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Hey, Gillette fans.
My name is Dr. Josh Zeichner.
I'm the director of Cosmetic and Clinical Research in the Dermatology
Department at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, and I'm here to answer
some of your shaving questions.
Hey, Kennedy.
Razor bumps are a real problem in African American men and in other
patients who have curly hair and curly beards.
This is a condition called pseudofolliculitis barbae.
What happens is that the curly hairs actually grow back into the skin and
cause an inflammatory reaction leading to red bumps and, in some patients,
actually scars.
So there are a couple of things that we can do to try to
improve this problem.
Number one, make sure that you're shaving a face that's warm.
The heat actually helps soften up the hairs so that they can be easily cut.
Number two, try to shave in the direction of the hair growth.
Number three, take short shaving strokes and
frequently clean your razor.
If you shave frequently, what you can do is help prevent the hairs from
growing long enough to grow back into the skin.
Also, what you can do is, if you do have an ingrown hair, you take a clean
needle and actually poke the ingrown hair out.
Don't pluck the hairs because then you can run into a problem.
And if all else fails, there are some special razors with guards on it that
actually cut the hairs further away from the skin.
And in the end, if you're really having a problem, I think beards are
coming into style now.
Hey, Mark.
That's a great question.
A lot of people ask about exfoliating the face before shaving.
Exfoliating is a great idea because it helps get dead skin cells off of the
surface of the skin and can help prevent ingrown hairs.
There are a lot of great products on the market that can help you
exfoliate, including some of Gillette's new ProGlide products.
In addition to that, you can use a loofah or whatever you like to help
scrub the face a little bit.
Hey, Robert and Harvey.
You both ask similar questions about razor bumps and what you can do to
improve them.
So the Gillette ProGlide has many different innovations that are
improvements from the other razors, and they all work to help prevent the
development of razor bumps.
So each of the razor blades, there are five blades on the razor, are actually
a little thinner than previous versions.
They're each individually spring mounted so that they can adjust to the
contours of your face as you shave.
And finally, they have a special coating on it so that they can cut the
hair smoothly.
In addition to this, what you can do to help prevent the razor bumps is,
number one, shave a face that's warm because it helps soften up the hairs.
A great time to shave is right after the shower.
Shave in the direction of the grain of the hair growth, and take individual,
short, smooth strokes without too much pressure on the skin.
When you're done shaving, apply a moisturizer just so you can improve
the skin barrier as back to normal as possible.
And hopefully, that should help.
Hey, George.
Thanks for asking about nicks in the skin when you shave.
A lot of people cut themselves from shaving.
And in some patients, when you're predisposed to bleeding, this actually
can be a problem.
There are a couple of tricks that we can use to help decrease the risk of
getting a nick in the skin from shaving.
Number one, you can shave a nice, warm face right after a hot shower.
It helps to soften up the bristles and makes the shaving of
the hairs much easier.
Number two, you can take nice, short strokes in the
direction of the hair growth.
Number three, you can check out some of the vibrating razors that are on
the market right now.
They've been shown to decrease drag on the skin.
And other than that, if you do you have a problem with bleeding, you can
go talk to your dermatologist.
There are certain prescription medicines that we can give you that
can help stop that.
Hey, David.
Thanks for asking about shaving with the grain or against the grain.
This is a question that a lot of guys have.
In general, I do recommend shaving with the grain because it's been shown
to cause less irritation to the skin.
If you have very straight hair, and you're getting a nice close shave
shaving against the grain, then I say continue with it.
If you're not having a problem, we don't have to change
your shaving technique.
But in general, for people with wavy beards or curly beards or patients
with sensitive skin, ways that we can get around some of the irritation and
problems with shaving is by shaving along with the grain.
Hey, Willy.
That was a great question.
Thanks for asking about irritation from the skin from shaving.
A lot of guys suffer from sensitive skin and irritation, which can be a
big problem.
So there are a couple of tricks that we can give you to help decrease
irritation as you shave.
Number one, the best time to shave is really after a nice, hot shower.
The hot water helps moisturize your face and soften the bristles, so there
isn't as much pull when you shave with the razor.
Number two, use a moisturizing shaving gel.
It helps soften up the hairs even more.
Number three, when you shave, shave with the grain.
Shave with light strokes and short strokes.
What that does is that it decreases irritation from the skin because the
razor actually takes off some of the dead skin cells from the surface of
the skin along with the hair.
And number four, apply some cool water to your face when
you're done with shaving.
That helps some of the blood vessels constrict and helps soothe the skin.
Finally, you need a moisturizer.
As I said before, shaving exfoliates the skin.
And if you get little bits of irritation, the
moisturizer will help that.
And you can check out a whole bunch of new products that Gillette has in the
ProGlide series.