Dark Spots + Discoloration
Dryness
Dullness + Uneven Skin
Loss of Firmness + Elasticity
Puffiness + Dark Circles
Wrinkles + Fine Lines

How to Get Rid of Razor Bumps Fast (try this DIY tip)

There’s nothing like smooth, soft skin after a close shave. But sometimes, things aren’t so smooth or soft after shaving. Sometimes, skin becomes red, irritated, unsightly, and worst of all – painful. Razor burns and razor bumps can both be part of the – ahem – joys of hair removal.

There are measures you can take to keep those bumps and razor burns at bay. So, if you’re looking for some soothing tips in the shaving department – read on.

Razor Bumps or Razor Burns?

Razor bumps and razor burns have similar symptoms, but it’s important to differentiate between the two, so you can soothe your symptoms appropriately.

Razor Bumps

Razor bumps are scientifically known as pseudofolliculitis barbae. They’re caused by ingrown hairs. Ingrown hairs often occur after hair removal methods, including shaving, waxing, or plucking (nope – razor bumps aren’t just relegated to shaving).

A hair becomes ingrown in one of two ways:

1. The hair that remains below the surface of the skin begins to grow without penetrating through to the outside of the skin again.

2. The hair twists around and re-enters the skin after growing out.

And it turns out, hair removal itself is a risk factor for ingrown hairs. Plucking can leave hair fragments underneath the surface of the skin. When these hair fragments begin to grow — they may not poke back through the skin. And boom! You’ve got another razor bump.

And shaving presents another problem. You see, razors actually sharpen the tip of the hair. And when that newly sharpened tip begins to grow out? Well, it’s better able to re-penetrate the skin and grow back into the skin – resulting in that characteristic, raised bump.1

How can you tell if you have an ingrown hair? Here are some symptoms:

  • Small bumps (some filled with pus, so they look like pimples)
  • Skin darkening
  • Pain
  • Itching
  • Embedded Hairs 2

Ingrown hairs have a lot to do with the texture and growth pattern of your hair. If you have tightly curled, coarse hair — you’re more likely to battle them. For example – if you’re a gentleman with textured hair, you’re likely to experience razor bumps when shaving your beard. And ladies? You’re more likely to experience razor bumps and ingrown hairs in the bikini area.

To Prevent Razor Bumps

exfoliate legsGentle exfoliation is essential to keeping ingrown hairs at bay. When hair doesn’t have to penetrate through layers of dead skin, it’ll be able to grow out more freely, instead of growing into the skin.

On the body, you can use a gentle exfoliant to keep skin smooth. For the face, you can use a chemical exfoliant, like alpha-hydroxy acid, to help encourage skin cell turnover.3

And when you shave — try shaving with the grain. Shaving against the grain can trap hair under the skin and cause hair to grow inward.4 You can read more about this below.

Razor Burns

A razor burn differs slightly from razor bumps. If you have a razor burn, you’re likely to experience the following symptoms:

  • Itchiness or a burning sensation
  • A red rash
  • Small, red bumps5

Razor burn has less to do with hair and more to do with skin. You see, when you shave, you’re removing layers of skin along with hair. And sometimes, too much skin is removed. When this happens, it can disrupt the skin barrier. The skin barrier is provided by the outermost layer of skin, which is known as the stratum corneum.

This layer is responsible for helping the skin retain moisture and for keeping out environmental chemicals and irritants. When your skin barrier is disrupted, it leaves you vulnerable to redness, dryness, and irritation.6

Here are some ways you can combat that red, irritated razor burn:

1. Aloe Vera to the Rescue

Aloe vera comes from the aloe plant. Its effects on the skin are protective and rejuvenating. Aloe vera can help soothe skin irritation and reinstate hydration.7 And it’s affordable, too! Pure aloe vera can be purchased at most natural health foods stores.

How should you use aloe vera on razor burn? Apply the gel directly to the affected area, and gently massage it in. Allow the aloe vera to dry and absorb into the skin for at least 30 minutes. You can then rinse it with lukewarm water, or leave on indefinitely. Repeat twice a day, until relief is achieved.

As always – with new ingredients, it’s always a good idea to do a spot test to make sure your skin reacts well. And be sure to buy high-quality aloe vera without artificial colors or fragrances.

2. Don’t Dry Shave!

We’ve all been tempted and we’ll probably all reach to do it again – but never, ever dry shave. As you’ve probably experienced it all seems fine at the time, but an hour later your skin is red, rashy, scratched, and sore.

Shaving NEEDS lubrication so the razor can glide, and not scrape, along your skin. Lubrication also gets you a closer shave. But lubrication doesn’t mean running your shaver under the tap for a couple of seconds. In fact, it doesn’t mean water at all. Water is not a lubricant. You need to be using gels, oils, or creams. Or a good frothy soap.

You should also save your shaving till towards the end of your shower, when your hair and skin are nicely soaked through.

3. Try Following the Grain

Every area of your body has a different hair grain. Sometimes multiple random hair grains in one area. And, going against that grain is indeed a closer and more efficient shave. However, the trick to shaving sensitive areas is to actually follow the grain. That is, shaving in the same direction as the hair growth. As mentioned this will also help to prevent razor bumps.

Where your skin is more sensitive and your hair is thicker (like the face or bikini line), shaving with the grain can prevent skin damage and a lot of irritation. This is because there’s less skin tension on the shaving blades.

Of course, when it comes to shaving your legs you might want to stick with going against the grain as you tend to need that closer shave.

How to Get Rid of Razor Bumps and Redness

So to prevent razor bumps and razor burn – be sure to keep skin well-exfoliated, try shaving in the direction that hair grows, and soothe skin with aloe vera to keep it moisturized and irritation-free.

Article updated: March 21, 2018

For more skin & beauty tips, keep reading here:
7 Ways to Brighten Tired Eyes
Holiday Foods That Actually Slow Aging!


Sources
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/02/razor-bumps/516804/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3047947/
https://www.menshealth.com/style/prevent-razor-burns
https://www.healthline.com/health/beauty-skin-care/razor-burn

Updated Privacy Policy

We've revised our Privacy Policy pursuant to GDPR.
Please take a moment to review.

This privacy policy is only applicable to European Union residents. We respect your privacy and appreciate the importance of your trust. As part of our efforts to help you understand how we handle the personal information you share with us, and in compliance with the European General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), please review the following terms carefully.

1. General Terms

As more fully described below, we may collect and process certain information that is provided by you to us. We have a legal basis for collecting and processing such information because:

  • You have given us permission to do so;
  • We must provide services to you in conjunction with a purchase order that you have placed on our website; and/or
  • We are required to do so in order to comply with applicable law.

The Section below describes the types of information that we may collect from you and our business purposes for collecting such information.

2. What is Not Covered in this Policy?

Our website sometimes links to services run by other companies, such as paying for product orders through PayPal®. Those companies have their own privacy policies, so please remember that the information you provide to them will follow their policies and not ours.

3. Information that We Collect and Process.

Information Provided by You:

We may collect Personal Information that you provide to us. “Personal Information” is information that can be used to identify you individually, and includes items such as your name, home address, e-mail address, telephone number, demographic information, and/or payment information, such as your account or card number, if used to make a purchase from our Website. If you maintain an account on our website, Personal Information may also include a user name, password and answers to our security questions. The type of Personal Information that we may collect depends on your use of this Website and what information you provide to us. Please note that in order to purchase any of the Products offered from our Website, you will be required to provide us with your name, billing address, shipping address, e-mail address and credit card number. If you sign up for our Beverly Hills MD Loyalty Rewards Program, you will be required to provide us with your email and a password.

For more information on our Beverly Hills MD Loyalty Rewards Program, please see our Terms and Conditions here.

Analytical Information:

We and our third-party service providers may also use a variety of technologies that automatically or passively collect information about how this Website is accessed and used (known as “Usage Information”). “Usage Information” may include the type of browser and device you used to access our Website, your operating system and application version, the web pages accessed by you, the time you accessed these web pages, preceding web page views, and your use of any features or applications on this Website. Statistical data like this helps us understand what is interesting and relevant to our customers, so we can best adapt our content for our customers’ benefit.

We and our third-party service providers may also automatically collect an email address, IP address, location, carrier information or other unique identifier information from the computer, mobile device, technology or other device you use to access this Website. We may use this information to, amongst other things, administer this Website, help diagnose server problems, analyze trends, track web page movements, improve our services, match collected information to postal addresses, help identify you and your shopping cart, help us tailor special offers to you, and gather broad demographic information for collected use.

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Like many sites, our Website employs cookies, JavaScript tags and Web beacons (also known as clear GIF technology or “action tags”) to speed your navigation of our Website, recognize you and your access privileges, and track usage of our Website. Cookies are small pieces of information that are stored as text files by your Internet browser on your computer’s hard drive. We use both persistent cookies and third-party cookies. Persistent and third-party cookies enable us to track and target the interests of our customers to enhance your experience on our Website. Persistent cookies are used to make it easier for you to navigate our Website and remain on your hard drive for an extended period of time. Third party cookies are only used for short-term tracking.

Most Internet browsers are initially set up to accept cookies. You may download an opt-out cookie here to disable any and all cookies we employ to track and enhance your user experience– however, your ability to use the website will be then limited and/or unavailable.

Please note that this opt-out is cookie-based (i.e., a cookie must be on your computer to tell our systems that you have opted-out). If you delete, block or otherwise restrict all cookies, this opt-out may not be effective. Further, because different computers and different Internet browsers all require their own version of the opt-out cookie, you must perform this opt-out process on all computers and browsers that you wish to be opted-out.

4. Our Use and Sharing of Your Information.

We use the information that we collect about you for a variety reasons, including the following:

  • Verifying your identity;
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  • Processing any product returns, exchanges or subscriptions;
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  • Inviting you to participate in a survey regarding your health, our products or websites, which are always voluntary on your part;
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  • We may also use and disclose any information that is aggregated or de-identified so that it does not identify you personally, in our discretion.

If you provide us with a payment card when placing an order on our website, we use third-parties to validate your card, authenticate your identity and “tokenize” your payment credentials to make your payments more secure. Your “tokenized” credentials will be stored in your account in order to help make future purchases more convenient. You may delete or edit the stored payment methods in your account at any time by visiting our website or contacting customer support.

We may share your Personal Information as follows:

  • With our vendors, consultants, agents, contractors, and other service providers or sub-processors (discussed more fully below) that we use to support our business;
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  • To respond to subpoenas, court orders, and other legal process, or as otherwise required by law;
  • To exercise our legal rights or to defend ourselves against legal claims, to enforce our contracts, to investigate, respond to and resolve problems or inquiries (including governmental inquiries), or to permit us to pursue available remedies or limit the damages that we may sustain;
  • In connection with an actual or potential merger, sale, acquisition, assignment, or transfer of all or part of our assets, affiliates, lines of business, or products and services, including at bankruptcy;
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  • With your consent.

We contract with certain sub-processors to assist us in providing services to our customers. These sub-processors use the Personal Information that you submit to us in order to perform the following tasks:

  • Order processing at checkout;
  • Credit card authorization, tokenization and identity verification;
  • Order shipping and handling;
  • Emailing newsletters and other promotional materials for those customers on our mailing list;
  • Adapting content, advertisements and offers;
  • Storing and “backing up” our customer records.

5. Security and Your Information.

No data transmission over the Internet or website can be guaranteed to be secure from intrusion. However, we and our subprocessors maintain commercially reasonable physical, electronic and procedural safeguards to protect your Personal Information in accordance with data protection legislative requirements. We follow the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS) when handling credit card data. We also recommend that you take steps to protect against unauthorized access to your account through shared or public computers, devices, and applications.

6. How Long We Will Retain Your Information.

We will not retain your Personal Information for longer than necessary. Your e-mail address will be retained on our mailing list until you request that we stop sending you advertising communications. We will retain your other Personal Information in order to provide you with the ability to act on our Product warranties, to fulfill any Product subscriptions and/or for business record and legal purposes.

For example, we may keep just enough of your personal information to ensure that we comply with your request to erase your personal information, or to exercise or defend our legal claims.

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This Website is governed by and operated in accordance with the laws of the State of California and the United States, and is intended for the enjoyment of residents of the United States. If you are located outside of the United States, please be aware that information we collect will be transferred to and processed in the United States.

8. Third Party Links and Services

Our Website may contain links to third-party websites and products and services. We do not control such linked websites and this Privacy Policy does not apply to those websites. We encourage you to read the privacy policy of any third-party website that you visit before you provide any information to that website’s owner.

9. Our Children’s Policy.

This Website is not directed to children under the age of sixteen (16). Children may not use our Website or purchase our products, and we do not knowingly collect any personal information from children under the age of sixteen (16). We have no way of distinguishing the age of individuals who access our Website. If a child has provided us with personal information, the parent or guardian should contact us to remove the information and opt out of promotional opportunities using the contact link provided below.

10. Changes and Updates to our Privacy Policy.

We may change this Privacy Policy at any time without prior notice to you. Any changes that we make will be effective immediately upon our posting of the revised Privacy Policy on this Website. Your continued use of this Website constitutes your consent to any changes made. We will use your Personal Information in a manner consistent with the Privacy Policy in effect at the time you submitted your Personal Information, unless you later consent to a revised policy. We encourage you to periodically review this page for the latest information on our privacy practices.

11. Your Personal Data Rights pursuant to GDPR.

As you may know, GDPR provides European citizens certain rights with respect to the access and control of their personal data. For your convenience, we have summarized these rights here. In the event you wish to contact us regarding any of these rights, or for any other reason, please use the link provided in Section 12.

  • Access your personal data: You have the right to be informed of and request access to the personal data we process about you.
  • Update your personal data: You have the right to request that we amend or update personal data in our possession that is inaccurate or incomplete.
  • Restrict the use of your personal data: You have the right to request that we stop processing all or some of your personal data.
  • Object to or complain about the use of your personal data: You have the right to object to us processing your personal data if we no longer have a legitimate or legal need to do so. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority regarding our use of your personal data.
  • Port your personal data: You have the right to request a copy of the personal data in our possession in a machine-readable format, as well as the right to transmit that personal data for use with another party’s service.
  • Erase your personal data: You have the right to request that we delete your personal data.

Please note that while we will try to accommodate your requests, there may be times when we might not be able to help. For example, if you have recently purchased a product from us and this product is still within its applicable Money Back Guarantee period, we will not be able to honor a request to erase your personal data unless you first agree to waive your right to the Money Back Guarantee.

12. Questions or Requests?

In the event that you have any questions regarding our use of your personal information or wish to submit a request to view, modify, erase or restrict our processing of your personal information, please contact our Data Protection Officer here.