Shaving Irritation: A Scientific Approach

I’m working to become a shaving expert now that I’m in the shaving business, thus I’m reading every scientific study I can find.

Below is a summary of what I’ve found as it relates to shaving irritation.  Everything comes from studies or papers by dermatologists unless there is verbiage such as, “I believe”.  If there is interest, I’ll provide more detail and links to source material.

Some men have a worse time shaving than others, thinking they have sensitive skin. This is a symptom rather than the problem much of the time.  Understanding the problem allows a better approach.  The two groups of men I’ve found so far that are prone to trouble are those with coarse beards and those with curly hair, such as an afro. Curly hair loves to become ingrown.  

Our faces are somewhat like a lake of Jell-O with trees sticking out of it.  The trees are tough, and the Jell-O isn’t.  Those with thicker trees do more damage to the Jell-O, making pre-shave prep and good shaving technique more important for those with coarse beards.

Here are some best practices.  Some info is well known, and some isn’t.  

1. Pre-shave prep should include washing the face and neck with soap and an abrasive surface, such as a wash cloth. This is especially important on the lower neck where many have trouble.  This exfoliates dead skin and removes germs, which is mainly staph bacteria.  Neither should be shoved into hair follicles. The scrubbing also frees trapped neck whiskers, a term new to me.
2. Clean whiskers need to be kept wet with warmth for three minutes to soften the beard.  A shower works for most.
3. Men with a coarse beard probably need more prep.  Getting out of the shower and applying shaving oil formulated for hydration has helped me significantly.
4. The formulation that makes the most sense to me is three-parts mineral oil to one-part olive oil.  This allows a good mix of penetration as well as keeping the water gained during hydration in the whiskers.
5. Some whiskers, especially on the neck, will lay flat and will avoid the razor. Using face lathering for at least part of lather building helps get soap between the whisker and the skin so it can be shaved.
6. Stop if there is any tugging or pulling when beginning the shave.  It may be that the blade needs to be changed or it may be that there was insufficient beard prep.
7. A sharp blade is important.
8. Don’t let the blade pass over skin any more than necessary, especially on trouble areas like the lower neck.
9. History of shaving irritation?  Baby-butt shave bad.  Reasonably close, comfortable shave good.  It’s important to avoid shaving so closely that the cut whisker is below the skin.  This is one reason that multi-bladed razors cause problems.  Remember the Jell-O and the trees?  The Jell-O endures more damage as the trees are cut closer to it. I’ve revised my personal definition of a close shave to be how it feels going with the grain rather than against.
10. Make sure all soap is removed after shaving.
11. Apply shaving balm or quality moisturizing lotion.

Other factors that contribute to skin irritation are:

1. Correct water to soap ratio in the shave soap to build the lather. Water suspended in a lather is key. I find the best at this was Charles Roberts Method Shaving products.

2. Another factor is consistent blade angle while shaving. That’s a big variable.

3. I use open combs because they work the best for me. Closed combs just push the lather away before the blade cuts in my opinion.

Sensitive skin and tough stubble is no joy




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These are good points. Shaving cream without the correct water to soap ratio can't do it's job.

Also a good point about the angle of the blade. The biggest challenge in going from a safety razor to a straight is consistently keeping the straight at a 30 degree angle, which is the optimum angle for the blade to do its job.

Other factors that contribute to skin irritation are:

1. Correct water to soap ratio in the shave soap to build the lather. Water suspended in a lather is key. I find the best at this was Charles Roberts Method Shaving products.

2. Another factor is consistent blade angle while shaving. That’s a big variable.

3. I use open combs because they work the best for me. Closed combs just push the lather away before the blade cuts in my opinion.

Sensitive skin and tough stubble is no joy




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Glad that works for you. I always felt it was total overkill and that he was trying to sell product, but RIP Charles.

Thanks for the good and very helpful info!



Happy Shaving!
49erShaver

It's really not all that scientific in my opinion. It is caused almost always by one of the following:

1. poor prep

2. too many passes, usually by those seeking mythical BBS and shaving ATG to boot and possibly too much pressure as well

3. using too much "horsepower" re their razor. In other words one far too aggessive.

Pete123
You need to read my articles I wrote. I posted them here in this section, but it is probly way down the ladder by now. I'm too lazy right now to search for the link. Feel free to harvest any info you find relevant from them. But if you want to use my full phrases and analogies, be sure to cite your sources

But I got my info from somewhere too so...thats why I posted it on open source web. When I am converting men and women I usually have them printed out and give them all 4 articles for homework.

Here is more detail on why Step 1, face washing with a rough surface, matters.  Especially on the neck.  

Are you familiar with trapped hairs?  These are different from ingrown hairs.  The photo, two posts above, shows what they look like up close.  They are more prevalent on the neck because neck whiskers come out of the follicle at a lower angle. The study, referenced below, found that 100% of the men in the study had trapped hairs.  The sample size was small, the applying to 100% caught my attention.  

This graph shows why using a washcloth or something similar when face washing  improves the quality of the shave.




Here is a link to the study:

https://www.dr-jetskeultee.nl/download/c...having.pdf

These are good points.  Shaving cream without the correct water to soap ratio can't do it's job.

Also a good point about the angle of the blade.  The biggest challenge in going from a safety razor to a straight is consistently keeping the straight at a 30 degree angle, which is the optimum angle for the blade to do its job.

I agree that blade angle is critical to a good, comfortable, irritation-free shave--and the 30 degree angle (roughly twice the spine width for most razors) is a good place to start because that angle should provide a clean irritation-free shave.  

Saying that:  after one's technique is thoroughly down, one of the beauties of shaving with a straight/"open blade" razor is the flexibility to alter the aggressiveness/gentleness of the shave by changing the angle of attack based on where on the face one is shaving, and whether shaving WTG, XTG or ATG.  Because everyone's face and beard are different, that ability only comes from experience.  Take it slowly and that experience will make it all very worthwhile.