cfriend
04-28-2009, 09:10 PM
I made a post earlier in the night about how much I enjoyed face lathering with a cream for my shave tonight, and I stand by that statement. However, hours later, I find myself with a SEVERE burn on my cheeks. The conditions of my condition are as follows:
AOS pure badger 18mm
Speick shaving cream face lather
Red, splotchy irritation much higher on the cheek than I ever shave
Could be in my head, but I think the right side is more irritated than the left
I DID NOT shave my cheeks today, only my upper lip
I HAVE experienced this before, with the same brush, when I first began shaving. The previous experience was after a particularly newbie-aggressive shave. I cannot remember the product, but it definitely wasn't Speick and it definitely wasn't a face lather.
I HAVE used the brush between then and now with great success and no painful irritation like tonight, lathering TOBS Almond from a tub in a bowl, and MB soaps straight to the face.
I HAVE used Speick before without irritation, though I cannot remember with what brush.
When I first had this problem, my lather was probably very poor. Irritation.
When I face lathered with the MB soaps, I loaded/charged the brush vigorously in the MB tub after a good soak the puck and brush in warm water. No irritation.
Tonight, I shook the brush moderately, put SC in the center of the brush, added a small amount of water, and went straight to the right cheek. Took a bit of swirling and some water on that cheek to get anything other than smeared cream... continued across the neck to the left cheek. Lather begins to form nicely.
My junior sleuthing brings me to the following conclusion. What I seek here is advice and opinion as to what could be the cause, a solution (specific product or type of product), and whether or not you agree with my conclusion:
Considering the variables listed above, I don't believe the brush itself is the culprit as I've had good lathers and shaves with it between incidents. I don't believe that Speick itself is the culprit as I've used it once before to great success. As the title may have given away, I believe my irritation may be due to over-concentrated product. One could also describe this as being under-hydrated product. I believe having a thick cushion of strong lather high on my cheek, which is not normally shaved, sitting idle during passes, may be behind the irritation.
Pictures of seemingly-more-painful right cheek:
http://img.skitch.com/20090429-epwt48cjx8ie638sdqa331hscq.preview.jpg (http://skitch.com/christiancfriend/bpqys/picture-1)
Click for full size (http://skitch.com/christiancfriend/bpqys/picture-1) - Uploaded with plasq (http://plasq.com)'s Skitch (http://skitch.com)
Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!
edit: I originally posted this in general because I'm talking about soaps AND creams, but I suppose this could go straight into the SC forum, too. If that's more appropriate, please move it and excuse me. Thanks!
AOS pure badger 18mm
Speick shaving cream face lather
Red, splotchy irritation much higher on the cheek than I ever shave
Could be in my head, but I think the right side is more irritated than the left
I DID NOT shave my cheeks today, only my upper lip
I HAVE experienced this before, with the same brush, when I first began shaving. The previous experience was after a particularly newbie-aggressive shave. I cannot remember the product, but it definitely wasn't Speick and it definitely wasn't a face lather.
I HAVE used the brush between then and now with great success and no painful irritation like tonight, lathering TOBS Almond from a tub in a bowl, and MB soaps straight to the face.
I HAVE used Speick before without irritation, though I cannot remember with what brush.
When I first had this problem, my lather was probably very poor. Irritation.
When I face lathered with the MB soaps, I loaded/charged the brush vigorously in the MB tub after a good soak the puck and brush in warm water. No irritation.
Tonight, I shook the brush moderately, put SC in the center of the brush, added a small amount of water, and went straight to the right cheek. Took a bit of swirling and some water on that cheek to get anything other than smeared cream... continued across the neck to the left cheek. Lather begins to form nicely.
My junior sleuthing brings me to the following conclusion. What I seek here is advice and opinion as to what could be the cause, a solution (specific product or type of product), and whether or not you agree with my conclusion:
Considering the variables listed above, I don't believe the brush itself is the culprit as I've had good lathers and shaves with it between incidents. I don't believe that Speick itself is the culprit as I've used it once before to great success. As the title may have given away, I believe my irritation may be due to over-concentrated product. One could also describe this as being under-hydrated product. I believe having a thick cushion of strong lather high on my cheek, which is not normally shaved, sitting idle during passes, may be behind the irritation.
Pictures of seemingly-more-painful right cheek:
http://img.skitch.com/20090429-epwt48cjx8ie638sdqa331hscq.preview.jpg (http://skitch.com/christiancfriend/bpqys/picture-1)
Click for full size (http://skitch.com/christiancfriend/bpqys/picture-1) - Uploaded with plasq (http://plasq.com)'s Skitch (http://skitch.com)
Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!
edit: I originally posted this in general because I'm talking about soaps AND creams, but I suppose this could go straight into the SC forum, too. If that's more appropriate, please move it and excuse me. Thanks!