Special Shaving Chart for Men with “Skin of Color”.
How to Prevent In-Grown Hairs and Razor Bumps
- A man’s morning shaving ritual is the first area where men make mistakes. Put a damp, warm (not hot) towel on the beard for a couple of minutes. Water saturated hair is 70% easier to cut and gives you a closer shave. Hot water, however, will irritate the skin as will many of the irritating ingredients found in today's shave creams and pre-shave products. This irritation can cause the hair follicle and skin to swell, forcing the hair up and away from the skin (supposedly allowing for a closer shave). However this swelling causes some of the hair to be hidden by the swollen follicle and skin, preventing the razor from getting close to the base of the hair. Because some of the facial hair is hidden beneath swollen skin (which temporarily gives the impression of a close shave) the stubble will have a harder time navigating its way back out. If the hair begins to grow (which it does almost immediately) before the swelling is reduced, the likelihood of ingrown hairs is increased.
- So razor bumps are simply caused by ingrown hairs that have irritated the skin, If you aren’t already, switch to shaving after showering ---warm water also encourages ingrown hairs to pop out.
- Shave only once in the direction of hair growth. Shaving “against the grain” can lead to ingrown hairs and razor burn.
- Always end your shave with an after shave product to re-moisturize, heal and protect the skin. IF you have razor bumps and ingrown hairs consistently, reducing inflammation from shaving will help considerably. Look for after shave products that contain potent anti-inflammatory ingredients such as acetylsalicylic acid (stabilized aspirin). These products can also help with post- inflammatory hyper pigmentation.
- Finally, a man’s face is the one part of his body that gets constant exposure to UV radiation from the sun. Sun is the skin’s greatest enemy. The single most important cause of premature skin ageing, wrinkles and skin cancers is sun exposure. And for Men with Skin of Color it can lead to discoloration of the skin. For an after shave product to provide complete UVA/UVB protection it must be formulated at least at the SPF 15 protection level and also contain one of the following ingredients: (Parsol 1789, Titanium Dioxide, or Zinc Oxide)
