Whiteheads after BBS?

TENroaches · Nov 7, 2007

I'm told these aren't "razor bumps." If I go for BBS on my chin area, on the front part under the lip, it feels great for at least 24 hours. Then I get little whitehead-looking things that I pop. I can get up to 15 or so. This only happens with close shave. I'm guessing this is because I'm cutting below the skin and something is happening. So two questions:

Is there a name for this if it's not "razor bumps"? Is it razor burn? I'm not sure, but after each one is popped a few times, they stop causing trouble.

Is there something I can do to prevent this, short of not going ATG? I might have to just settle for XTG forever on that area.

Also, my beard there isn't very dense, so I imagine, as it continues to fill in more, I would only get more and more of these.... things.

I read another post mentioning these, but I forget where. Someone got an awesomely smooth shave at a barber, but his face was awful 2 days after.

I need help. Maybe I just have to reserve BBS for things like weddings and job interviews, and then hide in a hole for a few days.

Mama Bear · Nov 7, 2007

Tim. I love you dearly. Do you know what the love of a Mother means..

Basically... ( I trust your real Mom is a better lady than I am ) it means that every time you go for BBS. Which you know in your heart you should not do... there is another Mother...a Mother Bear... one who should instill the fear of multiple passes in your heart, one who should make you know that the last pass you are going for is a no no... One who says, look cub... I am going to kick your legs out from under you if you go for that last pass...

With that said, I really have no problem with anything that anyone does....

TENroaches · Nov 7, 2007

Mama Bear said:
Tim. I love you dearly. Do you know what the love of a Mother means..

Basically... ( I trust your real Mom is a better lady than I am ) it means that every time you go for BBS. Which you know in your heart you should not do... there is another Mother...a Mother Bear... one who should instill the fear of multiple passes in your heart, one who should make you know that the last pass you are going for is a no no... One who says, look cub... I am going to kick your legs out from under you if you go for that last pass...

With that said, I really have no problem with anything that anyone does....

So what you're saying is I should just use electric!

The good part about not getting a smooth shave, though, is getting to shave the next day. And I need to shave more often to use up my 20+ aftershaves.

SilkySmooth · Nov 8, 2007

Are you stretching your skin when you shave. If so, stop! It causes ingrown hairs and razor bumps.

==Tom

Straight Arrow · Nov 8, 2007

BBS is not for everybody. It's not for me. If you are someone who doesn't get along well with BBS, I say give it up. I've read way too many posts from distressed pursuers of this dubious goal. Shaving should be fun.

TENroaches · Nov 8, 2007

SilkySmooth said:
Are you stretching your skin when you shave. If so, stop! It causes ingrown hairs and razor bumps.

==Tom

I don't use a second hand to stretch or anything on the chin area. I do curl my lower lip in.... otherwise, my skin bunches up when I shave and I chop chunks out. I do stretch my cheeks when I shave them, and have no problems over there....

Suzuki · Nov 8, 2007

The simple solution is to find a happy compromise - a close shave that you are happy with and no whiteheads. Its that simple - just figure out where the line is and learn to stop there. I'd rather have a little stubble at 5:00 than a bunch of whiteheads - I suspect you would too.

While many people relentlessly strive for BBS (which is fine), the more realistic goal is to consistently get good, close shaves - without irritation, cuts, nicks, etc.

Some days I go to town and try to go for BBS, but mostly, I'm happy for a good shave - if I happen to get BBS, that's a bonus, but not the goal.

Just my $0.02.

TENroaches · Nov 8, 2007

Suzuki said:
The simple solution is to find a happy compromise - a close shave that you are happy with and no whiteheads. Its that simple - just figure out where the line is and learn to stop there. I'd rather have a little stubble at 5:00 than a bunch of whiteheads - I suspect you would too.

While many people relentlessly strive for BBS (which is fine), the more realistic goal is to consistently get good, close shaves - without irritation, cuts, nicks, etc.

Some days I go to town and try to go for BBS, but mostly, I'm happy for a good shave - if I happen to get BBS, that's a bonus, but not the goal.

Just my $0.02.

I like to feel a nice smooth face after a shave every now and then. :frown:

Guess I'll just feel my cheeks and not my chin area. All righty.

joel · Nov 8, 2007

TENroaches said:
I like to feel a nice smooth face after a shave every now and then. Guess I'll just feel my cheeks and not my chin area. All righty.

A straight razor solved the problem for me. I certainly didn't have it as bad as you - but what you are describing are in-grown hairs.

A.de.Lioncourt · Nov 8, 2007

Funny that you would post this now. I do go for BBS when I shave, and have a very good success rate, but just a couple days ago I did exactly this to my face.

I was using a Merkur Vision which I'm very new to, and assume I was just being too aggressive with this razor. I have never done this with any of my Gillettes.

MotoMike · Nov 8, 2007

When I talk about things like this, I realize that my geek flag is flying. But have come to feel that is not a problem here. Thanks B&B for the venue.

I have had them too, but not in the high numbers as you describe. Same area though. I don’t think mine are ingrown hairs. All the hairs in this location are not fine but somewhat coarse whiskers. These are tiny fragile whiteheads, right on the surface, no hair in them that I can tell. Just passing the back of my thumbnail over them pops them.

So my thought was that I must have, while making that last pass, laid open the skin, deposited or inserted something there and caused the beginning of a very small infection. I don't get them frequently enough to do a double blind test, but I make sure to use an after shave with alcohol in it in the hopes of washing out what ever is causing the problem and perhaps killing any germys that might be in there. That is my guess. (Damn it Tim, I’m a sonar tech, not a doctor!) :wink:

I don’t often go for the BBS, so maybe that is why I don’t have much of a problem with them, but do concur that it happens when I go for the smoothest of shaves.

Regards,
Mike

Hendu3270 · Nov 8, 2007

This is my take on this shaving area.

When you curl your lower lip in to shave that area, you are pushing the stubble out, which allows you to shave the area closer. Of course when you "un-curl" your lip, the stubble that was not cut pulls back in under the surface of the skin. When this happens you risk the hair growing back out and not growing directly out of the "hole"..folicle?. The other thing and this is what it sounds like to me is this. (and when I used to shave my chin area, this would also happen to me). When you do this, you're left with a "space" or "void" above the cut hair and below the skins surface. This void will very easily trap dirt and oil and cause a small white head. I wash my face every morning and every evening before I go to bed. I do this regardless of whether or not I've just taken a shower. Back when I was shaving this area, I would do a couple of other things as well. I would make sure I kept my hands and/or fingers off of the area through out the day. Your hands get dirty from touching anything and everything and everytime you touch your face, whether it be from scratching an itch to resting your hand on your chin while you ponder some problem, you transfer these dirts and oils to your face. And if you've cut the hair around your chin extremely close, this oil will easily fill these little voids. The other thing I would do, is a couple times a day I would wet a small wash cloth with Hydrogen-Peroxide and give my face a good wipe down. This may sound like a lot to go through, but if you get in the habit of keeping your hands off your face and pay a little extra attention to keeping those problem areas clean you should be fine. At least this all worked for me.

Good luck.

TENroaches · Nov 8, 2007

MotoMike said:
These are tiny fragile whiteheads, right on the surface, no hair in them that I can tell. Just passing the back of my thumbnail over them pops them.

Bingo! Just on the surface, not like a pimple where you can actually squeeze the flesh and pop it. Always have to pop it with the back of a nail.

TENroaches · Nov 8, 2007

Hendu3270 said:
This is my take on this shaving area.

When you curl your lower lip in to shave that area, you are pushing the stubble out, which allows you to shave the area closer. Of course when you "un-curl" your lip, the stubble that was not cut pulls back in under the surface of the skin. When this happens you risk the hair growing back out and not growing directly out of the "hole"..folicle?. The other thing and this is what it sounds like to me is this. (and when I used to shave my chin area, this would also happen to me). When you do this, you're left with a "space" or "void" above the cut hair and below the skins surface. This void will very easily trap dirt and oil and cause a small white head. I wash my face every morning and every evening before I go to bed. I do this regardless of whether or not I've just taken a shower. Back when I was shaving this area, I would do a couple of other things as well. I would make sure I kept my hands and/or fingers off of the area through out the day. Your hands get dirty from touching anything and everything and everytime you touch your face, whether it be from scratching an itch to resting your hand on your chin while you ponder some problem, you transfer these dirts and oils to your face. And if you've cut the hair around your chin extremely close, this oil will easily fill these little voids. The other thing I would do, is a couple times a day I would wet a small wash cloth with Hydrogen-Peroxide and give my face a good wipe down. This may sound like a lot to go through, but if you get in the habit of keeping your hands off your face and pay a little extra attention to keeping those problem areas clean you should be fine. At least this all worked for me.

Good luck.

Hmmm. That all makes sense. I, too, wash my face every night and morning. I have a bottle of peroxide within arm's reach of my bed (where I sit at my computer), too. And I do use an alcohol splash. Or a balm. I've seen no difference.

What honks me off is I need another shave on the rest of my face, but it's too irritated there to shave.

Oh, and after popping, I usually apply some more AS splash. Don't know if that's good or bad.... But I love the smell of Aqua Velva.

Daves · Nov 24, 2007

I get whiteheads in the same place you do.

Over the years I have tried all sorts of things and they basically haven't worked. Shaving with a DE or a Feather AC has greatly improved my shaving experience. For me, the problem is that I am striving for the perfect shave. This is when I get into trouble. I have a hard time settling for anything less but that is what I need to do. If I can get a good shave that doesn't make me breakout than that is far better than a close shave with all the difficulties that that entails. To sum it all up. I am working hard on just getting a good shave :thumbup:

OldSchoolYoungin · Nov 24, 2007

Tim, I agree with Sue. This post hit just in time as well, as I changed my ways recently.

For the past few weeks, I've been going for almost BBS for every shave every day, normally 4 passes. I can honestly say that my skin hasn't looked worse. It's just too much for some people, apparently me included. I've gone down to 2 passes, 3 at the most. Still every day. My skin has improved it's appearance at an alarming rate since then. I also get more comfortable, more irritation free shaves.

This is much the same thing that happened when I first converted to DE shaving. I was overshaving with the Mach 3, and my skin looked pretty bad. I GENTLY got into DE shaving, and my skin health improved alot. But then I caught the "Gotta-have-BBS" bug and I paid for it. Some can do it, others can't.

Iceman · Nov 24, 2007

MotoMike said:
...So my thought was that I must have, while making that last pass, laid open the skin, deposited or inserted something there and caused the beginning of a very small infection. I don't get them frequently enough to do a double blind test, but I make sure to use an after shave with alcohol in it in the hopes of washing out what ever is causing the problem and perhaps killing any germys that might be in there. That is my guess. (Damn it Tim, Im a sonar tech, not a doctor!) ...

Regards,
Mike

+1
If you are getting whiteheads it is a "mini infection". Right after I finish my shave I splash on some Thayer's Witch Hazel, but any witch hazel will work, and because it is an astringent it will kill any germs. Many days this is all I use especially in the summer. I also will use an after shave with alcohol in it and these 2 have stopped any whiteheads I would get.

Razorburne · Nov 24, 2007

I also use Thayer's...I prefer the alcohol free toners, but the witch hazel by itself is an astringent...that should help keep any whiteheads at bay...I don't seem to have the problem, and I've been using Thayer's everyday for almost the past year.

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Whiteheads after BBS?

TENroaches

Mama Bear

TENroaches

SilkySmooth

Straight Arrow

TENroaches

Suzuki

TENroaches

joel

A.de.Lioncourt

MotoMike

Hendu3270

TENroaches

TENroaches

Daves

OldSchoolYoungin

Iceman

Razorburne

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