I'm needing to take yet another break from shaving due to irritation in two areas.

The base of my neck and my cheeks.

I do 2 WTG everywhere then an XTG on my cheeks and a ATG pass on my neck.

My beard is a mix of hair colors, black, brown, blonde, and gray. When doing the XTG on my cheeks I noticed small red bumps and small blonde hairs about .5mm in height sticking up, whereas all the black hairs are cut short. The blade makes a pronounced sound when I pass over this area.

My neck is just a pain in the A*#! I have to do an ATG pass on my neck to be passable.

I had trouble with the Alum bar and I had to give it a rest last week from that experience. I was getting small red bumps on my cheeks.

Could this be a soap allergy? I do have irritation issues with my GFT cream and sometimes my TOBS sandalwood cream.

Hasn't been to dry here so I don't think that's an issue.

So, I think I can deal with the neck, but I'm at a loss about my cheeks.

Any ideas?