Has any one experimented with witch hazel and does it have these ingredients salicylic
And glyolic acid these ingredients help prevent razor burn. Is this true or bs
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Has any one experimented with witch hazel and does it have these ingredients salicylic
And glyolic acid these ingredients help prevent razor burn. Is this true or bs
I've never seen a bottle of witch hazel with those ingredients in them. There are razor bump medications with witch hazel in them though.
I use Thayers Lavender Witch Hazel and love it: Water, organic aloe, glycerin, fragrance(Natural lavender), witch hazel, lavender flower water, citric acid, grapefruit seed extract, Vitamin E. Doesn't get any better than that. There are one or two types that have alcohol in them I wouldn't use as it would be too drying.
I have some Anthony Logistics ingrown hair treatment that contains glycolic, salicylic and phytic acids(exfoliants) along with a bunch of other really long words lol
Witch hazel is an anti-oxidant, astringent and I use a splash pre and post shave. In the post shave I don't rinse it off like I do alum.
From my experince, preventing razor burn fell more into the prep/technique/shave ready edge categories.
Witch hazel's properties make it a good aftershave and would treat razor burn for sure and the Thayers has some aloe and vitamin E in there as an added bonus. Applying anything with alcohol to razor burn not good idea from my experience.
What's your prep like?
My burns bumps and nicks all came from bad technique or a dull blade and sometimes bad lather.Quote:
Originally Posted by AndrewK
Salicylic does help with bumps and burns. It is derived from willow bark. But basically it's aspirin. You can find one of the active ingredients in acne treatments are salicylic acid. Aspirin is basically salicylic acid. Vinegar also contains salicylic acid. Lately I have been using Burt's Bee acne wash and a home concoction of aloe and aspirin (crushed and mixed). I also use an antibiotic creme on my face too with pure tea tree oil. My technique is not really the issue. Well, I am not saying it could not be improved. The redness and bumps on my neck are from folliculitus. I had it before I started straight shaving. Of note, the straight razor has helped with the bumps after I got better with it's use.
I had the same but it all completely cleared up since switching from Fusion to DE and now using Str8's. I only go WTG on my neck and know that's the one and only reason my folliculitus left and never came back.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mephisto
It was confusing at first but makes more sense to me now. This is how it worked for me: close shave on neck(XTG/ATG) was too close = whiskers getting trapped too far below skin and can't get out = folliculitus. 2 pass WTG = problem solved no creams, gels or potions. When I'm done my 2 pass WTG, I can still see the tiny black dots of stubble on my neck so while it's not BBS, I know for sure the whiskers are not going to be trapped under the skin, I'm still clean shaved and it's much better than the alternative imo.
Maybe I'm just lucky but hopefully this can help you guys too.
Yes, I think that would help to a degree. However, where I get it the worst is on the bottom of my neck where it grows in almost a swirl pattern. So there is some hair going east to west and west to east. It makes it tricky. I got a DE that I think I am going to start using for the bottom of my neck. Or maybe a smaller razor might help for those areas. IDK, I will keep trucking along.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AndrewK
Hehe I have the same swirl too on my neck. When I used my Fusion for years I was always continuing down my jaw and neck going North to South. It just seemed natural. When I switched to DE that immediately tore up my neck on my first shave. I was baffled. I figured I was using too much pressure or my blade angle wasn't right. 2nd shave I kept these things in mind. No go. Back to online research to figure out what I was doing wrong. Was more confused lol. Then shave 3 I just went South to North and instantly it felt different. It was smooth! So after becoming comfortable with a DE I always start South and go North for sure but depending on what feels natural and the contours/terrain, I go South to Northeast/Northwest depending on which spot I'm on and even a very gradual scything as I follow up the contour of my neck which just happened on it's own. I just followed the smoothness and did whatever felt natural and it all came together with practice and is automatic now. Weird thing is underneath my chin the grain is totally reversed from what I do on my neck lol so if I'm coming up my neck and get to the 'border' I can actually feel it and will stop there and come back to it at the end.
I think if I hadn't gone to DE first before getting into str8s I might have missed this but I have no way of saying for sure.
Here's a rough model of what I do
Attachment 95790
No you aren't just lucky; it is the same with me. Thick and coarse hair and sensitive skin. When I started shaving with straights I did the regular three passes (WTG, XTG, ATG), then switched to two passes (WTG, ATG). Due to bad technique at the beginning I had no ingrowns. When my technique got better, the ingrowns came back. So I switched to two passes "with the grain; sometimes cross the grain" and quit the goal of achieving a bbs shave.Quote:
Originally Posted by AndrewK
From this time on everything went well:).
Hmm, yeah, I have switched to two shave passes from three-most of the time. I think what I need to do is let the hair grow out and start over. The body will heal itself in time. Once I get the skin straight I can begin shaving again with WTG/XTG passes. That is basically what I do now except when I throw caution to the wind. I like shaving with a straight so much I go ahead and do the third pass for fun. My face is screaming 'NO!!!' but I do it anyway. /facepalm. Anyway, time will tell. I think I am like Rori. I have thick, coarse, and curly facial hair. Plus, my hair grows in weird directions. BTW gents what type of razor do you prefer? Hollows, wedges, singing?
It did work for me. Did the same: let the hair grow out and the inflamations heal. After that I started as mentioned above.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mephisto
By the way, my hair grows in weird directions too, so "with the grain" ain't 100 % "with the grain".
I use fully hollowed straights as well as full wedges. I get along best with quarter hollows and wedges.
By the way, I facelather and use a semogue boar brush to soften whiskers as good as possible and to sort of lift the whiskers;).
Please report on your further shavings, Mephisto!
It took me about 2 weeks of almost daily exfoliation to clear up my folliculitus. Probably not necessary but it just helps clear away dead skin cells and untrap the whiskers. I still shaved during that time as I was used to always shaving those darn bumps off with my Fusion lol. :aargh:
Most of my experience so far has been with full hollows. I do have a Timor semi hollow I'm going to be shaving with on the weekend probably and I can't wait to get back an ~8/8 Wade and Butcher I sent out for resto. It had some uneven honing so with the regrind I was told it would be closer to a 1/4 hollow. A wedge and singing will definitely be happening in the future though. I'm very curious to see if a wedge would work better for me to muscle through anything or if a singing would be best to drop whiskers Samurai style. But I've put my RAD on hold for a bit lol.
Thanks gents. Now I just need to see if I can make it the week or so w/o shaving. But I will keep the updates coming. Maybe I should do a photo journal-maybe a little overboard. I have been using a singing razor lately and I like it a lot. I am not sure if it best for my hair type. It cuts fairly close so maybe I need something else. The rest of my razors are full hollows. I do want to try a wedge. But my RAD needs to be put on hold too. I am starting to work on my hone collection.
Used to get a lot of ingrowns. Then focused on pre-shave prep which helped. Also really stretch skin to get a good surface. Cool tapwater splash then Thayers alcohol free witch hazel (lavender or cucumber). Follow with a dab of MWF lotion. Very few ingrowns now.
If I ever get razor bumps or irritation (which is now extremely rare since switching to straights) i moisturise as normal then I use sudo cream and leave on overnight (I shave in evenings). It is amazing stuff and generally used for nappy rash on babies but can be used for other things! Give it a try and let me know!
