Thread: A Touch of Alcohol

Ladies and gentlemen:

For as long as I can remember, facial pimples and I have been strangers. No zits on this Hollywood face. Then several months ago suddenly an occasional pimple began to invade my weathered face, mostly on the neck. What's this-what's this? Such audacious intrusion. Such insolence.

The soaps and creams I rotated for my daily shave were the same. My razors were the same. No drastic change in diet. Puberty was a few notches back in my history. So what was going on? I was baffled.

Finally I concluded that perhaps my razor needed to be sanitized before the daily shave. I had no particular proof in support of my conclusion. Anything could have caused the pimples to set up homestead on my face.

Sanitation, however, made sense. Although I keep my razor sparkling clean, I don't know how clean they are after stropping. With all the hand-rubbing or paste residue transferred from my pasted strops (I have dedicated strops for pasting and don't paste the strops for daily use), perhaps my razors were becoming contaminated.

My routine was to lather and then strop. As an experiment, I added another step to this process: I gave the blade a gentle swipe of alcohol after stropping and then rinsed it under hot water faucet before starting the shave. That seemed to work. I have not seen a zit in the neighborhood for a while. Whether the alcohol solved my problem or not, I don't know. I am not a dermatologist. It sounds good, though.

Have you, ladies and gentlemen, encountered similar problems?

Regards,
Obie

Hi Obie,

And there was me thinking this was going to be a thread about fine single malts or something...!

I find I sometimes get a few small zits if I go over an area too many times with the blade, and a days rest from the shave usually clears them up pretty fast.

I've not yet had to use alcohol on the blade though. After the shave I wipe the blade down with tissue, rinse under hot water and wipe again, then give the razor a quick stropping. I then just strop as usual before the next shave and go from there.

If using the alcohol after stropping helped it could well be that your skin is sensitive to the binding agents in the paste or the oils in the leather of your strop. Glad its working well! I always think that if you find something that works, keep doing it!

All the best,

Stuart

Originally Posted by Stubear

Hi Obie,


If using the alcohol after stropping helped it could well be that your skin is sensitive to the binding agents in the paste or the oils in the leather of your strop. Glad its working well! I always think that if you find something that works, keep doing it!

All the best,

Stuart

Hello, Stuart:

It is good to hear from you. Yes, I thought of those binding agents and oils in the paste and the strop causing the zits. I could not find any other obvious reasons, though one never knows.

And listen, my good friend, a glass of a lovely single malt scotch with a whisper of water is a sweet invitation to a taste of heaven.

Stay well.

Regards,
Obie

I've not encountered that problem YET. Thanks for posting so I can be vigilant with the sanitizing of my equipment.

Obie, I have been noticing a few pimples on my face ever since I started straight shaving. I'll wipe my razor with an alcohol swab and see if my condition improves.

Alcohol works as a disinfectant by virtue of its evaporation. 70% alcohol seems to be optimal for this. If you wipe the blade with alcohol and then rinse it with water, you are getting limited benefit from the alcohol. It would be better to wait until it has fully evaporated.

I use alcohol in a different manner. I make a solution of 0.5% mineral oil in isopropanol and dip my razors in this after shaving. The alcohol helps to remove water from the blade and the residual oil lubricates the blade.

To tell you the truth Obie I think the older you get the more cantankerous your skin gets. I've been noticing lately the center of my neck just itches most of the time. It's not after I shave but as my whiskers start to grow out. I don't see anything but it's happening.

Originally Posted by Utopian

Alcohol works as a disinfectant by virtue of its evaporation. 70% alcohol seems to be optimal for this. If you wipe the blade with alcohol and then rinse it with water, you are getting limited benefit from the alcohol. It would be better to wait until it has fully evaporated.

I use alcohol in a different manner. I make a solution of 0.5% mineral oil in isopropanol and dip my razors in this after shaving. The alcohol helps to remove water from the blade and the residual oil lubricates the blade.

Hello,Utopian:

Thank you for this information. The reason I rinse the alcohol off is for the fear that it will damage the etching on the blade. You're the learned chemist: Does the alcohol effect the etching on a blade?

Many thanks.

Regards,
Obie

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

To tell you the truth Obie I think the older you get the more cantankerous your skin gets. I've been noticing lately the center of my neck just itches most of the time. It's not after I shave but as my whiskers start to grow out. I don't see anything but it's happening.

My dear thebigspendur:

You're lucky with just a little old itch in the center of your neck. At my ancient age, I'm starting to hear bells and whistles, too.

Regards,
Obie

I am neither learned nor a chemist, but I have used this method for about 8 years and have had no negative impact on any of my blades. Pinklather had some trouble with some spotting but I think that ended up being soap/water spots, but you might want to PM him to check.