Balm application causing irritation?

After I shaved today I was feeling great since last week I used a dull blade when I was out of town (on the day of my brothers wedding. ). This evening, I felt very little irritation as compared to the hedge trimmer I took to my face last friday.
BUT, upon applying my nivea after shave balm, I ended up having a VERY sore face. I am now wondering if many of my bad experiences have been my careless attitude toward balm application.

Has anyone else experienced this?

Is there a good way to put on balm to avoid this?

If I use some Real Shaving Co. ASB my skin does get red and irritated. Something in it just doesn't agree with me. Which Nivea Balm are you using? The one for Sensitive Skin doesn't contain any alcohol so maybe that would be a good alternative. If you're already using the Sensitive Skin version, try another ASB brand altogether. I get best results from Proraso ASB.

Either you're allergic to a balm or you aren't - you'd get the same bad reaction every time you use it if you were. How you apply a balm shouldn't make any difference.

Odds are that you just had shave that was good enough to not show any irritation, but still hacked up your skin enough that the balm got in and stung. Take that as a sign that you're getting better at shaving, you're almost all the way to mastering it!

I bought the Nivea ASB for sensitive skin last week. It didn't work out too well; I didn't really like the scent either. So I bought this:

Nivea for Men Daily Protective Lotion - Sensitive Skin

I am liking it so far.

Sounds like you need to apply your balm WTG. Maybe try XTG after you've given that a go for a week. Most guys get irritation applying ATG. You can also look at your prep before applying the balm (e.g. are you shaving long enough?).



Steve