Thread: Help this itching madness!!!

Originally Posted by jleeg

So here I am looking for insight, answers and sympathy.

Some excellent advise,.....I have nothing no more to offer except the your 3rd request which was for "sympathy".
Sorry Bro'.

When I was mid-career, frequently I would shave with a disposable and water, no soap at all. The shaves weren't that good, but I wasn't in any way irritated in spite of no soap.

So as a diagnostic tool, I'd recommend a disposable and water, and if you don't get irritation, try phasing in shaving soap, nothing else, if no irritation, follow with AS on the next shave etc.

I too would suspect a fragrance or soap constituent. Mike's Hungarian Lavender shaving soap lights me up like a flame and I'm typically not that sensitive. But with HL I might as wrll burn the hair off with a Bernz-O-Matic.

Cheers, Steve

If there is not an issue of allergies,,, then many times the skins begins to itch due to dryness. Itching is often the skin's way of crying out for hydration. The skin below the jawline(the neck) responds to edges differently & post shave treatment differently than the cheeks & upper lip. Alum is great, I use it after every shave, but it must be dabbed off with a moist towel after a few minutes of application. Then I apply a good witch hazel like Thayers. Witch hazel can & does prevent irritation due to swelling inflammation, remember it is a common ingredient in a lot of hemorrhoid treatment creams/wipes.

Witch hazel & a moisturizing cream after you shave, would be my advice.

At one point I developed an itch just under my chin and always after shaving. In my case it was from using a DE and one in particular. it was years ago so I don't remember which DE it was and I soon sold it.

If I shave Atg I get the same problem. The biggest obstacle for me straight shaving was finding an angle of attack on my neck so I avoid going Atg. My beard takes an abrupt 180 just below my Adam's apple the entire way across my neck. I use a scything angle which catches that area with xtg stroke. If I don't I get crazy in grown hairs and itching. Good luck

Some great points, I had not thought about the brush (Castel33)

How long does it take to go back to normal, and can you take a 3 day healing break between shaves while you test these ideas?

And I think we have all been there at one point and we feel your frustration...(another sympathy plug)

I know alot of times if I use too much pressure it will cause irritation. Another thing that used to cause problems was when I would constantly rub on my face after shaving. There are so many things that can cause problems that you just have to keep weeding out each thing till you find the one or more that are causing it.

Thanks all. Kept my beard from October till last week. First few shaves we're every other day and went well. Now I'm back to the killer itch. Going to just use Proraso and see what I can figure out. By the way, I moisturize with unscented Nivea Sensitive and use Thayers regularly (reverse order of course). Man, I have too many great blades and brushes and creams and soaps and........not to use them. But it's a killer itch.

Have you tried a different laundry soap? Are you using a hot towel on your face? ...Tide does that to me.
You can also shave with Ivory soap (none sented...it's actually all my wife used to shave her legs and works perfect as it not soap per say).

Try changing the water temp...so cold shave instead of hot (cold shave kills me though so your MMV)