Rash/Red patches :(

Hi there,

I rather doubt you're gonna be able to help me but I'd still like to have some advice on this.

I've been using a straight razor for a year and a half now. It's a Dovo I bought brand new. At the beginning, as one can expect, I would get a few superficial cuts. I quickly improved my skills and soon enough I would achieve a nice, close, clean and cut-free shave.

This brings me to today and my problem. Nowadays - and although my skills are getting better with time - i get these red rashes on my face after I shave. I can't pinpoint the exact cause.

Can my aftershave cream be the cause and would it be an allergy? ==> I've been using the same cream since the very beginning. It has buckwheat extract which the salesman told me - a year and a half ago when I bought it - is know to irritate the skin should you be allergic to it. But I seem to have developped these rashes only these last few months (sorry I can't be more precise, it was gradual and maybe I didn't notice at first).

Is it my razor that's to blame? As I said, I'm the first owner. I thought maybe the cause of my rashes was that it wasn't sharp enough. So I recently had it sharpened by a renowned professional in my city. But I still get these red patches.

As you see I'm trying to take into account every possible parameter which I can think of and which could cause this rash which is rather irritating (no pun intended). Shaving cream? Since I used it from the very start and never had any problems beforehand, the only possibility (in the case where it actually is the cream) would be that I developped an allergy which I didn't have before (I don't even know if medically that's possible). And as I said, my razor's just been sharpened and the problem ahsn't disapeared.

If I were to describe this rash I would say that after shaving and after i put the cream on and everything. The skin surface feels very warm and it scratches alot! Usually the next day I'm left with red patches...

Help me please. It's annoying to know everytime I shave I'm gonna have this rash after and that there's nothing I can do.

Does this warm, scratchy feeling ring a bell? Is it familiar to anyone?

Cheers.

I believe that sensitivity to allergens can increase with repeated exposure over time. The easiest way to try to diagnose this for yourself would be to change soaps/creams. If the problem goes away with that change, you've just had one of those voila!! experiences.:tu

good luck

Indeed! I agree... you should change the cream you are using. Skin is very complex... maybe you have developed an alergy of some sort. You should always rotate from time to time so that the skin doesn't get used to the products. Maybe the cream isn't suited for your skin... don't know. If I were you I would experiment with another cream or soap. Ah... and maybe wash the brush with nice warm water and shampoo? Perhaps the brush has some bacteriae that cause the rash... that's something you didn't mention. Maybe you should do both things: change the soap/cream and wash the brush. What do you think? :)

Hope the rash gets better... and then report back. Maybe you should talk to the pharmacist (the owner of the pharmacy...) or your Doctor if things don't inprove.

Best regards,
Francisco

I have to agree with everybody else, change the cream.

All good advise so far, but I do have 1 thing to add. Is the "professional" razor sharpener experienced with straight razors. I've talked to professional knife sharpeners that swore they knew how to sharpen a straight razor, only to get lost in the conversation 30 seconds later and admit that they really didn't know that much about it in another 30 seconds. Just make sure that they really know how to sharpen a straight razor prior to letting them sharpen it.

Thank you all for the advice.

As I was passing through London yesterday, I picked up some new shaving soap and after shave balm in Regent Street (C&E Nomad, that stuff smells really good!)

I shaved yesterday evening when I got home and the rash didn't come back :bow

As was also suggested, I washed my brush (and lather bowl) with boiling water as an additional precaution.

NB: As for the bloke who sharpens my blade, his shop has been around for over 40 years and packed to the brim with straight razors and all the imaginable accessories you can think of. The guy knows his trade.

Anyway, the problem is solved now :y