So I am at rope's end here, and figured I'd pay a visit to the clinic incase there was someone out there who could help. I have coarse, dense facial hair and sensitive skin and I have been wet shaving since I was 22, I'm 27 now. I mention this so you know I didn't pick up my first DE yesterday. I certainly don't have one of the most impressive shaving pedigrees around but I'd like to think the inordinate amount of time I've spent on here, and reading on other shaving boards, separates me from the neophytes by some small degree. There have been a few stretches of time during the last 5 years that a beard festooned my face but I have my fair share of experience with attempting to maintain a freshly shorn look too.
Getting down to brass tacks then. The area right below my bottom lip (that can be "bullfrogged" out) starting where the soul patch grows and down to the jawline presents as a major problem area for me. Everywhere else is completely fine though. I can make WTG, XTG and even ATG passes on other areas of my face but even a few delicate WTG passes on my chin and I'm in for a bad time. Here's the kicker though. The day of, and the day after, my face looks excellent. No nicks, cuts, weepers, or irritation of any sort. It isn't until the hair begins to grow again that my chin erupts with these tiny inflamed, white puss filled dots.
I have been supremely focused on prep and technique, and have spent hundreds on various soaps, creams, pre-shave oils, post-shave balms, bump treatments, blade sample packs and highly vaunted razors, all to NO AVAIL. I have shaved in the shower after letting hot water completely penetrate the area for 15-20 minutes, and I have shaved both before and after a shower as well. The timing doesn't seem to really matter. The outcome persists. I manage to get a nice, clean, irritation free shave which lasts about a day or two and then... BAM, the area right below my mouth is under siege the moment the hair begins regrowing. It doesn't matter if I'm using a Feather in my Vintage Gillette Super Speed, an electric razor (both foil and/or rotary), or a multi-blade cartridge razor. This area doesn't seem to discriminate... it will react predictably irrespective of the tools and lubrication used.
Here is my routine currently. I try to keep it clean and simple.
I pay close attention to growth patterns, angle, and pressure. I use quality blades, soaps, oils, and am patient in my preparations. At this point, the complete lack of irritation after my shaves would suggest that this is not the result of my technique, but an invariable consequence of the beard hairs emerging from beneath the epidermis. Bump patrol, tend skin, aspirin concoctions, and post-shave products designed for sensitive skin don't seem to do anything to prevent these tiny white pustules from forming at the follicles 48 hours later.
What can I do? How many other people here have just resigned themselves to the notion that shaving just isn't for them? Yet again, I have plopped down more money for a new razor (Merkur Slant Bar 37C) and some new shave cream (Creamo Cream). I feel I have exhausted every tip and good idea I've come across, but I am hoping there is some erudite shaver here who can step in with a novel solution and help me solve this!
Getting down to brass tacks then. The area right below my bottom lip (that can be "bullfrogged" out) starting where the soul patch grows and down to the jawline presents as a major problem area for me. Everywhere else is completely fine though. I can make WTG, XTG and even ATG passes on other areas of my face but even a few delicate WTG passes on my chin and I'm in for a bad time. Here's the kicker though. The day of, and the day after, my face looks excellent. No nicks, cuts, weepers, or irritation of any sort. It isn't until the hair begins to grow again that my chin erupts with these tiny inflamed, white puss filled dots.
I have been supremely focused on prep and technique, and have spent hundreds on various soaps, creams, pre-shave oils, post-shave balms, bump treatments, blade sample packs and highly vaunted razors, all to NO AVAIL. I have shaved in the shower after letting hot water completely penetrate the area for 15-20 minutes, and I have shaved both before and after a shower as well. The timing doesn't seem to really matter. The outcome persists. I manage to get a nice, clean, irritation free shave which lasts about a day or two and then... BAM, the area right below my mouth is under siege the moment the hair begins regrowing. It doesn't matter if I'm using a Feather in my Vintage Gillette Super Speed, an electric razor (both foil and/or rotary), or a multi-blade cartridge razor. This area doesn't seem to discriminate... it will react predictably irrespective of the tools and lubrication used.
Here is my routine currently. I try to keep it clean and simple.
- Shower in hot water. Delicately wash face and allow the hot water and steam to soften the beard as much as possible. Most times I use an antibacterial face wash (or an Aveeno calming face wash) to ensure all surfaces about to be shaved don't have any residual bacteria.
- Apply pre-shave oil and thoroughly massage into beard. Wait about 5 minutes prior to commencing shave.
- Apply TOBS Sandalwood shaving cream and let it sit on my entire face for a couple of minutes to ensure it has softened the whiskers as much as possible.
- Using as little pressure as needed, delicately make WTG reduction passes on my entire mug.
- Re-apply pre-shave oil and re-apply shaving creame to make any cleanup passes for anything that may have been missed.
- Spritz some Thayer's Rose-petal Witch Hazel over my entire face and let it dry.
I pay close attention to growth patterns, angle, and pressure. I use quality blades, soaps, oils, and am patient in my preparations. At this point, the complete lack of irritation after my shaves would suggest that this is not the result of my technique, but an invariable consequence of the beard hairs emerging from beneath the epidermis. Bump patrol, tend skin, aspirin concoctions, and post-shave products designed for sensitive skin don't seem to do anything to prevent these tiny white pustules from forming at the follicles 48 hours later.
What can I do? How many other people here have just resigned themselves to the notion that shaving just isn't for them? Yet again, I have plopped down more money for a new razor (Merkur Slant Bar 37C) and some new shave cream (Creamo Cream). I feel I have exhausted every tip and good idea I've come across, but I am hoping there is some erudite shaver here who can step in with a novel solution and help me solve this!