To exfoliate or not to exfoliate...

so, a quick summary of my weekly shaving routine before making my point

SAT: No shaving
SUN: NO shaving
MON: looking like a homeless...but i have the best shaving of the week
TUE: Piece of C***
WED: Not bad
THU: Good
FRI: as bad as TUE

so, after some research and personal tests I finally realize that the problem is not the razor, nor the temp of the water, nor the shaving cream..its my skin!!!

TUE sucks because MON rocks! when I start the TUE ritual, part of the grain is already exposed while some of the little bastards are still about to "be delivered". The result is a 5 o'clock shadow at 11am + lots and lots of irritation.

the tip is, buy a vegetable exfoliating sponge (go as rustic as possible..or as your skin can take) and give your face a nice rub on the tough days...this thing has been doing wonders for my nightmarishes TUE and FRI

I don't know if it makes any difference but what I do is wash my face briskly, with pressure, rinse and do it a second time. I do this in the shower with hot water of course. I got this tip from Leisure Guy's book. It improved my shave.

When I was a DE shaver I used a Merkur slant with a Feather blade most of the time. I shaved daily and sometimes my skin would feel sensitive after a shave. When I switched over to shaving daily with a straight that sensitive feeling post shave went away.

I always used to exfoliate before a shave. Always suffered ingrowns & have done plenty of experiments with routine & products to reduce them.
I now use a face wash right before i shave (in the evening) & scrub the following morning. By not exfoliating prior to shaving i'm avoiding the extreme exfoliation effect! Works for me. Glad you found what works for you too.

I remember reading somewhere the specific advice NOT to use an exfoliating cleanser. The justification was something to the extent of "an exfoliating cleanser is removing the outer layer of dead skin cells, which the straight razor is then attempting to repeat." It was as if the exfoliation step was likely to cause irritation when the subsequent shave was performed on the newly exposed skin cells.

Personally, I use a product from Anthony for Men called their "Glycolic Facial Cleanser" three or four times a week during my shower. It's a non-abraisive cleanser - just cleaning the pores and softening the beard. I'm not advocating this particular brand, only that a non-abraisive facial product seems to work well without causing any undue irritation.

That said, everyone's skin is different. Different strokes for different folks (only mild pun intended).

I try to avoid words with more than three syllables whenever possible.

In my experience - after a long time of experimenting - using a product like Apricot scrub which has very thick sand like particles - it is abrasive but really cleans skin well and removes a lot of dead skin cells which are constantly accumulating...

For me, using this type of product once a week is perfect. Any more and it irritates and is simply too harsh...as a daily face wash - try L'Oreal's mens' line of daily face wash...its is very 'light' in its cleansing/pore cleaning...a huge difference between the two...

So I would suggest using the heavy one once a week to really clean the skin and a lighter wash daily...

I have read the exfoliating prior to shaving is beneficial and this in fact is one of the benefits of using a shaving brush to begin with - remove dead cells and prepare...

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Originally Posted by MrDavid

Personally, I use a product from Anthony for Men called their "Glycolic Facial Cleanser" three or four times a week during my shower. It's a non-abraisive cleanser - just cleaning the pores and softening the beard. I'm not advocating this particular brand, only that a non-abraisive facial product seems to work well without causing any undue irritation.

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Don't usually read the skin care forums, but with the problems my skin has gone through I couldn't help noticing this thread.

I use the exact same product mentioned above. My skin suffers severe ingrown hair trouble - even with straight razor shaving and a good prep, I get "monster" ingrown hairs sometimes as my beard is very tough and curly. In addition my skin is quite dry which is a recipe for bad shaves.

I've used the Glycolic cleanser for a few years now both in the evening of a morning shave and any non-shave day. I can only shave on a Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. I find my shaves on Sundays are awesome as I have three days' growth to remove. The cleanser is the mildest I've used ever. I can't shave more often but it definitely reduces the very large bumps I can sometimes get (often quite small, but can be as big as hazelnuts).

I try to exfoliate on the evenings before I shave and I use L'Occitane's offering - the Juniper Bark scrub. Dermalogica's Skin Prep Scrub is also very good and I've used that too. No more than three times a week usage is what I stick to and I may end up experimenting with it for only two days a week.

I should also say that by using a thick cream after wards my face tends to calm down. On shave days I use Korres' Borage Moisturiser with Nivea's Creme on other days.

YMMV of course but I thought I'd throw my 0.02's worth in the hope that it helps someone. Good luck!

I use a face scrub, I think it's Nivea, I'll have to check on it. It's in a white tube and it has scrubbies in it. it's great. I use it before every shave, Then the hot towel...Pre shave oil, lather, more hot towel, the re lather...I really work the lather into my face with the brush. I bet I swirl that brush around for a good 30 seconds or so...I think it makes a big difference in the shave. It really "wakes" up the whiskers....

I use an exfoliating facial scrub twice a week and always use it the night before a shave, not directly before. I always use a gentle foaming cleanser right before my shave, followed by a little shampoo and conditioner making sure to thoroughly rinse it all off before shaving.

OK, When I got home last night I checked, it's Neutrogena Razor Defense face scrub. It's got the little scrubbies in it like I said, great stuff, and not too expensive..avialable at Wal Mart and Target...

I don't exfoliate before shaving because I feel that shaving exfoliates your skin anyway.

That, and I use an acne scrub that is a medium exfoliator in the morning, and I shave at nights about once a week.

I feel like exfoliating and shaving leaves my face raw- and SR shaving is noted (through use of the brush, and the nature of the blade) to exfoliate. What I do is:
1) For daily shaves I don't attempt BBS, I just shave WTG (sometimes XTG as well) and save the ATG for formals, dinners, etc when I really have to be ultra perfectly shaved.
2) I rub my face. I do this anyway after a shave cus it feels good but it is a habit now. I feel like this helps because it "loosens" the ingrowing hairs and allows them to grow out.
3) I exfoliate the OPPOSITE time of day to a shave. (shave in the am- exfoliate at night, and vice versa)

BTW:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by zib

OK, When I got home last night I checked, it's Neutrogena Razor Defense face scrub. It's got the little scrubbies in it like I said, great stuff, and not too expensive..avialable at Wal Mart and Target...

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Best stuff ever period.

I keep shaving and exfoliating as far away from one another as I can. In my experience, exfoliating also strips away skin oils that can come in handy during a shave. Doing it directly before a shave is counterproductive for me. Besides, shaving exfoliates, as well.