lessons learned... a cautionary tale for those w/ sensitive skin

howdy all,

so i've been shaving with a straight razor for one year now. like many, i've fallen in love with the pursuit of the ultimate shave; i've also amassed a fast collection of razors in that pursuit. and in pursuit of the ultimate pre-shave/super-lather/post-shave routine, i've also amassed a counter full of assorted goodies. and for those of us with super-sensitive skin, i have this to say: KEEP IT SIMPLE! FIND SOMETHING THAT WORKS AND STICK TO IT...

in the first few months of straight razor shaving, i tried a menagerie of products: taylor's cream for sensitive skin, proraso, tom's of maine, taylor's hard soaps, trumper's rose cream, as well as trumper's coral/lime skin foods, l'occitane after shave creams, and taylor's after shave gels. of all those products, the one that irritated me the most was taylor's cream for sensitive skin. and the product i had the most success with was the one that i used regularly. at first it was taylor's sandalwood and later their lavender. and for a spell on the road, it was trumper's rose, but whenever i switch, my face gets irritated like nobody's business.

the reason i want to share this with all you guys is becuase i just got back from the dermatologists. for a few months, i've had little bumps on the upper half of my chin, just below my lower lip. they're only visible when i puff out my lower lip (like when i'm shaving). sometimes they're red, sometimes not. but no matter how much time i give between shaves and no matter if i use a straight or a gilette, they're always there. and now i know... those little bumps are very minor, but very there, form of ROSACEA. i've probably been prone to it for a long time but they broke out while i was at my peak of experimenting with skin products.

it seems most of us come at straight razor shaving for a number of different reasons: frustrated with the growing cost/diminishing returns of gilettes, wanting a way to reconnect with past traditions, a desire for a more environmental way to shave... for me it was a combination of the above, but the main reason is that shaving had ALWAYS made me miserable.

i had a beard for close to ten years but shaved it off once i moved to the far east. at which point i was reminded of how miserable a daily shave routine can be. with a gilette, i was trapped in a vicious cycle: i shaved once every 3 days or so, which made shaving miserable, but after the horrid shave i needed to give my face time to recover, which meant that i was letting my beard grow a couple days before shaving... in retrospect, that irritation was probably an aggravation of the rosacea but who knows?

either way, be careful when you're experimenting. if you have a lot of skin irritation and super-sensitive skin, don't rotate products every shave. what works for me won't necessarily work for you, so find what does work. and once you find the right combination, stick with it. my rosacea is minor enough that i don't need to give up straights just yet (and switch to the ultimate torture machine-- the electric!), but i need to be aware of not aggravating it any further.

cheers,
jake pollock
taipei, taiwan

The trick is to find out what works and then when you experiment, only change one factor. That way you'll always be able to diagnose the glitch.

I'm glad I don't have sensitive skin --all this seems to be a pain in the a$$.

Justin

What are you supposed to do about the rosacea? Anything you can do, or do you just live with it?

Jake,

Could you describe these bumps a little better? I've had a very difficult time with my chin--you can read about it in the shaving forum if you like. :) I've noticed that if I tighten the skin under the corners of my mouth, there are some bumps that form there. I always assumed they were just blocked pores or something...

Josh

Rosacia is a skin condition which is usually a rash where you get this redness which sometimes is in splotches and sometimes like veins. They have prescription creams for it but it always comes back. Any skin irritation can bring it on. Even cold weather can do it. The bumps are usually something else. Its just the skins defense to irritation. Many shavers get it. If its really bad many people have no choice but to go with an electric razor believe it or not.

josh,

if you have anything happening on your face that you're unsure of GO SEE A DERMATOLOGIST. there's something called SEBORRHEIC DERMATITIS which is an irritation which can be caused by using too much crap on your face. usually it will go away given time, but if it is constantly aggravated, it can lead to rosacea.

the bumps on my chin are very tiny and for a while, i thought they were clogged or swollen pores. i can tell that they're not ingrown hairs because the stubble sticks out very cleanly. on days when i've done too many passes on my chin or used too much pressure, the bumps get scraped and then turn red. usually when this happens, i'll go for a few days without shaving until the redness clears. i've gone as long as ten days between shaves, but the bumps don't disappear.

last year there was a thread about rosacea awareness month. after i noticed the bumps, i went online and checked out their site: http://www.rosacea.org/ when i looked at the pictures, it seemed like something very different than what i was experiencing. but nonetheless, the doctor says i've got light rosacea, so go figure...

yesterday, i ran a search on rosacea on the forum and came across this thread started by joe lerch: http://straightrazorpalace.com/showt...hlight=rosacea

josh, read what you can but either way, be careful, and see a doctor. like joe, my doctor gave me something called metrogel which is a topical antibiotic gel (there's a belief that there's a link between bacteria and rosacea flare-ups). in the meantime, i have been advised to take vitamin b and to alter my diet (no alcohol or spicy foods-- the various rosacea sites have a long list of foods that can irritate and lead to flare ups). the main idea will be to minimize flare-ups, which will be especially difficult given my work and living in hot and humid taiwan.

another thread that was interesting mentions that the sharpness and light touch of a straight razor gave one member the least amount of irritation with his rosacea. he mentions having used many other methods to shave (but didn't mention electric specifically). on this note, one of the rosacea sites recommends men shave with an electric but that in cases where a razor is preferred, it is critical that the blade be plenty sharp so as not to require many passes.

another thread talks about PFB and rosacea:
http://straightrazorpalace.com/showt...hlight=rosacea
the main thing is to alter the goal of shaving with a straight. don't go for the closest shave possible; instead, go for the LIGHTEST shave possible and very, very gradually work toward the skin. this will be my approach from now on; hell, it should be everyone's goal to achieve the lightest shave possible. that's the whole point of having such a crazy sharp blade and little-to-no-pressure, right?

cheers,
jake pollock
taipei, taiwan