Any advice for bad, bumpy red skin, especially after shaving?

With me, such bumps often come with having had a poor diet for a while, stress and an onset of flue.

Make sure to take care of yourself and most importantly your sleep and diet. I often find that during a vacation in the alps, I have no symptoms what soever, but after a week of work in Beijing, I would look like a strawberry on a poor day.

This all helps you in no way, right now. For me, when I am in a state like you describe, I try to clean it and then stay away from touching it as much as I can. Fresh air and sunshine works best for me.

Whatever you do, don’t hide from the world, just go outside.

For me, shaving wt works better, as long as I use sharp razors and specific brands of shaving foam.

It sounds like folliculitis, which my son gets. The dermatologists give him cleansers and creams and antibiotics. Also, shave in the direction of the hair growth, and use clean, sharp blades.

Prior to shaving put a small towel that has been soaked in very hot water on your face for a few minutes, this will help to open your pores. Use a sensitive skin shaving gel as opposed to a foam, always shave in the direction of the hair growth, never against it.

After shaving use a non perfumed moisturiser (aqueous cream is a good one)

Avoid aftershave until the moisturiser has completely soaked in, or better still just avoid it all together as the alcohol will dry the skin out.

I have perhaps a less severe problem of irritation, but it is made worse if I use an electric. If I use a razor and shampoo (gel or foam is expensive and shampoo seems to work just as well with a brush…and is cheaper…and you can use baby shampoo (though it doesn’t foam as well, but might be more gentle on your skin), and importantly shave in the direction of the hair follicles (never against the grain). By so doing I get far less irritated and I don’t get ingrown hairs. Unfortunately this is a less close shave…but this is in part why it is less irritating. Personally I think it is the up and down stroke of an electric and the tendency not to have a hot wet face when shaving that caused me the most irritation.

Also, shave after a hot shower…(as RareDenver just wrote), hot moist skin is far better to shave than cold or dry skin.

Hope some of that is of use.

My brother has this problem and has simply stopped shaving. He figures a scraggly beard is better than razor rash.

Have you tried a product called Tend Skin ?
It’s a little pricey but really works wonders.

My advice would be to shave with a double edge razor and traditional shaving cream. I use a Merkur razor. I find modern multi blade razors such as mach3, fusion etc cut the hair to short resulting in ingrown hairs. A double edge used with skill will give you a very close shave but won’t cut the hair below the level of the skin reducing the problem of ingrown hairs.

Traditional shaving creams (something like Goe F Trumpers) are also a lot better than the standard goo-in-a-can at softening the beard and if you use a brush to apply it raises the hairs and also gently exfoliates. You could also consider using a gentle face scrub to loosen the dead skin in the surface of the face as this will also help to reduce ingrown hairs.

I squeeze the juice of a fresh aloe vera plant onto the area and rub it on. It sooths it within a short time.

after shave cream might help, I would leave a brand name but seems the admins are over monitoring me so I will just go quite about it.

According to this site

“Razor bumps are most often caused by a freshly shaven hair that has been cut at an angle, thus rendering it more “sharp,” that curls back against the skin, penetrating the skin and causing the body react by treating it like an infection causing painful swelling and the tell-tale red bumps physicians call pseudofolliculitis barbae. When it becomes a bigger problem it’s known as Barber’s Rash, which is actually caused by Staph bacteria commonly found in the nose.”

In addition to the suggestions above the site suggests that you rinse your shaving razor with rubbing alcohol before and after every use, and change the blade at least once a week in order to keep from spreading bacteria. Also, give your face some downtime, days when you don’t shave, and talk to your doctor about medicated facial treatments and possibly using something like Vaniqua in particularly sensitive areas.