Thread: If Irritation Occures...

... cease using this product.

An odd thing happened to me today. I shaved with a new soap for the first time and it burned! Burned bad! After showering, I lathered up and put on that first lather to sit for a bit and soften the beard while I put on deodorant and fix my hair or whatever as I always do, when I started to feel the pain. It got worse quickly, so I dropped everything and started the shave just to get the soap off my face.

After the first pass I checked to see if it was mentholated - nope. About to leave for a meeting though, I needed to be clean shaven, so I finished up a three pass shave, but very quickly. Very quickly. It was uncomfortable to say the least.

But what was odd was, was there was no redness. Just an invisible burn that actually hurt.

When I used the corisponding splash that is mentholated afterward, it was close to excruciating as my face burned so much. I quickly applied the same brands balm expecting it to smooth out the burn ... to only feel more! It was insane there for a while, I was frightened that the pain was going to just keep increasing rather than dissipate.

It finally dissipated, so I got in my car to drive to a meeting, but Up until that moment, I was thinking of who I’d have to call and let know that I couldn’t make the meeting.


Now this is an artisan who makes my all time favorite soap/splash/balm combo of all time at this point so I don’t want to mention any names yet. By the time I got to the meeting and now 4 hours later, my face still feels as soft as a baby’s bottom, so I know there’s good in there, but something reacted horriblely.

It’s really disappointing!

I’ll save again tomorrow or maybe Saturday and report back. Happy or sad. But I got to tell you, wow, that was uncomfortable.

Maybe the soap was not cured long enough & remained caustic but that's just a W.A.G.

Originally Posted by onimaru55

Maybe the soap was not cured long enough & remained caustic but that's just a W.A.G.

You know what, that kind of makes sense in some odd kind of way. When I rinsed off the suds, it looked like the “coloring” was washing off. It just seemed like it hadn’t been mixed well.

But now we are getting into even more wild guessing... but it just clicked when I read it.

I’m going to take off the lid and let her breath.

I dunno if leaving the lid off will help but who knows. I think it's more about the mixing process.
I wonder if soap makers have some kind of litmus test to assess caustic level of their soaps ?

Originally Posted by onimaru55

I dunno if leaving the lid off will help but who knows. I think it's more about the mixing process.
I wonder if soap makers have some kind of litmus test to assess caustic level of their soaps ?

Well, I guess I’m just going to have to try the zap test!!

Soap Testing for Safety: Soap pH

Sometimes if you shave too close the previous day/days it makes your skin more susceptible to burn the next day. I have had this happen once in a blue moon with soaps/creams that I have used for years with no issue. YMMV

Originally Posted by CrownCork

Sometimes if you shave too close the previous day/days it makes your skin more susceptible to burn the next day. I have had this happen once in a blue moon with soaps/creams that I have used for years with no issue. YMMV

That's interesting. In the ten or so years I've been wet shaving, I've never applied a soap and gotten a burn before. Never. That's interesting.

I didn't shave this morning because yesterdays shave was at 4pm after all. I was going to try it again tonight, but I might just wait until morning then to eliminate that factor. Thanks

One would think that if it was the ph in the soap than the after shave and balm would not have reacted the same (they shouldn't have lye in them) maybe it's a essential oil that your allergic to?

Originally Posted by tintin

One would think that if it was the ph in the soap than the after shave and balm would not have reacted the same (they shouldn't have lye in them) maybe it's a essential oil that your allergic to?

That's possible, but if I was allergic, wouldn't I have broken out and turned red? It's odd - no question. I'm going to try it again tonight or tomorrow. I'm a little anxious about it.

I've been using a Merkur slant for a while now & I'm getting itching under the jaw line the next day.
I thought it might be the soap but happens with 5 different brands, even Baume.

Never had anything like it when using a straight. I'll have to go back to a straight & see if it persists.