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Heavy Beard or ..?

Hi,

I havnt posted in ages, but I have been wet shaving for over a year now and I will never go back to a plasticy razor again.

I took a picture the other day after about 2 days of not shaving (too tired/lazy in the morning to shave).

The link to the picture is hosted on imageshack. To me its a bit shocking and its quite an upclose picture of a section of beard on my neck. Its not irritating/sore/warm etc at all, but what I noticed was that it appears though the hair is pulling the skin up making little bumps which makes it difficult to shave the next day...?

http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/7958/img11972.jpg

Anybody else have experience/see anything similar?

Thanks,
Pierce
 
They look like ingrowns to me. I used to suffer from hundreds of the buggers, too. Seeing as how you haven't shaved for a while, now's an excellent time to re-map your beard growth. Personally, I would only shave with the grain for a while and see if they subside. I'd also recommend a good scrub/exfoliation before you shave again too. I know it's a bit of a dirty word on traditional forums, but exfoliating does help in 99% of ingrown hair cases.
 
Yes it looks like ingrown hairs.I also get these and after many years of trying to deal with them there is a few steps which seems to help.What works best for me is not to shave too closely.Sometimes one careful pass,with the grain can be better than multiple passes.Lots of guys speak of 3 or 4 passes on these forums when they shave but I could never get away with that.One pass works best for me.I also gently tweeze the hairs out.I dont pull or remove them I just release them from the skin.I find that good preparation helps before I shave.Really soften the beard with hot water and work the soap or cream into the beard.Finally moisturising my face helps as well.I cleanse and moisturise morning and night and overall my skin feels and looks better for doing this.Good luck I hope this helps.
 
Definately ingrowns.:eek:My neck used to look the same when I used cartridges.:rolleyes:Maybe a crap blade or a pressure problem,or trying to shave too close with too many passes.
 
They look like ingrowns to me. I used to suffer from hundreds of the buggers, too. Seeing as how you haven't shaved for a while, now's an excellent time to re-map your beard growth. Personally, I would only shave with the grain for a while and see if they subside. I'd also recommend a good scrub/exfoliation before you shave again too. I know it's a bit of a dirty word on traditional forums, but exfoliating does help in 99% of ingrown hair cases.

I have to be careful with exfoliation. I used to exfoliate quite a bit when I was younger but it caused quite a few skin problems, my skin was literally being rubbed raw. Since I figured out it was a friction issue I now only wash with my hands, no facecloth. I do every so often wash with a scrub which does give me excellent shaves.

Yes it looks like ingrown hairs.I also get these and after many years of trying to deal with them there is a few steps which seems to help.What works best for me is not to shave too closely.Sometimes one careful pass,with the grain can be better than multiple passes.Lots of guys speak of 3 or 4 passes on these forums when they shave but I could never get away with that.One pass works best for me.I also gently tweeze the hairs out.I dont pull or remove them I just release them from the skin.I find that good preparation helps before I shave.Really soften the beard with hot water and work the soap or cream into the beard.Finally moisturising my face helps as well.I cleanse and moisturise morning and night and overall my skin feels and looks better for doing this.Good luck I hope this helps.

I think you are right about ingrown hairs, I am going to take a break from shaving completly to see what happens. When I grow a beard my skin usually gets more irritated I guess I will have to live with this for a while just to get my skin back to normal.

Definately ingrowns.:eek:My neck used to look the same when I used cartridges.:rolleyes:Maybe a crap blade or a pressure problem,or trying to shave too close with too many passes.

I am using a Future with fether blades.. and I know they are super sharp etc, but I can't use anything else, derbs suck and skip over my skin (I do the whole lather face, warm up skin wth hot facecloth and super slick lather).

I also have a merkur progress which I have a love hate relationship with.

For mapping my face I have tried several different maps of my skin, every time I get a good one the whole layout changes which sucks :(

Thanks for the thoughts and advice I will see how I can change what I am doing to better my experience.

Pierce
 
Ingrowns. So sorry for you my friend. IMHO, rest 2 or 3 days between shaves, don't stop shaving at all because things are going to get worst.

Look for someone, maybe your couple to youse a needle and try to pull out the worst of them. You can try also (i did) and it helped the first few times, waxing your problematic area. My worst area was my neck, i waxed a couple of times and it got a lot better. When you wax your neck it can take in some cases 12 to 15 days to the whiskers show back. Shave with the grain, few passes. I hope you get better, troubled friend.
 
Those dudes have to get through the skin so they aren't ingrowns anymore. Then, if you shave WTG, they won't get cut off below the skin, so they probably won't grow in.
 
Thanks again for the kind replies.

I have been shaving with the upmost care over the past few days trying to use 0 pressure, redness is certainly down with a few small red bumps remaining.

I have also been using an exfoliant to rub off excess layers of skin to help the hair come up.

I pulled out one hair that was about 8mm long and that was the worst one I could find.

Taking 15megapixel images of each side of my face daily now and examining the outcome is helping me see where i am going wrong!

Pierce
 
Thanks again for the kind replies.

I have been shaving with the upmost care over the past few days trying to use 0 pressure, redness is certainly down with a few small red bumps remaining.

I have also been using an exfoliant to rub off excess layers of skin to help the hair come up.

I pulled out one hair that was about 8mm long and that was the worst one I could find.

Taking 15megapixel images of each side of my face daily now and examining the outcome is helping me see where i am going wrong!

Pierce


A man with a plan.
I suffered horribly with these. I grew a beard for a few years, then started shaving with the DE system and never had another problem.
If I use a cartridge they come back, and I have to either quit shaving for months, or go through what you are doing to resolve them.
 
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