Irritation when not shaving

I'm sure I'm not alone but if I don't shave for a week or so I get all kinds of irritation and flaking. Particularly on the chin area. My apologies if this has been covered somewhere else but would just like some thoughts on similar experiences.

You might try doing everything BUT shaving to see if one of those things helps. Pre-shave, lather up, after shave balm, etc., whatever your routine is, except don't use the razor.

Have you tried buying some moisturizing lotion and using it regularly on your face?

Its winter here and my Keratosis Pilaris acts up something awful in winter. The only thing that helps is deep moisturizing lotion 2-3 times a day.

I always get that too. if i don't shave for 5 days or so I get itchy flaky spots on each side of my chin and at the far lateral points of my mustache. I always thought it was weird since not shaving should let you skin heal up. I found it goes away rapidly if I put an antifungal cream on it, even if i don't shave. So perhaps the whiskers are providing a route for yeast or something to get into the pores. Also strange it's always in the exact same spots...

Same spots here. I always thought that when you're shaving, even if you're careful, you're always regularly cutting skin away particularly on the chin area where the angle is much sharper and when you stop for a week or so your skin is still producing skin cells at a higher rate in those areas. I always get it even if I had been shaving in the shower without any cream, aftershave etc etc. So I don't think in my case it has anything to do with the products I may or may not use.

I think you're right about the higher skin cell production. Your skin adapts to the stress of shaving by renewing itself faster, it doesn't know you stopped shaving until after a while. I once let my beard grow for three weeks and after the first week it was as if I had dandruff in some spots. Lots of ingrown hairs too. All this eventually stopped after a week or two, the ingrowns grow back out too by then.
It's a bit like when you don't play your guitar for a week: the caluses on your fingertips get thicker first and then they wear off.