Suggestions for oily, sensitive skin

I've just gotten into wet shaving. I've been an electric guy all my life (no pun intended), and I generally didn't use any products at all when I shaved. No A/S. Nothing.

I have oily skin. Right now I have some acne above my chin area. I've just bought some Bigelow cream from B&BW and have used it once. Still waiting for my shave brush to come in the mail. I tried a little sample of AoS pre-shave oil and it turned my skin red.

Any product suggestions for me?

People will laugh at me for this, but Williams 'Lectric shave makes a great pre-shave itself. Just put on the 'Lectric shave like it's a pre-shave.

Aqua Velva Musk Aftershave (orange color) is real gentle on my face. You can't go by what it smells like in the bottle. It's actually a manly scent on the skin, but some people don't like it.

And then there is also plain or "flavored" witch hazel. Or cold water!

I have oily acne prone skin as well I used AOS unscented soap then wash with epionce lytic soap followed by witch hazel astringent then an oil free lotion by epionce as well. There is also a product called OC8 and it is a matting gel that keeps your face from getting that shine look for 8 hours works great I use it when im goin out for the day

This may help, but it won;t be overnight results. Keep at it and let me know

1. Gentle cleansing: Every night, before bed (and one time in the AM before shower/shaving) gently cleanse your face/skin with a "gentle" cleanser...my wife and I use Desert Essence Face Wash (it has natural stuff). Too much oil will tend to clog pores and prevent sking from "breathing" or ridding itself of dead cells/toxins...leads to acne and blackheads.

2. Exfoliate skin; do this 2-3 night a week (before bed) using a good facial scrub/exfoliant to scrape off dead/cells from cells.

3. Baking soda pre-shave prep: After shower/before shaving, I recommend using some baking soda powder (~4 mls volume) mixed with glycerin (~1 ml) and a few drops of hot water to make a slurry. Rub this "slurry or goo" on your beard/face and let it sit for ~2 minutes...while waiting, strop razor, make lather or whatever you do. Baking soda will tend to balance the pH of your skin and prep it well for the lather.

4. Lather & Shave: business as usual (try adding some glycerin to your lather (1 mls worth)...it will increase moisturizing ability of your soap/creme.

5. Tone & Moisturize: I use Thayer's Toner (no alcohol), NancyBoy replenishing AS, followed by Trumper's skin food and later either Trumper's moisturizer (not oily) or nancyBoy's facial moisturizer. I would stick to this kind of simple formula of post-shave until your skin changes its chemistry. Remember: NO ALCOHOL...even though it cools, alcohol will increase inflammatory response in your skin cells and you will feel irritated in the day

Do this regimen (especially 1 & 2) for a couple of weeks and see what happens...remember: it won't be an overnight change.

Let us know of progress...don't be surprised if your acne areas start disappearing and your skin feeling healthy again.


Cheers,
Robert

thanks, guys. this is good stuff. keep it coming.

Oily skin here too. I use additive-free soaps* where I can, both for cleansing and shaving lather. I usually finish my shave with an alum block (sometimes, especially in the summer) and then witch hazel (always). I haven't noticed the problems with alcohol content of witch hazel inflaming my skin, but Thayer's makes a great alcohol free witch hazel. I rarely use shave balm, but I like the Art of Shaving balm and Proraso balm.

Witch hazel is a common treatment for acne, I think, and proper wet shaving exfoliates your skin, helping avoid pore-clogging. These two activities/treatments might help your acne.



* Full disclosure: my parents run a soap manufacturing business.

In addition to what others have suggested, I recommend using oil free products - moisturizers, cleansers, etc.

Trumper's Limes Skin Food and Clinique Post-Shave Healer are excellent aftershaves for the oily-skinned. The Trumpers can also be used as a pre-shave. The only splashes I've liked are witch hazel and Harris Pink. These all contain a small amount of alcohol; Thayer's makes a non-alky version, and the Harris is expensive. Skin Food's my first choice.

I have combination skin. My skin will overproduce oil if it is too dry and I tend to have oily and dry sections of skin.

I have found that following my shave with a good compatible AS splash (with alcohol) and then using a neutral balm (typically C.O. Bigelow #1200 ASB) and then using an oil free moisturizer finally allows my skin to remain balanced. While this may seem like overkill it helped solve an acne problem that I've been dealing with for 20+ years. Deviations from this or using certain products will lead to break outs.

I stay away from Musgo and other products that contain lanolin. I also find that certain AS splashes tend to cause my skin to become unbalance. La Toja, Musgo Real, Floids tend to be precursors to break outs.

Speick, TOBS, Aqua Velva, Proraso do a good job for me. I typically shave in the evening, but I use Speick as a toner in the mornings after I wash my face. Once again, I follow everything with an oil free moisturizer.

The alcohol does a good job of killing any bacteria and the ASB and moisturizers prevent the alcohol from drying out my face.

Everybody's skin is different so you will need to experiment to find what works for your skin. I will emphasize that while a there are a lot of claims that alcohol splashes are bad for your skin all my experience has proven otherwise. I hate witch hazel and love firey cool aftershaves. To each his own.

what do you hate about witch hazel? the smell? or does it just not work well for you?

I have also acnes on my chick area and my skin is sensitive , i am using doctor's suggest face wash and gel for oily and sensitive skin.
You can just apply aloe Vera on your skin after shaving and wash skin with cleansing milk.

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