty dense and easy to load, try 15 seconds of loading instead while making sure the brush has been soaked for a few minutes and gently shaken out, not dry, which will just exacerbate the problem. My rule of thumb is: if there's a ton of paste on your brush you overloaded it. If there's lots of bubbles and a it's a little runny, that will turn into perfection once face or bowl-lathered a little. Unless it's MWF of course, that's a whole different animal altogether.
I have super dry skin. I use with Hazel and frequently Cremo cooling post shave balm, But I still have to use moisturizer a little later post shave and every day. I've used pure shea butter but it's very greasy. My favorite product is Neutrogena Oil-free Moisture for sensitive skin the best. Comes in 4oz bottles no fragrance added. Gold bond body product can be used on the face and are good to.
- Thread starter
- #18
i will do some more experimentation with the lathering, i ordered myself a badger brush toady from elite razor, ill see if that helps out any
It might be an ingredient (or proportion of ingredients) in their soap if the dry skin feeling is mostly happening with Stirling.
And if it doesn't happen with other soaps, chances are your technique has little to do with a problem like bad lathering. Time to decide whether or not the scents are worth the dry feeling.
For dry skin after a shave, I'd recommend minimal post shave product. A good alcohol-free balm to help moisturize your skin should work well.
I think that a tight/dry feeling after the shave often has to do not with actual dryness but with over-exfoliation caused by too much pressure or an incorrect angle, or both.
Contrary to popular belief, not all soaps are drying to the skin, although they can be. Soaps that are excessively cleansing will dry the skin a lot more than a shaving soap, which is designed to be a lubricant, not a cleanser. Saponified coconut oil is quite drying, but most shave soaps either have only small amounts or they make up for its presence by superfatting and adding additional butters, glycerin, etc.
Another thing to think about is that you are not lathering the soap properly. Have you done test lathers wherein you add water by small amounts and continue to do so, watching its effect on the lather, and continuing until the lather becomes very clearly over-hydrated and worthless? If you have not done so, I encourage you to do it. It will be 10 minutes well spent. Just add a few drops at a time and incorporate fully, then add a few more drops. Don't stop until the lather is worthless. Make good observations of the stages it goes through; in other words, evaluation the lather before you add more water. Find out what its "sweet spot" is and how wide it is.
But I still think it's probably more of a technique issue than a lather issue.
Contrary to popular belief, not all soaps are drying to the skin, although they can be. Soaps that are excessively cleansing will dry the skin a lot more than a shaving soap, which is designed to be a lubricant, not a cleanser. Saponified coconut oil is quite drying, but most shave soaps either have only small amounts or they make up for its presence by superfatting and adding additional butters, glycerin, etc.
Another thing to think about is that you are not lathering the soap properly. Have you done test lathers wherein you add water by small amounts and continue to do so, watching its effect on the lather, and continuing until the lather becomes very clearly over-hydrated and worthless? If you have not done so, I encourage you to do it. It will be 10 minutes well spent. Just add a few drops at a time and incorporate fully, then add a few more drops. Don't stop until the lather is worthless. Make good observations of the stages it goes through; in other words, evaluation the lather before you add more water. Find out what its "sweet spot" is and how wide it is.
But I still think it's probably more of a technique issue than a lather issue.
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