How Can You Stop Razor Bumps

Razor bumps, ingrown hairs, pseudofolliculitis barbae... we know they hurt but, why do they appear?

It all happens when we shave.

When we shave, our facial hair gets caught between the follicle or it grows the other way, back into the skin producing in both cases redness and swelling. This does not mean you are stuck with razor bumps for life. There are ways to help diminish razor bumps and here in this article we will share these tips with you.

Stopping Razor Bumps

The first step is to use active ingredients. There are tons of men skin care products that claim to alleviate ingrown hairs and razor bumps, but don't rush into conclusions by what they claim. The truth is that the active ingredient that eliminates razor bumps is Salicylic Acid. What this ingredient does, is moisturize, exfoliate and clear you pores, thus avoiding any further infections.

For even better results use an after shave product that contains salicylic acid - that way it will stay on your skin during the day.

What NOT to Do to Avoid Razor Bumps

You should NEVER use products that contain alcohol. Alcohol dries your skin and closes your pore worsening your ingrown hair problems. Also, do not use foam shaving creams because these also leave your skin dry. Instead use non-acnegenic shaving creams which are specially made for men with sensitive skin.

Improving the Surface of the Skin

Removing the outer layers of your dead skin may sound nasty but to sum it up it's called exfoliating. Men who have ingrown hair must exfoliate in order to improve the skin's surface; this can easily be done with a gentle face scrub that contains the ingredient we mentioned in the first tip, salicylic acid.

Changing the Way You Shave

By now you should know that shaving too close is one of the main causes of razor bumps. If you didn't know, well know you know. By shaving too close, your hair stubs will be cut too close to the skin and more prone to getting stuck inside the hair follicle.

A couple of things you can do to avoid shaving too close is first of all not pulling on your skin when you shave. Do not apply too much pressure on the razor blade, shave with the grain and use a single blade razor.

It is crucial you keep this in mind while shaving because if you forget and shave too close the razor bumps will come back to haunt you and it will take a while before you get rid of them again.

Getting Rid of Existing Razor Bumps

Now it's time to destroy those little suckers. To get rid of your ingrown hairs you need to carefully lift the ingrown end out with tweezers.

WARNING: Do not pluck them out. Just lift them out of the skin; otherwise the ingrown hair will only re-grow deeper. To reduce the redness and swelling you can use products that contain azulene, allantoin and witch hazel. Those ingredients will help keeping you comfortable.

There you have it. All you have to do is take a couple of more minutes of shaving time and remember to keep these tips in mind. I also suffered from razor bumps and aside from it being embarrassing it was painful. However, thanks to these steps I was able to get in control and improve my skin. You can do it too! You can keep on irritating your skin or you can put this in practice and see similar results.

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