I ask because if aftershaves actually improve skin quality, I’m in the market for your recommendations. When my face isn’t being a bitch and going through an acne breakout, I like my facial skin. I repeatedly get mistaken for being much younger than I actually am and I’d like to keep this going for as long as possible.
So what kind of recommendations can you all, men and women alike, recommend for an aftershave that will help keep or improve facial skin health after a good shave?
Aftershave won’t do jack. Aftershave balm can moisturize somewhat. If breakouts are your concern, a man specific oil control lotion is probably the way to go. Nivea has a good men’s line, as does Vichy and Hugo Boss. I would go to a wallgreens and ask one of the cosmiticians working.
Certainly some claim to. I use an acne face wash, an exfoliating scrub and a non-alcohol-based aftershave to reduce irritation. (My skin razorburns easily.) I dunno if you want specific brands. I find that’s a kind of personal thing and everyone has their own preferences. Vaseline, Dove, and Neutrogena I know all have lines of these products specifically for men so I would go to your local Target or wherever and see what strikes your fancy.
Well I use some acne face wash products already so the actual breakouts are not my concern. But my face does seem prone to post-shave irritation (maybe because I’m so bad at shaving?), so if there’s something specific to help with that, it would be awesome.
As for brands, couldn’t care less unless there is a decided drop-off in quality between a name brand and store brand.
The two things I’ve found that reduce redness after shaving are not using alcohol-based aftershaves and avoiding making multiple passes over a specific location. My morning routine is acne wash, exfoliating scrub, shave, shower, aftershave. I also lotion my face every night.
If you compare ingredients often the walgreens or CVS brand is exactly the same as the more expensive stuff.
Are you routinely mistaken for someone under legal age of alcohol consumption?
Seriously though, lotion on your face? I don’t even know if I’ve ever seen or heard of any women doing that. Doesn’t that make your face greased to all hell and thus more likely for a breakout?
Not if you get good lotion and only use a little bit on the areas that get rough. If you slather a palmful everywhere, yeah, that won’t help much but I suffer from dry cracky skin on lots of places.
Most women would call it “moisturizer” or “night cream,” but yeah, a lot of us do, actually. Especially good around the little bits of delicate skin around your eyes, or for lips/cheeks that get roughed up a lot from chapping.
Inner Stickler has the right idea tho - you only go after the bits that are in need of moisturizing. You also have to have a decent moisturizer (that doesn’t mean expensive - I use Cetaphil) that tries to prevent moisture loss, rather than clogging things up with oil or goopy crap.
At the place I go to for bikini waxes, they sell some fancy branded hoo-ha tonic water that you’re supposed to splash onto your lady bits post wax/exfoliation/and later shave to stop ingrown hairs. I bought it once, put it on, screamed, then ran around the room fanning my crotch for 60 seconds until the burning died down. When I looked at the bottle, I saw alcohol (and a bunch of other crap) was a main ingredient, so no wonder if burned.
Internet research (the most reliable of researches) told me that it’s important after shaving or waxing to keep the skin as bacteria free as possible-- that way you don’t get an infected in grown or AIDS or ebola or something.
Now, I always assumed that after shave was just like that hoo-ha liquid-- some alcohol based stuff to huck on your face to kill the bad stuff. Is this not correct?
[Rolls up newspaper] Get outta here! You’re not supposed to be here! Bad poster! Bad!
I only use it to take away the burn and itch. I’m not sure what good it does beyond that. My main complaint with aftershave is that the ‘smell good’ part is way too strong. I hate that.
Yeah, alcohol ostensibly to prevent cuts from shaving from getting infected. But science saves us all with aftershaves that are just as effective (??? I never tested it rigorously but I’ve used alcohol aftershave and non-alcohol and my number of infected cuts remains at 0 for either type for whatever that’s worth.) and don’t sting.
Wow. No, it doesn’t make you feel greased - it’s facial moisturizer, not olive oil. Almost every women I know has a facial moisturizer and uses it daily. Most have some sunblock in them. That’s how you get to 50 without looking leathery.
My husband uses Nivea for Men Moisturizer For Sensitive Skin and feels that it reduces irritation and breakouts from shaving. A $6 tube lasts couple of months. BTW, he also uses my alpha-hydroxy face cleanser, (Neutrogena Oil-free grapefruit something or other.) I know some men think such an action will actually make your penis fall off, but I’m here to tell you, using a couple good quality facial products does not spell doom for your wang.
Edit: vis-a-vis the aftershave thing - from what I hear from my guy friends and my husband, you almost never cut yourself shaving anymore with new Advanced Shaving Technology™. I can remember my dad always having cuts, and styptic pencil and those little bits of tissue, when I was a kid. I haven’t seen that in years.
And for being supposedly nongreasy, my face sure feels like it’s covered in grease. Lasts all damn day too.
Is there a functional difference between “daily facial moisturizer” and sunscreen? Because what I’ve bought, Cetaphil Daily Facial Moisturizer, sure seems like it’s just sunscreen under a different name. It touts UVA/UVB Defense and its SPF 50 rating.
So I shouldn’t be treating it as though I’m putting ketchup on a hotdog? I should be applying this stuff as though its, well, I don’t really know what condiments exist outside ketchup*, so you’ll hafta help me out here.
You do know what a pea is, right? Vegetable, green, round, smallish?
Put the pea/dime on your fingertip, and dab at it with a finger from your other hand. Transfer said dabs onto your face in the following pattern: couple of dabs under each eye, couple/three dabs on each jawbone. If there are remaining dabs, put one on your chin, and one on your neck above your adams apple.
Rub your hands together to get all the remaining lotion all smeared around (there shouldn’t be much left) then use just your *fingertips *to gently massage the dabs into your face. Concentrate on around your eyes, over your cheeks to your neck, and from your chin down the front of your neck.
If you’ve got lotion on your hands (in your palms, or at the base of your fingers) then go after your elbows or knees. I have yet to meet anyone who couldn’t use a bit of extra TLC on those bits.
If you feel like you’re greasy afterwards, then blot (don’t rub) your skin with a bit of TP or facial tissue to get rid of the excess.
Why yes, I did go to school for makeup work. Thanks for asking.
