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Hello everyone, I have been finding that if I try for a close shave I will get ingrown hairs around my neck. How can this be prevented while still getting a close shave? I have heard a lot of mention about exfoliation but have not found threads with much advice or guidance about it. Could it be that I am doing something wrong with this stage?
Many thanks, Dylan
I have suffered in the past & still do when i'm not on the ball. I simply don't go for bbs & must be one of the few here who are not trying to achieve that! A very light touch is the way forward. A search should reveal a few other threads from the past that may help.
Yepp, the #1 cause of ingrown hairs is trying to shave close. :gaah: The art of getting away with close shaves is to figure out just how close you can go before disaster strikes and to learn to stop. I never shoot for BBS all over, there are spots on my face that just won't let me do it... that does not mean I look unshaven, only that to the skilled hand (mine, most people around my shy away from feeling my face, requested or otherwise. :D ) can the slight stubble be felt. I can however, remain quite respectable looking for work 36hrs after my shave. Still, depending on the razor of the day and how careful I am, an ingrown does rear it's ugly head 2 or 3 times a year which, for me, is far far better than it used to be when I shaved with DE and cartridge razors. Ingrown hairs are simply hairs that are cut obliquely like the tip of a hypodermic needle and below the surface of the skin and that have a tendancy to grow less than perfectly straight (curly hair), thus allowing the tip to dig in and do a u-turn...... Short of abrading the skin so it drops back below the tips of those hairs (which would make it feel stubbly again) means that exfoliating scrubs and the like will not do any good. Besides, a sharp straight razor edge is the perfect tool for removing those dead skin cells while shaving so there you go.
Now as for your neck area, most gents have a reversal of grain in the beard at the base of the neck, you may find you have to shave the opposite way there and possibly use a cross grain instead of against the grain cleanup pass in that area. It will take some experimentation to figure out just how close you can go.
Regards
Christian
Its ALL to do with shave technique and skin care. Prepare your skin thoroughly for your shave. Make the skin warm and relaxed- think hot shower or hot towel treatment. If your skin is sensitive stick to WTG only until you lose the ingrowns and bumps. Pull the skin tight in a direction away from that which you are shaving. Use a very sharp razor with a very light touch. Get the correct 30 degree angle. Finish your shave by rinsing with cold water, towel dry and moisturise with a low alcohol content moisturizer.
Done. :tu
Really? I haven't had a single ingrown hair since I went straight..straight razor that is.
But what I use to do before was to use a facial scrub after the shave..if you shave everyday remember too use a very mild scrub like the a dayly scrub. The more exfoliating scrubs shouldn't be used more than 2 times per week.
Now the scrub is not a guarantee against ingrowns but it does often work. Otherwise there are products made for this purpose..just check with your nearest skincare store.:gl:
I cannot avoid ingrowns no matter how hard I try. The hair on my neck grows far too flat to avoid it even when I don't shave so close.
One idea that I haven't tried is to scrub with some kind of exfoliant a while before shaving to release the hairs that are stuck under the skin. I'm not sure if it would be too irritating though.
I never had an ingrown hair! Ever! Even when I was using bic razors... Honest! :)
I've always prevented that by getting a close enough shave... I did it then and I do it now. No need to go for that BBS shave all of a sudden. It'l happen... eventualy. I just focus on the clean shaven look. People don't go around feeling my face so... But indeed, prep is important and also a very light touch. And we're talking about beard reduction and not beard extremination... there is no "final solution" for the beard problem... :)
PS - sorry for the political joke.
I've also never gone out of my way to prevent an ingrown hair - I don't think I've ever had one.
I think it is a case of you either suffer from them or you don't. I know many people here have no worries about them and they only crop up occasionally.
If we could know what makes some people more susceptible to them then maybe we could find a solution?
Using an Alum block is said to help but though I use one, I've never suffered from this either so can't personally say whether it does or not.
The reason for ingrown hairs is that dead skin cells clogges up the passage for the newly shaved hairs to grow out. When the hairs starts to grow it can't get passed the layer of dead skin cells ant therefore starts growing under the skin. To remove these dead skin cells you thesefore need som kind of exfoliant so the hairs can grow freely.
As I understand it straight shaving also has a exfoliating effect and thats why, at least in my case, I haven't had any troubbles with ingrowns since I started with straight razors. I read somewhere that ingrowns are also more common with people who have curly beard, most common among black people, you might have a little curly beard..even if you aren't black. What you also can do is not to shave too closely..but then you won't get the smoothness of BBS.:gl:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rawaz
:td I'm not sure thats correct. Wiki appears to disagree with this...
Ingrown hair - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A lot of the cause is simply that the hairs can be too fine. Guys with a really good wire beard rarely seem to suffer. The finer hair can lose it's way somewhat & doesn't have the tensile strength to force it's way back to the surface. There are many reasons i suspect though.Quote:
Originally Posted by nickyspaghetti
Exfoliation doesn't seem to help me too much & i simply have to pull them out.
I guess it's horses for courses though & there are different solutions for different individuals.
That's at least what I know..but also i cant see where Wiki disagrees with my statement it does not explain whet causes the hair to "curl back or grow sideways into the skin"Quote:
Originally Posted by sidneykidney
Correct me if i'm wrong
Ingrown hairs :thinking:
Very long time since i had it, think it was in the younger days using an electrical shaver "shrugs".. after i started wet shaving with Mach's i never had that problem. Always shaved while in the shower, so convinient when you already are standing there wet and shaveready.
Another thing, my skin always got more irritated after using the electrical shaver than doing a wet shave. Maybe it's due to all dust from stubble and skin that is produced from the quick rotating blade.
Regards,
Rikard
My understanding of the reason behind razor bumps comes both from wiki and also from executive shaving.co.uk :
Razor bump and ingrowing hair - Advice on razor bumps and ingrowing hairs UK
According to that;
"This occurs when curly hair grows out of the skin, curls round and then grows back into the skin. This happens if the hair is cut too short. Normal hair cut too short will create the same problem. They result in the medical condition pseudofolliculitis barbae (PFB). An ideal shave cuts the hair flush with the surface of the skin and avoids any undue friction and/or irritation to the surrounding skin."
I think a lack of razor bumps and ingrown hairs coincides with good shaving technique ie. not pulling skin too tight but pulling it tight enough, getting the right angle, not using too much pressure, using a sharp razor.
I suspect those of you that have said you no longer get them are successful because your technique has improved (as most people do over time).
The thing which I disagree with in particular Rawaz is the involvement of dead skin cells. :thinking:
Poor technique will lead to cuts and nicks, into which the regrowing hair can curl into, leaving you with ingrowns.
At least, thats what i've always understood. A dermatologist could tell you more....
Well I think I need to start experimenting with slightly different shaving techniques. It could be as mentioned before that some of my hair is not thick enough to have a fighting chance getting through the skin. Thanks a lot for the comments though, it's been a great help :)
Dylan
I used to suffer with ingrowns. Then I met a guy at the SRP UK meet, nice fella, he's a policemen in the met but I digress....
He suggested that I exfoliate. Its something that never occured to me and something I always put down as a bit of a girly thing to do but he explained it as unclogging all of those pore and letting the ingrowns free. After trying for about a week I have to say he was exactly right.
I find the best way to avoid those ingrowns (and in fact any razor burn) is:
1) Hot shower
2) Exfoliate (whilste in the shower sometimes but I guess you didnt really need to know that:o)
3) Good wash with plenty of as hot water as you can bear
4) soap up
5) shave (with no waiting after the soap)
6) rinse remaing soap with hot water
7) rinse with lots and lots of cold water
8) bloc osma
9) rinse with more cold
10) let it dry naturally
11) use a bit of post shave balm
and bobs your uncle. no rash, no ingrowns just a really comfortable shave
Good luck
I think for some, exfoliating will help. For others, like me, our whiskers grow at a very shallow angle and lay very close to the skin. Some of my whiskers are 1/4" long or more by the time they come through the skin. On top of that, they're curly. I think I will always have some ingrowns. I can only act to minimize them and prevent them from becoming irritated. :shrug:
Jordan
I used to get ingrown hairs all the time when I was in my twenties (I am 54 now). My hair is thick. It is straight except on my neck and jawline where it is curly and grows in swirls. All my ingrown hairs have been on my neck and jawline. When I was 31, I had an ingrown hair become infected and I had a temperature of 104 degrees.
I was given many solutions; never shave ATG, always shave ATG, use Noxema Medicated shave creme, grow a beard, change your razor blade often, and shave every day so an ingrown hair cannot get started.
What worked for me was shaving daily and changing my blade every Monday morning. I have shaved for BBS since my twenties, WTG, XTG, and ATG with twin blades. Also, I learned a light touch early on and let the razor do the work. When twin blades came out with those stupid lubricating strips, I had a lot of problems. The strips caused my razor to glide over my beard, so I had to apply pressure to get the razor to shave. The result ingrown hairs.
I haven't had an ingrown hair in over 10 years. It may be the change in my hair or my technique, but my gray hair is kinkier now than ever.
YMMV,
Dave