Don’t tell me what I can’ t do….unless it's shaving.
As a black man, there are a bunch of obstacles keeping us from being on 1000%; and when I turned 17 I learned something…. I get uglier 3 days after a fresh shave. Mad facts.
So I’ve tried a handful of alternatives that are said to heal soreness and bumpy-ness ; chime in if I’m missing somethin’. I’ve asked almost every black guy in my family, so I feel like I have a good running list.
Regular soap and water
aftershave
aloe vera gel & juice
irregular soap (liquid) and water
I’ve even tried nair, the facial kind, and that sort of had a better outcome than any of the previous choices. I felt as if they’d soothe the symptoms that would flare up if I shaved and left it untreated.
I’m not the only one. A vast majority of black men develop problems shaving their facial hair. Not by technique, but mostly from the aftermath, after the smooth jawline, but before the stubble. Let’s get into eeeeeeeet.
So everyone can kinda grasp: the more melanated you are, the kinkier your hair strands would be, that goes for your entire body EXCEPT eyelashes, So our chin hairs, after being cut, starts to grow and coil itself underneath the skin, never penetrating the epidermis for days and having a hair follicle and shaft and marinate in body oils and sweat and a huge no-go. the hair doesn’t decay but minerals and substances start to break off from the hair and intermingle with interstitial fluid and blood running through your face.
Nothing good can come of it so it’s best to go ahead and extract that mofo with a pair of tweezers.
The almighty solution that’s been working for years is getting a close cut with hair clippers, which isn’t as hard as it sounds. Especially when facial dermaplaning follows right after in my routine. I get a little closer to smooth each attempt.
Ingrown hairs
will never let you be great
It wasn’t until a couple years back that I really paid my FACIAL hair more attention and gotten into plucking my ingrowns prior to any facial care portion of my regimen. And it’s been WONDERFUL!
Fun fact : above is the longest hair I’ve pulled. About 1 inch; do you know how long it takes for a hair to grow one inch!?
Man, and that just be sitting up under my skin like it pays rent.
