Thread: Petroleum jelly as after shave treatment

Today I had a bad shave day. Shaved with my Worcester Mass. razor i recently bought from an online auction. It did not go well, had to finish with another razor. It could depend on two things. First it is the first smiling razor I've honed and i had some problems honing it, so many it's not perfectly honed. And second it is tiny and light, never held a razor that light before. I usually like razors that are a bit heavier. Anyway, Ill just have to rehone it and see...

So my neck was really irritated. I remembered reading an old thread with a question about using petroleum jelly as an after shave treatment and tried this. I must say, it works better for calming down the irritation than my Nivea sensitive aftershave balm. This is probably nothing I'll use after every shave, but for bad shave days like today it was good!

Interesting indeed! Smiling blades are more of a challenge to hone. Practice and practice. Great to see you improvise when something goes wrong.

I have 100% shea butter that is very effective. I think the shea is probably better for your skin, but if you have something working that is great. It probably does pretty much the same thing, puts a protective layer over the irritation. They are both very thick.

I rarely have bad shaves, but if I do I like to double-down and use Clubman. Yowza!

Originally Posted by RezDog

I have 100% shea butter that is very effective. I think the shea is probably better for your skin, but if you have something working that is great. It probably does pretty much the same thing, puts a protective layer over the irritation. They are both very thick.

Shea might be better. I did read somewhere that you can use petroleum jelly if you have dry skin, so I guess there is no harm using it, but it would probably clog the pores if used every day, since its so thick...

Vaseline on me is my worst (greasy) nightmare.

I swing with water soluable fresh aloe juice direct from a houseplant or, more often, 100% cold process aloe gel from the store. The fresh works better on burns than anything else I know; the commercial stuff makes good hair gel, helps heal cracked skin fast and I add three tablespoons aloe to 12-oz of a witch hazel/alcohol/essence of lemon mixture home brew for after shave.

I do like Vaseline for treating threads on the whole-house water filter cannister, though. And it may be the only thing that works for giant smiling razor neck disorder (GSRND).

Originally Posted by MisterMoo

I do like Vaseline for treating threads on the whole-house water filter cannister, though. And it may be the only thing that works for giant smiling razor neck disorder (GSRND).

Yepp, it's the only thing effective enough for GSRND ask your doctor!

One of the most effective things for me in cooling down a lot of irritation is cold towels. Just like hot towels are used by some pre shave, cold towels applied to the irritated areas of my neck really soothe and cut down irritation. Follow that with Neosporin to help speed healing. Works well for me.

Rinse in cold water and follow up with a splash of witch hazel. For the final encore finish with Nivea or Neutrogena Aftershave Balm.

The jelly calms things down because it keeps the air away. It's kind of like in the old days they would put butter on burns for the same reason. We know now that's very bad even though it felt good. For cuts and irritation I think there are better solutions.