How to Shave a Beard without Getting Bumps?

A lot of us are used to – or even taught to – accept shaving bumps as a normal and inevitable part of shaving. Whether on a man’s face or around a woman’s bikini line, getting those nasty and unpleasant red dots after shaving is viewed as something to be expected.

Well, it shouldn’t be. Razor bumps after shaving are a very much avoidable problem that we can all get rid of. Here’s how:

What exactly are razor bumps and what causes them?

If you’re one of the lucky few who has never got them or if you’ve just been ignoring them all this time, razor or shaving bumps are the little red bumps from shaving you get on your skin. They are tiny but they are also itchy. Worse of all, they can lead to cuts during subsequent shavings when the razor goes tightly over your skin.

Simply put, razor bumps are skin irritations that occur from shaving incorrectly. After all, you’ve just run a razor-sharp blade across your skin – it’s pretty easy to see why that would irritate it. These minor cuts can be avoided, however, if you shave correctly. There are lots of ways to irritate your skin to the point of getting razor bumps if you’re doing something wrong:

  • Shaving dry skin
  • Using a dull razor blade
  • Not moisturizing your skin after shaving
  • Shaving against the grain of the skin (as a lot of people teach their children to do)

Any of these mistakes can cause these “micro-injuries” as NYC-based dermatologist, Melissa Kanchanapoomi Levin, calls razor bumps. The official medical word for them is actually “pseudofolliculitis barbae” but however you choose to call them, just make sure you avoid the four mistakes we’ve listed above.

How to prevent razor bumps?

Now that we know what shaving bumps are and what causes them, the next question is how to avoid them. The quickest answer is “By avoiding their causes” but let’s delve a little deeper than that. Here are some of the main tips and advice we can think of about avoiding shaving bumps altogether:

  • Wet your skin and beard/hair as well as possible before shaving. The easiest way to do that is to just take an extensive shower beforehand. But even if you don’t plan on showering right at that moment you can still just use warm water and mild soap to wet and moisturize your skin and hair over the sink. This is a deceptively important step so don’t do what most other people do and skip it or gloss over it by just splashing a couple of handfuls of cold water on your face. Properly moisturizing your skin and hair can easily win you half the battle against the annoying red shaving bumps.
  • Moisturize the skin after shaving as well. This soothes the skin and reduces any possible irritations and “micro-trauma” that even a sharp razor can cause.
  • Use a sharp blade. If you’re using a non-electronic shaving razor you’ll just have to replace it once its edge gets too dull. How soon the edge will need to be changed depends partly on the hardness of your hair – softer hair will prolong the razor’s life – that’s another reason to wash and soften your hair before shaving. Most of the time, the razor’s package will say for how many shavings the razor should be good for – try not to exceed that number.
  • As or electronic razors, the “soft hair rule” applies for them as well but they also need additional maintenance – make sure to brush them from leftover hairs after each shaving as these can additionally dull the blades. Also, good electronic razors should come with their own tubes of lubricating oil to keep the blades sharp – use it regularly according to its instructions.
  • Use a shaving gel. This sounds dumb, but a lot of people skip that part as well. Many men view it as “manly” to not use such shaving products – it’s not “manly” it’s just a bad idea. A good shaving gel allows you to catch all hairs with just one pass, thus reducing the amount of shaving you must do, and preventing razor bumps, as well as ingrown hairs.
  • Don’t shave against the grain! It’s almost maddening that this needs pointing out, but a lot of people do it. Shaving against the direction of your hair may save you an extra pass or two of the razor but it also causes skin inflammations of the hair follicles.

How to get rid of razor bumps if you have them already?

So, we know what to do to avoid the problem – what do we do if it has already occurred, however? There are several things you can do but the general advice is – avoid causing any future razor bumps and wait for the present ones to go away. To help speed up the process, here are some tips:

  • Cold water soothes the skin and reduces inflammations. As soon as you see the red razor bumps splash them abundantly with cold water.
  • Repeated moisturizing for the more persistent problems is also very important. Don’t splash once and forget about it – for severe situations moisturize your skin repeatedly.
  • Don’t forget about the aftershave. After all, that’s what they are designed to do – minimizing razor bumps.
  • Use a cortisone cream as well. It reduces such inflammations and is sold over the counter without prescriptions.
  • Aloe vera is a good natural option if you don’t want to use the two previous suggestions. It’s effective for a lot of different skin problems, including shaving bumps.

As you can see, razor bumps really aren’t something overly complicated – they are easy to treat and even easier to avoid. So, the fact that so many people fall victim to them is rather embarrassing to us as a species. Don’t be a part of that statistic and just moisturize your skin when shaving.

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