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Extremely Sensitive Skin Shave Soap

J

john233

So I've been DE shaving for about 2 or so months now. My skin is crazy sensitive to chemicals and extra ingredients. Even natural ingredients will cause a reaction.

Read a few other posts about sensitive skin and figured I'd post this to share what has really worked for me. I tried a bunch of the natural soaps (mikes, styrling etc.) and still had some sensitivity issues. So i resorted back to my can stuff (aveeno therapeutic shave gel). Still wasn't the greatest as I had become accustomed to the slickness and better shaves of the shave soaps....just seemed like they made the actual "cut" of the razors work better.

I've used cetaphils gentle cleansing bar for years...and figured why not give that a shot at shaving since it doesn't irritate me? Worked like a charm. Gets the same slickness as the other shave soaps, and you can actually produce a pretty decent lather from it.

If you want to try this, just be sure to get the one that isn't "antibacterial". That has unnecessary added ingredients for an antibacterial effect.

I actually read another post that said they used this bar as a shave soap from a different forum...but they added in glycerin and castor oil (4-5 drops of each). I've found that i can lather just fine with the regular soap however.
 
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herbert7890

herbert7890

Stirling could be one of most irritating soaps since it contains Almond Oil (one of the most common allergenics and irritants). The same applies to Cella, Petal Pusher Fancies and any other almond-containing soap. I had skin reactions to all 3 of them. The safest soaps I have ever used (never gotten a reaction from them), would be:

Catie's Bubbles Le nude (Unscented)
Martin de Candre Unscented
Mitchell's Wool Fat
Strop Shoppe Tallow Unscented
Soap Commander Integrity (Unscented)
Mystic Water Sensitive Skin (Unscented)
Shannon Soaps Unscented
Barrister & Mann Unscented
Haslinger Hasfmich
Mike's Unscented
Tiki Unscented (Vegan or Tallow)
Phoenix Artisan Scentless
 
Last edited:
sarimento1

sarimento1

john233 said:
So I've been DE shaving for about 2 or so months now. My skin is crazy sensitive to chemicals and extra ingredients. Even natural ingredients will cause a reaction.

Read a few other posts about sensitive skin and figured I'd post this to share what has really worked for me. I tried a bunch of the natural soaps (mikes, styrling etc.) and still had some sensitivity issues. So i resorted back to my can stuff (aveeno therapeutic shave gel). Still wasn't the greatest as I had become accustomed to the slickness and better shaves of the shave soaps....just seemed like they made the actual "cut" of the razors work better.

I've used cetaphils gentle cleansing bar for years...and figured why not give that a shot at shaving since it doesn't irritate me? Worked like a charm. Gets the same slickness as the other shave soaps, and you can actually produce a pretty decent lather from it.

If you want to try this, just be sure to get the one that isn't "antibacterial". That has unnecessary added ingredients for an antibacterial effect.

I actually read another post that said they used this bar as a shave soap from a different forum...but they added in glycerin and castor oil (4-5 drops of each). I've found that i can lather just fine with the regular soap however.
Click to expand...

probably your soap bar is a good shave soap as well.
how do you lather?
 
J

john233

herbert7890 said:
Stirling could be one of most irritating soaps since it contains Almond Oil (one of the most common allergenics and irritants). The same applies to Cella, Petal Pusher Fancies and any other almond-containing soap. I had skin reactions to all 3 of them. The safest soaps I have ever used (never gotten a reaction from them), would be:

Catie's Bubbles Le nude (Unscented)
Martin de Candre Unscented
Mitchell's Wool Fat
Strop Shoppe Tallow Unscented
Soap Commander Integrity (Unscented)
Mystic Water Sensitive Skin (Unscented)
Shannon Soaps Unscented
Barrister & Mann Unscented
Haslinger Hasfmich
Mike's Unscented
Tiki Unscented (Vegan or Tallow)
Phoenix Artisan Scentless
Click to expand...


Thanks for the list, I'm going to give Mystic a shot as I've never tried it before.
 
Tom Slick

Tom Slick

Shannon's Soaps got started because her husband had very sensitive skin. They are real nice folks. I bet if you contact her through her web site that she will send you a sample of her no scent shave soap at little cost.
 
J

john233

Tom Slick said:
Shannon's Soaps got started because her husband had very sensitive skin. They are real nice folks. I bet if you contact her through her web site that she will send you a sample of her no scent shave soap at little cost.
Click to expand...

Thanks Tom, I'll definitely check into their products.
 
J

john233

sarimento1 said:
probably your soap bar is a good shave soap as well.
how do you lather?
Click to expand...

I have been bowl lathering to try to avoid prolonged soap to skin contact. Figure the more I rub the soap into the skin the more it's going to bother it. The cetaphil cleansing bar doesn't lather as "thick" as some of the other shave soaps I've had...but man it shaves just as good, if not better (at least for me). Very slick and seems like the razor slices through the whiskers easier.
 
tclobaugh

tclobaugh

I would not recommend MWF or Hasliger as they contain lanolin, which is a common irritant. You might try non tallow as well. Not as common an irritant but I've seen it mentioned.

Good advice to try unscented as fragrance is often a cause of irritation.

I would recommend starting with Mystic Waters. The nice thing is that she sells very generous samples (size and cost wise)
 
Nick Danger

Nick Danger

As another sensitive skin, no-scented soaps guy, I'd suggest that you watch the amount of coconut oil in any product. It's drying and is a known irritant (that's why Michelle at Mystic Waters doesn't use it at all in her sensitive skin soap.) However, it's cheap and lathers really easily, so it's used as a primary ingredient in many soaps. I've found that soaps with coconut oil at the end of the ingredient list, like Mike's, don't cause a reaction for me. MdC, where coconut oil is one of the only ingredients, gave me the worst reaction of any soap I've tried.

Avoiding lanolin for now might be a good idea, too. I know some people do have lanolin allergies. Fortunately, I'm not one of them so I can use Mike's and Barrister & Mann. I have not tried Shannon's yet, but it's next on my list. It's also got lanolin, so it might not work for you.

Perhaps you can determine empirically what works for you, and then stick with the ingredients that don't cause a problem. That's been my solution. Just keep a tube of hydrocortisone handy for when something doesn't work - it's the only thing that saved me after my unfortunate experience with MdC.

Nick
 
sarimento1

sarimento1

john233 said:
I have been bowl lathering to try to avoid prolonged soap to skin contact. Figure the more I rub the soap into the skin the more it's going to bother it. The cetaphil cleansing bar doesn't lather as "thick" as some of the other shave soaps I've had...but man it shaves just as good, if not better (at least for me). Very slick and seems like the razor slices through the whiskers easier.
Click to expand...

sounds like you're doing well.
you might try prep with hot steamy towel for three minutes, lather, rinse, then lather again for the shave.
see if your skin tolerates that prep.
 
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