Ingrowns: How to get rid of them and how to avoid them?

[Odinarcade00]

I used to get ingrowns a LOT when I used carts (partly due to bad technique) and have a patch of permanent scar tissue from the worst one on my neck, which is still prone to ingrowns today although they are nothing like as bad and usually grow out in a day or two. I did have one last week that turned out to be about 5mm long when I freed it - I hadn't even noticed it until that point but it was actually the worst I have had in years and I think the result of insisting on BBS from a mild razor / blade combo and making too many passes.

All the usual stuff applies: light touch, avoid ATG (I don't...but I should). I feel the best way to deal with them is just exfoliate gently with a warm flannel until they are free. I am sure we all get minor ones infrequently, but as long as they stay minor it's all good.

yeah thats why I dont chase the bbs. If it happens great but I dont go past two passes. And when I was cartridge shaving I practiced the light touch technique like using a DE. Just applying those rules to a cartridge does make a difference. But yeah im still learning.

 

[Odinarcade00]

As your technique improves (shaving and lathering), your skin issues will improve as well. No amount of pre-shave oils, face scrubs or exfoliants will help improve your technique. If anything, they will hinder it.

Give it time.

welp I can already tell my technique is better than when I started but I have a ways to go. Depending on the razor I use the learning curve is different maybe steeper maybe lower.

 

[jaro 101969]

Oh another BTW, I know some people who have gotten the Phillips One Blade ( the electric razor thing) it's not the standard electric razor we used to think of and they have said they have had luck with it in problem areas as they will use their regular razor on most of their face and then the electric in the problem areas. It will give a close shave but not so close as to allow cutting below the skin so they have said it has helped with ingrown hairs.. It might be worth looking into....

 

[jaro 101969]

Yes I have heard that a more rigid blade like a straight razor or a injector blade would combat these issues. However I have tried an injector razor before. It was pretty much a bbs shave but I paid for it with massive ingrowns on both sides of my adams apple. I do not know if I will ever try the injector again. Had a similar experience with less efficiency with a gillette super adjustable. It seems to me what works well is a rigid modern DE with no blade chatter and modern style blade clamping. For example the henson mild, PAA quantum, blackbird lite, karve bison, and even the rex ambassador on setting 1 seem to give me fine shaves as long as I shave every other day. Even better with only 1 pass. Im trending towards 1 pass and 1 or 2 days of growth. But after a day of growth my stubble feels disgusting. I never chase BBS I am fine with going for par on a shave because If I try to keep going over the same spots I will most likely pay for it. Ive always had super sensitive skin. My acne is so much better from my 20s onwards but its still occasional issues. I did not even start having heavier beard growth until my late 20s and I was lazy so I barely shaved. Up until a year ago I was shaving so infrequently my wife got tired of it and one day while giving me a hair cut she shaved off everything but my mustache and then I had to go figure out how to shave off the remaining stubble so it wouldnt look stupid. I started with cartridges. Many different ones. I even got a brush and a bowl to dip my toes into DE shaving but was scared to try it. had the best luck with gillette cartridges and harrys but did not want to continue to pay for 5 dollar cartridges. Sorry that was a long winded story of my life kind of thing but yeah. I think DE is good for me its just all about technique and shaving frequency for me now. Im still learning. I only started in january.

oh seeing this reply of yours, have you tried something like the Occams razors that use a very stiff blade but are single edge or even a razor that uses an artist club style blade. those use a rather solid blade too ??

one blade razor ( not the electric one )

Occam's razor

 

[jaro 101969]

oh ill have to check that out! I wonder if they still have them! Thats a steal!

I wish you luck, If they don't have that pair still available though they average around 15 dollars on Bay either way whether its the pair or just a single one...

 

[Odinarcade00]

oh seeing this reply of yours, have you tried something like the Occams razors that use a very stiff blade but are single edge or even a razor that uses an artist club style blade. those use a rather solid blade too ??

one blade razor ( not the electric one )

View attachment 2013525


Occam's razor

View attachment 2013526

ive been interested in the one blade I just dont want to have to use proprietary blades. Blackland also has a cool single edge vector that uses artist club blades. I wanna try it but I dont want to have to buy more proprietary blades. I love that DE blades can be used in any DE razor.

 

[brucered]

welp I can already tell my technique is better than when I started but I have a ways to go. Depending on the razor I use the learning curve is different maybe steeper maybe lower.

And it will continue to improve over the coming months and years, if you stick with it.

The change to wet shaving from whatever you were doing before, takes time and experience. You won't master it 2 months, 6 months or even a year. Things will continue to get better, but you will still have issues with certain aspects for quite some time. You can limit how many aspect you master by limiting those areas to a single item or product.

The more you rotate, swap, change up, the longer those areas will take. For most people, it's their lather product or razor because they buy into the "hobby" justification or forum mentality of changing it every shave or "rotation" belief. When I got past that, it all came together.

 

[jaro 101969]

ive been interested in the one blade I just dont want to have to use proprietary blades. Blackland also has a cool single edge vector that uses artist club blades. I wanna try it but I dont want to have to buy more proprietary blades. I love that DE blades can be used in any DE razor.

Thats true about the blades , but , honestly if the other ( proprietary blades ) get you Exactly what you want then it may be a case where those become your Only blades...

 

[Odinarcade00]

And it will continue to improve over the coming months and years, if you stick with it.

The change to wet shaving from whatever you were doing before, takes time and experience. You won't master it 2 months, 6 months or even a year. Things will continue to get better, but you will still have issues with certain aspects for quite some time. You can limit how many aspect you master by limiting those areas to a single item or product.

The more you rotate, swap, change up, the longer those areas will take. For most people, it's their lather product or razor because they buy into the "hobby" justification or forum mentality of changing it every shave or "rotation" belief. When I got past that, it all came together.

yeah I agree. I like having multiple razors/blades/soaps though. I try not to switch it up too much but my first razor was the henson and the henson is just way too easy to get a good shave out of so I like my other DE razors for the challenge. As far as soaps go I dont think they make much difference. I think the quality of the artisan ones are through the roof and the cheaper ones are just okay but dont provide the same cushion and anti irritation properties. I think the main thing is when im not shaving with the henson the blade makes the most difference. So far my face agrees with most gillette blades in a mild razor as well as feather. I can use lord platinum class blades. I can use personna CC no problem. I can use rex platinums. Platinum strangelets work great. There are a few blades here and there that I dont like. I do feel like changing the blade brand super often changes the game a little too much for me. My favorite aftershave is nivea balm. Using splashes is not something im super comfortable with and I have not used them for quite some time. Pre shaves definitely help. I need as much protection as I can get. Sometimes the razor/blade combo is what makes the difference between a good shave an a bad shave for me. The henson is so autopilot so idk. I shave with it when I just want to get a good shave no matter what.

 

[dmshaver]

Welcome to B & B, enjoy!

 

[Dimitri]

I haven't seen it mentioned, and I'm a little late to this party, but I've found that J-hooking on my neckline helps with regard to getting the hairs along my neckline that seem to grow on all sorts of directions. I really haven't had issues with ingrowns since I started using a DE, but can still get irritation on the neckline going ATG. Maybe try j-hooking in that area and see if it helps get rid of the stubborn hairs without resulting in ingrowns. Mantic-59 on YouTube has a good video demonstrating this technique.

Not sure what kind of brush you use, but if you're not using one already, consider using a boar brush. As boars break in, the ends split, forming these nice little hooks that help to lift and move hairs around so that they hopefully stand upright in the lather. Also consider shaving with cold water/lather. They say that helps the skin tighten up and help the hairs stand more erect as well. Many, myself included, do warm shave, cold rinse, so maybe you can try that first.

I'd try in this order:
Warm shave, cold rinse. If that doesn't help then cold shave, cold rinse. I'd consider getting a boar brush if you don't have one already. Save the J-hooking as a last resort. It's a more advanced technique and you will definitely nick yourself as you learn. It's pretty easy to do on the cheeks, but the neckline is a different kind of beastie.

 

[1Speedster]

I haven’t had to deal with ingrown hairs ever since switching to straight razor shaving in 2012 except for the very few that occur due to micro-scarring I picked up from a childhood moto-cross accident. Shaving this way can be intimidating at first, but there’s a lot of fun to be had here once you get the technique down.

 

[Zafar_shaves]

If you have a good camera take images of your beard and map out your beard growth meticulously. This will help reduce ATG passes, especially on the neck.

Learn J-Hook method.

 

[esee]

First, you are going to have to take care of your skin. Since you have dry irritated skin alum will only irritate your skin more. In your situation, you want to turn to moisturizing rejuvenating products like aloe vera and oils. When your skin is less dry, you can turn to alum to help heal cracks.

Next, you want to really map out your hair growth. I know you’ve heard this a million times, but most peoples beard grows in a different direction at the base of their neck. Most people have to go in an up and outward direction at their base of their neck and in a downward direction for the rest of their neck. If I shave my WTG pass on my entire neck in a downward direction, I may end up breaking out with pimples at the base of my neck. It is crucial to get the direction of hair growth at the base of the neck correct. The skin is very sensitive at the base of the neck, and if one does not learn proper technique at the base of their neck, many people end up getting shaving pimples there.

There are a couple techniques of how to shave the neck correctly some people find it helpful to stretch the neck, while other people find that when they stretch the neck, they end up with more irritation and find a better to tilt the head down and towards the side one is shaving. As others have said, J-hooking works great in some areas, especially around the jawline. Finding what works for one is a personal journey.

After you understand the directions and how to flatten the skin properly for a good shave, you are going to have to select the proper razor. It is double as important for somebody with sensitive skin to shave with an extremely rigid blade at an extremely shallow angle. Many people accomplish the proper shave with a straight edge, the problem with modern DE razors is that 90% of modern razors don’t shave shallow enough, and a good portion of modern razors have questionable blade support that takes some superb technique or some super steep angles in order to pull off a decent shave.

If I were you, I would ditch the Rex ambassador. I know you think you can get good shaves from the ambassador, but you are probably irritating your skin while using the ambassador without realizing it. Even in the lowest setting, you are probably scraping your skin more than you should. Somebody in your possession should stick to a mild razor with a well clamped blade. The ambassador is an aggressive razor with a well loved and commonly used clamping method, that someone with sensitive skin should probably avoid.

Sell the ambassador and only buy really mild, well clamped, shallow angle shavers. Some good adjustable’s that can out shave the ambassador is the Tatara Muramasa, the Blackland osprey, Taiga, and the Yaqi Avanti. Not all these adjustable’s can give a fully proper shallow angle shave, but they all clamp the blade really well and can far out shave what you are currently using. For non-adjustable’s, consider razors like Razorock GC 68 OC, (not the closed comb although you can try the closed comb also) Razorock lupo 58. On the high end there is Tatara Masamune, Blutt BR-1 .67, and wolfman. These are just a few of the many great modern razors that have great clamping and allow a fairly shallow angle shave.

You may even want to experiment with going extra shallow where you lift the blade off the skin a bit and never actually scrape the skin. Like this, you can practice getting a closer and closer shave without irritating the skin at all, but lifting the blade off the skin will mean leaving some stubble behind.