Quote Originally Posted by Wildtim View Post
I have chronic, terminal, acne. I find that I break out much less when I use any mug soap, as they have fewer pore clogging ingredients in them than all but the most premium of boutique creams. TGQ soaps, MAMA bears soaps, and The Arizona goats milk soap company have been great to my skin. Any of them combined with a straight shave and alum treatment and I get very few pimples in the shaving area. I now do my whole face with the shave brush and lather followed by alum for a nice wash and acne treatment. scent doesn't seem to matter, its the quality of the base that seems to count for much more.
Huge +1 on the alum. To me, it is an absolute *must have* shaving item.

Using alum after every shave, I was able to "toughen up" my face much quicker (making daily ATG passes possible without extreme irritation and bleeding). I get far fewer zits, shaving bumps, and redness when I use alum daily. I use it a bit differently than most guys, though; after cold water rinsing the remaining cream off of my face, I wet my alum block, run it over my entire face, then allow my face to air dry. If you do too many passes of the block, you'll be left with white powder on your face, but get it right, and there's just enough residual alum left on your face to absorb facial oils, and it also seems like it does a better job of soothing shaving irritation when left to air dry.