Thread: A RUDE AWAKENING THAT I AM STILL A BEGINNER

Originally Posted by Zargart

[...] also is it not wise to shave when you got bad acne spots ?????

Congratulations of the Dovo. I love mine to bits, it's an excellent quality blade. Concerning shaving over the acne spots my advice, for what it is worth, would be: Very, very (and I can't stress it enough, VERY light strokes, and a lot of stretching the skin along with a soothing post shave balm. Dermalogica make some good, albeit expensive, products for dealing with acne spots, which I find work quite well.

You don't have to go ATG everywhere, remember. So, with an area affected by the acne, maybe stick with a light WTG and XTG? The shave may not be as close, but at least you won't cut yourself to bits there. Remember acne is spread or made worse when you squeeze or cut the affected area (which can also lead to scarring) so best avoid doing that completely by using light strokes that will cause the least amount of abrasions or irritation to the affected area.

For acne;

1. Drink lots of water to keep your system properly hydrated.
2. Keep your skin clean using gentle cleansers. Most bar soaps are quite harsh. Olive oil soap or even gentler products are best.
3. Moisturise. It may not seem manly, but it goes a heck of a long way to solving this problem.
4. Change your pillow case very regularly.
5. Shave with a straight razor. It removes pore clogging dead skin better than anything else. Just remember to moisturise when you're done because the soaps and even creams can be harsh and drying to your skin.

FWIW --

I find it easier to do an ATG pass with a DE razor loaded with a Feather blade. Use very light pressure (just the weight of the razor) to avoid irritation. The beard hairs pull the edge toward the skin; even with no pressure, the blade will cut them down.

A good ATG pass with a straight razor requires:

. . . a really sharp blade, and
. . . a flatter blade angle against the skin.

Without those, I find myself hacking my face and/or getting razor burn. I can't imagine trying it with acne -- far too painful.

Charles

I woke up this morning with an idea (for what it's worth):

. . . Get an inexpensive electric razor (for example, a Remington R835)

. . . Try using it for a few weeks, instead of _any_ "blade razor".

Keep the pressure on your face very light. You might want to try some electric-razor face lubricant as well, to reduce razor burn.

Since the cutting blade never touches your skin, the electric shaver may be kinder to your acne than a straight or DE razor. It's better to have "5 o'clock shadow", than to scar yourself.

Charles

Originally Posted by xman

For acne;
2. Keep your skin clean using gentle cleansers. Most bar soaps are quite harsh. Olive oil soap or even gentler products are best..

Going off of what X said here with keeping your skin clean. You want to make sure to wash your face and neck every morning and night, before going to bed, with a gentle cleanser soap. It sorta like why you brush your teeth at night most damage is done when you sleep. And when you wash make sure to get all of the soap off leaving any on will cause more breakouts. Best way to do this is to use really hot water. A lot of problems people have with the neck and acne is that they don't effectively wash off all the soap and it clogs up the pores.

I find the aveeno line of clear complexion products to work excellently. I use the bar soap and have used the moisturizer in the past. My wife still use the moisturizer and the foaming wash.

I would also get myself some Alum, if I were you. Skip the ATG with the straight razor, just for now, and seal up your skin after shaving with an alum block.

Alum will kill bacteria, and seal your skin up nicely. Together with the other recommendations on here, give it a try. It tends to take small spots and ingrown hairs away entirely on my skin.