Thread: Acne and Straight Razors

I was looking though the fourms to see if there are any threads on how to shave with a SR if you have acne. A friend of mine is wanting to start shaving with a SR, but he has severe acne and is worried that the razor will shred his face.

Is there any threads, or suggestions for my friend?

Thanks

LERigney,

How severe is his acne? If its out-of-control, your friend may want to consider visiting a dermatologist first.

That said, using a str8 or DE razor for starters, it may actually help reduce his acne over the long-run. I know that swithcing to a DE did for me. The move to a str8 razor was the next, obvious choice for me.

thats a great question , if he can somehow reduce the acne with an over the counter face wash , then start shaving with a straight ,
he can use a pre shave oil ( for oily skin) , a good shave soap and quality aftershave , should clear it up .

I find that using the straight razor actually helps control acne, plus I've instituted the following regime to good success. Acne skin care explained, problems with acne, care guide for skin problems

Originally Posted by jhenry

LERigney,

How severe is his acne? If its out-of-control, your friend may want to consider visiting a dermatologist first.

That said, using a str8 or DE razor for starters, it may actually help reduce his acne over the long-run. I know that swithcing to a DE did for me. The move to a str8 razor was the next, obvious choice for me.

He has been to the dermatologist and his acne is no where near as bad as it was, but it does not seem to be getting better. He, like others, thinks that using a SR would help improve his skin. I know it had helped get rid of what little I had.

Originally Posted by LERigney

I was looking though the fourms to see if there are any threads on how to shave with a SR if you have acne. A friend of mine is wanting to start shaving with a SR, but he has severe acne and is worried that the razor will shred his face.

Is there any threads, or suggestions for my friend?

Thanks

Hmmm.. severe acne --- I recommend a visit to a doctor
for advice. Acne has a number of causes and I know that
I cannot diagnose the issues on the internet.

What does he shave with now?

SR shaving is wet shaving. If he is not a wet shaver
he can explore wet shaving with an inexpensive double
edge or even BiC toss away blades and a box of shaving
soaps and creams and a brush.

One universal bit of advice is sanitation: Shaving with
anything should invoke strict attention to cleanliness.
Wash the face first with a mild soap, rinse then apply
lather built from quality shaving soap or creams. Shave
with a clean sharp blade. Rinse all the lather off with
cool even cold water and pat dry with a fresh clean towel.
Wait 30 min and then apply a gentle post shave product.

Keep the razor clean too, as a minimum rinse the razor
with HOT water before putting it up.

There is no magic, a sharp str8 razor will slice the top off bumps
and lumps as quickly as it will slice whiskers if he is not exceedingly
cautious. The same is true for any blade...

For a shaving soap there are a lot to try but to start
include a fragrance free glycerin based shave soap like the
ones from Classic Shaving (Classic "Gold" Hypo-Allergenic
Shaving Mug Soap) or another of the good vendors here.
Shaving soaps are very personal in the way they react on
a persons skin so try different ones.

One caution acne often involves some difficult to kill
bacteria. Do not share kit.

Straight Shaving exfoliates and cleans the skin very well. Addionally, I expect Straight Shaving to help with decreasing the Acne that could be caused by shaving with Cartridges.

Perhaps he can shave just straight shave certain areas of the face and test it out.

Pabster

One other quick thing, depending on what he is using now but often the ingrediants in the canned goo can clog pores and make acne worse, as others have said moving first to a good quality soap/ cream might help by itself. I noticed this when I was younger if I switched to canned shaving cream my face would break up, when I went back to a brush and soap it would clear up and that was only using cheap shaving soap.

Someone (can't remember who) also posted a link about a castor oil mix that used occasionally will help with skin issues. I saved the link on my home pc but not here at werk. Personally I've found that in generall my acne issues have gotten better since switching to str8's. I do have pretty finicky skin (amongst other issues) though so I'll still bump-up if I use the same soap for too long a time but all in all, it's good. He'll just need to be nice and ginger in any of the areas that the blemishes are "raised".

Someone mentioned that cartridge razors can make acne worse. How?