Alum block?

After the cold-water rinse and prior to using an aftershave, use an alum block. It’s extraordinarily refreshing, but the sort of thing (like coffee) that appeals to adult tastes: in the case of the alum block, a tingling and sometimes a slight stinging.

One good-sized alum block should last for a year or two (unless you drop it on a hard floor). According to Shavex, the company that makes the alum blocks sold by Mama Bear: “The Alum Block (for shaving and deodorant purposes) is usually Potash Alum. Potash Alum doesn’t sting so much as Ammonium Alum, but some companies do use Ammonium Alum as a shaving block.”

One inexpensive form of Potassium Alum (which is the same as Potash Alum) is deodorant crystal sticks—for some reason these are often priced much less than the alum block sold to shavers. The Wikipedia article on Alum provides more information.

Hold the alum block and glide it over the freshly shaved part of your face while your face is still wet from the cold-water rinse. (Don’t wet the block, just glide it over your wet face.)

This is non-abrasive: the block simply slides over your freshly shaved face. The block is then placed on its little wooden rack to air-dry.

I have read where some have inexplicably attempted to use a styptic pencil as though it were an alum block, rubbing the side of the pencil on the face. This is very misguided. The styptic pencil is not the same substance; it’s usually aluminum sulfate anhydrous or titanium dioxide. Get a real alum block.

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