Ugh... I'm having serious beard/neck itch -- could it be my shave cream?

[PeterB]

Bad itching for the last week or so especially in the area of my jawline, under the chin, and along the neck. Looking in the mirror, looks like a lot of small pimply-bump type stuff. No ingrown hairs, as near as I can tell. (I shave in the shower.)

Likely to be from the shaving cream? The switch I made recently was from Barbasol regular to their aloe... I wouldn't think I'd be allergic to aloe... but lord, I have so many allergies, I wonder if I need to add this to the list... could it be anything else other than the shave cream? (I haven't switched razors; still using a Gillette Fusion, though I am using a new pack of replacement blades.)

TiA

[iaJim]

You might have been pushing too hard on your old, dull blade and got used to the pressure, but hey, I'd bet on the shaving cream.

[Buck]

Swine Flu

[Mike Sellers]

Hamster rash.

[mattkime]

you don't need to use shaving cream as long as your face is wet. just eliminate the shaving cream

[Wild eep]

Sad....

Have to go with sellers on this.

I mean really...

[PeterB]

mattkime wrote:
you don't need to use shaving cream as long as your face is wet. just eliminate the shaving cream

Uhhh, I don't think the water is enough of a lube... would get too much skin resistance. And no, it's neither swine flu nor hamster rash.

[weapon]

Prep your skin before hand. Hot towel or hot shower. Then you need to change your blade more often.

Try a mach 3 or something similar.

I get the itching when I use my blade past its time.

[PeterB]

weapon, yeah, I'm in the shower before I start to shave... not long though. It may be the blade, but I'm still suspicious of the shave cream. It is a bit weird though that the itch is mostly toward the jaw, under the chin, and on the neck and not on the "higher" parts of the beard (like the cheekbones). The only other thing I can think of, rather than the shave cream, is shampoo/conditioner, because I've been allergic to those too, it's just that it'd be weird for that to be causing itch on my beard and not my scalp.

Edit: here are the ingredients for the aloe version:

Ingredients
Water, Stearic Acid, Triethanolamine, Isobutane, Laureth-23, Aloe, Diazolidinyl Urea, Fragrance, Methylparaben, Propane, Propylene Glycol, Propylparaben, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate.

Versus the ingredients for the regular stuff, which I don't recall giving me this problem:

Ingredients
Water, Stearic Acid, Triethanolamine, Isobutane, Laureth-23, Fragrance, Propane, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate.

Check this out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diazolidinyl_urea#Safety

[weapon]

That is exactly where I itch and get redness. The skin on the cheekbones is more taut than under the chin. The looser skin gets irritated by the dull blade and bam. Irritation