Shaving and Acne - Myth and Reality

“Shaving bumps”. These are the words with which we usually call those spots that appear after shaving and that seem to be acne spots. The question that arises, however, is obviously whether this has anything to do with acne.
According to the studies, it appears that this skin issue is a tricky one, but fortunately it is not related to acne. The shaving bumps’ scientific name is Pseudofolliculitis barbae, so that even from its name one could realize that these bumps are not what they appear to be.
So, what are they after all? According to the studies, the shaving bumps are nothing else than the result of the inflammation from the hair follicle that the shaving is bringing along. As the hair starts growing back after its having been shaved (waxed or plucked), it gets trapped inside the follicle, which results in further irritation and swelling. So, if you experience shave bumps, don’t worry. It is not acne, but it should however draw your attention.
You won’t have to buy expensive treatment or so on for getting rid of the fake acne spots brought by shaving; you just have to become a “smart shaver”, that is to follow a few simple steps for preventing the breakouts.

On the other hand, if you haven’t yet suffered from shaving bumps, you should know that they could appear anytime. Anyone can get them, although they seem to be more common in people with curly hair.

So, the steps of smart shaving are the following:

• Warm Water
It is very important that before event starting shaving, your face must be well prepared for this process. The face, or in fact the area you want to shave, has to be previously washed with warm water. This “warm hydration” makes the skin more pliable, as the heat has dilated your blood vessels and blood flow has been this way brought to those areas. This is why for some people bringing shaving in the shower represents the best solution.

• The Right Shaving Cream
These tricky bumps appear also because of the shaving cream you use. The thinner and filmier the shaving cream is, the more it helps the shaving razor to glide over the skin and to reduce this way the potential or already existent irritation.

• The Right Shaving Razor
Similar to the shaving cream, you should also use the right razor. An electric razor is usually indicated, rather than an ordinary razor. The electric one is more efficient in coping with the shaving bumps because it doesn’t shave too close, and you are likely not to break out.
Anyway, if you prefer blade shaving, you should use a new single-blade razor each time you shave. The single one is indicated rather than the double- or triple-edged blades, because these ones lift the hair out of the follicles for a shave that is in fact bellow the epidermis. The epidermis grows over the opening of the follicle, as part of the skin’s natural healing process, and then, when the hair grows back, it has to fight to get out of the closed follicle, which is further causing an inflammatory response of the skin. So, this is why the double- or triple-edged razors become practically the enemies of the skin’s health.

• Shave “Down”
You must always remember that the closer you’ll shave, the more prone to acne your skin will be. You’ll get shaving bumps in just minutes! For avoiding this annoying problem, try to get into the habit of shaving with the grain, so that your blade could cut only the hair and not also the skin.
For most of the men and women, shaving with the grain means shaving down rather than up. This will help you get rid of the irritation and shaving bumps and may be helpful also with cuts and nicks too.

• The Right Toner
And for doing the right thing till the end, you should also use the right toner. This one should be a mild alcohol-free toner or an antibacterial gel that will kill the bacteria that determines the apparition of inflammation into the open follicles. You can also use benzoyl peroxide or salicylic acid against the irritation and shaving bumps.

So, the so called shaving bumps are not acne. Still, they are very annoying and should be treated seriously. You should try to become a smart shaver and see whether the shaving bumps will disappear. If not, you should see a physician or a dermatologist, although you should never worry. Today, there are treatments and solutions for any type of skin problem.
However, we should mention that the shaving bumps represent a problem with which both men and women cope, because here shaving has the same effects as waxing or plucking. Furthermore, the shaving bumps could appear anywhere on you body.
Anyway, try to remember not to worry. Be smart, don’t worry!

Back Acne Vs. Other Forms of Acne

Yes, back acne has appeared to be similar to what we’ve called “face acne”, the so called “normal” form of acne that appears on the sufferers’ faces, and sometimes upper arms or even chests!
But, this form of the skin disorder (back acne, we mean) does also feature some characteristics that make the difference between it and all the other forms. You will next find out which this characteristics are.
Although these posts seem to be “pure theory”, you shouldn’t ever forget that awareness is the first difference between smart and less smart people. After we’ll be completely aware of everything that this famous and common irritating skin disorder could bring us, we’ll be really prepared to start the real battle against it. Only when we’ll know how it works, its inner mechanism, we’ll be able to manipulate its weaknesses. Only when we will have our skin healthy and beautiful once again, we’ll be realize how important all this “theory” was!

But shall we first come back to …back acne and its characteristics?
So, the first difference between back acne and other forms of acne is that fact that back acne hasn’t been related in any way to heredity. In other acne forms heredity has been recently discovered to have a quite important role, although this thing hasn’t been quite very strongly emphasized. However, in the back acne’s case, people should talk about heredity only in the severe cases, as usually boys and girls don’t get back acne because of a genetic disposition; they are not very likely to experience back acne just because their parents did.
But, on the other hand, some degree of back acne afflicts many people all over the world, so it can be expected that more than one person of any family might have shown signs of back acne at some level. But if one tries to think about it logically that doesn’t mean that back is hereditary. It does shows that it is a very common skin disorder and form of acne, but it doesn’t represent that it is genetically transmitted.
Secondly, another different fact between back acne and other forms is the fact that food hasn’t seemed to play any role in the formation of flare up of back acne. Maybe it is just a matter of time or studying more back acne, but till now this skin disorder hasn’t been related to food. That shouldn’t make you feel free of eating tones of French fries, oily food and fat rich aliments – they won’t probably affect your back acne, but are still unhealthy foods and you’ll experience at some time in the future other health problems such as cellulites and many others!
Thirdly, stress, which is known to worsen facial acne and to be one of the most terrible factor in many disorders, illnesses and diseases, hasn’t been either discovered till now to affect back acne. Maybe people could get stressed because of their worrying too much about their back acne and they might start trying squeezing the zits and so on (although they are barely able to reach their back and pick on the back acne’s formations), but, again, stress itself hasn’t been proven to be a factor in the apparition or worsening of back acne.
And last and maybe the strangest difference between back acne and the other forms is that even the excessive perspiration after working or physical exercises, whether washed off promptly or not, hasn’t seemed to trigger back acne. This really sounds strange, and maybe we should wait for some more studies. But on the other hand hygiene is something important and we should wash ourselves properly although this has nothing to do with back acne.
You should know that the occurrence of back acne in simpler conditions is also very simple to treat with specific drugs. Only in the severe forms of back acne, such as cystic back acne, you must definitely see a dermatologist or a specialist.
And in the end we will inform you also that everything that we have written about back acne is applicable to another strange form of this skin disorder that may be found on the buttocks of some people. The so called causes, the similarities and differences to the other forms of acne and everything we’ve written is right for acne that appears on the buttocks as well.

Back Acne II

Once again similar to face acne, back acne hasn’t been proved till present of being caused by a particular factor. It seems to appear when the sebaceous glands start increased functioning around puberty. The male hormones become active and the sebaceous glands are stimulated into producing the extra quantity of sebum. So, till here, that could be also face acne’s definition; the sebaceous glands are increasingly stimulated into producing sebum by extra male hormones. But what happens in fact in your body that acne “decides” to “attack” the back, not face? Could it be called in fact “a decision” or is it a pure coincidence: your back had a healthy beautiful skin and now it doesn’t have it anymore?
You’ll find out next a theory that tries to explain why back acne and not face acne. Although this might not explain just everything, the doctors have reasons to think that it is the (tight) clothes or even heavy backpack that may explain why acne appears on the back too.
So adding to your body’s inner process of developing acne, the clothes and other external irritants can become a cause for back acne. However, as with much acne forms and types, the exact cause of back acne is also not known till now. The scientists and dermatologists themselves eventually suggest that back or face acne could be sometimes a matter of coincidence.
And even the clothes would be proven to be 100% the cause of back acne, what could we do then? Not wearing clothes or shirts anymore? Such a solution would be just absurd and that is why we should concentrate rather on the treatment of back acne, than fret about its somehow mysterious causes. Fortunately, back acne can be treated, and that’s known for sure!

The back acne’s inner development mechanism is quite simple. If the inflammation is situated right near your skin’s surface, than you’ll get pustules. If the infection is or gets deeper, it will form papules. If it goes even deeper, than the most severe forms of acne appears and these are the cysts, known for their being the worse forms of acne that can be painful and leave you with visible scars.
Similar to face acne, you can get also whiteheads or/and blackheads, which can form depending on the route the extra sebum will go through your skin. But, as you’ll next see, back acne has also its own characteristics, that is differences between it and other forms of acne.

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