Weird post-shave irritation

Following a shave I am sometimes getting small spots of irritation. Under the corners of my mouth on both sides I get these dime-sized areas that turn red and burn. The strange thing is I don't have whiskers in these spots so don't really even shave over them. The other strange thing is my face feels fine following the shave and then these areas start to get irritated about an hour later.

Anyone else ever have this? My skin is pretty sensitive and am limited in what products I can use. I typically use a small amount of alcohol containing aftershave splas and once it's dry I usually use a small amount of balm.

Every once in a while I will shave too closely in a spot and later notice a slightly raised and sensitive area where it happened. This minor scrape usually heals within a day or two. I try to be more aware of the damaged area and more gentle when I shave there. I apply extra WH there, too. I think this helps.

Do you rinse the affected areas after you are done shaving? If not, it is very likely that small amounts of lather that remain there cause the irritation. I rinse my entire face when I am done shaving. If I do not do a good job rinsing, I experience some redness around my goatee.

Al raz.

Monkeyboy said:

Following a shave I am sometimes getting small spots of irritation. Under the corners of my mouth on both sides I get these dime-sized areas that turn red and burn. The strange thing is I don't have whiskers in these spots so don't really even shave over them. The other strange thing is my face feels fine following the shave and then these areas start to get irritated about an hour later.

Anyone else ever have this? My skin is pretty sensitive and am limited in what products I can use. I typically use a small amount of alcohol containing aftershave splas and once it's dry I usually use a small amount of balm.

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When I'm done shaving I wipe my face off with a washcloth and hot water well and then I splash on some cool water.

I'm wondering if my skin is just drying out. I usually shave at night and sometimes when I wake up in the morning my skin is visibly dry even after using a balm post shave. I may try a week without using an alcohol splash to see if that makes any difference.

Dunno if it's any consolation, but I get the same thing from time to time (and have one now, but only on one side of my mouth, go figure).

My impression (which is, FWIW, just that, though it bugs me and I have spent some time trying to figure it out) is that it's a mild case of contact dermatitis, possibly caused by some combination of the razor itself, irritation from lather and perhaps the brush. Hydration and humidity seems to affect it a bit in my case as well, though whether it makes it actually worse or just more noticeable I'm not sure.

I don't have a solution to recommend, but I do use a witch hazel gel sometimes that seems to make the redness go down a bit and perhaps speed up the healing.

Could be a skin disease.

I have the same thing, same places, same time delay to feeling the irritation.

I've found that rinsing thoroughly helps somewhat. I have also found Nivea for Men aftershave balm for sensitive skin to be soothing.

I also try to shave extra gently in those areas. If I get too aggressive and start chasing the BBS it makes it worse. If I just quit while I'm ahead it's usually not too noticeable.

That, and rubbing it when irritated is about the worst thing for it.

I think I have it figured out. It seems to be due to extreme dry skin. The past couple weeks I've been doing extended prep - letting lather soak in on my face for quite a long time and then washing thoroughly with a lot of very hot water. That combined with alcohol splashes is prob doing it. So far doing minimal prep and applying thick moisturizer or vaseline to the problem areas immediately after the shave (before the irritation starts) seems to be clearing it up.