This is a long (and as such, is vulnerable to the deserved “TL-DNR” category) but I know a lot of guys (and some women) are tuned into the concept of what men have to do to be presentable with their facial hair. Women are sometimes curious about it, and guys, well, if they haven’t walked in my shoes, they have probably tried them on.
I have always tried to be squared away, well groomed and cleaned for my work, but I had to have constant stubble for years. I would have much rather been clean shaven, but it was a big issue for me.
I have an issue with facial hair, it is curly, and it grows back into the skin causing raised bumps and infected follicles. Black men have the issue to a greater degree than white men do, it is fairly common and many black men have scars from it.
I first discovered the issue when I joined the Navy, and they teach you to to shave in four different directions. For the next four years, my face was a mess, really unsightly, but...the Navy doesn’t care. You gotta shave. I even had a barber repulsed by the sores ask me if I was doing anything about them. I didn’t understand the issue, and tried EVERYTHING but nothing worked. I have tried all varieties of razors from an old unit from the 1930’s that came in a nice chrome “case” with a built in strop (only tried that once) to safety razors, to all varieties of multiblade razors. I have purchased and tried at least four high end electric razors, but my hair was too thick and curly, they didn’t work.
Worst of all was a multi-year phase with facial depilatories made especially for men. It was a powder, and I had a special cup and straight metal spatula (a little sharper than a butter knife) and I would pry the top off the can, measure out some powder into the cup, add water and stir it to make a paste. It stunk to high heaven. If you ever lived with a woman who used a gentle depilatory on their legs (like Nair) you know the sulfur smell...but this paste was many times stronger and worse. The fine hair on a woman’s legs is nothing like the coarse, thick hair on a man’s face. That hair, to dissolve it so it could be scraped off, demanded a chemical far more powerful and malodorous to do the job.
Then, I would spackle my face with the paste, applying the paste like shaving cream. It was thick and gray, and it took practice to do it right, and even then mistakes could be made. You had to mix it correctly and leave it on for a specified amount of time.
If you didn’t make it thick enough, it not only wouldn’t stay on the face correctly, it wouldn’t dissolve the hair correctly. When you went to scrape it off (and hopefully take the hair with it) you would get swatches of beard you couldn’t scrape off. You had two choices, and only one was correct: either take a razor to the patch, or reapply focally to that area. Reapplying focally was a bad idea, but shaving would give you bumps. After a few incidents, shaving that patch was the only alternative.
Reapplying could burn your skin.
If you did it correctly and made the paste thick enough, it would be concentrated enough to do the job. But you had to time it very carefully. If you left it on for too short a time, it wouldn’t dissolve the hair enough, and when you tried to scrape if off with the spatula, you had the issue where you had to shave the patches which would cause problems with ingrown hair.
But far worse was leaving it on too long or reapplying. There were several times I got chemical burns on my face, several times because I wanted to be sure I got a good clean face , and the other times because I reapplied the paste.
In both cases, my skin burned and turned red, and once, it turned beet red. I made the timing mistake a few times until I figured out the pitfalls of mix vs time, and only made the mistake of reapplying twice.
I had purchased the facial depilatory a case at a time...it was called “SoftSheen-Carson Magic Regular Strength Shaving Powder” and when I went to look if it was still available (I had last used it about 28 years ago) it is still available, and the white can with the steel blue band on it saying “Formulated for Black Men” looks exactly the same. When I got out of the Navy, I just let my stubble grow, and only used the paste for special occasions to shave. I only threw out that old, nearly full case a few years ago when cleaning and reorganizing the closet.
But I have been able to shave as often as I want for the last 15 years or so with no problem.
How?
Well, I worked for an Indian-American woman who had been a Bird Colonel in the Army, and she was very outspoken and quite particular about things. She liked my work (I was ex-military, so I treated her like I would have treated an Army Colonel or a Navy Captain) but one day she stopped me in the hall and said “You always dress well and are squared away. Why don’t you shave? It detracts from your appearance.”
Very matter of fact, not meant as an insult, so I described the issue to her, and she, being a physician and probably used to seeing this issue in black men in the military, said simply: “Use an antibacterial liquid soap like Dial and wash your face with it before and after you shave.”
So...I tried it. Never had a major issue with it after that. It made me a little angry, all those years I struggled with it, and SOMEONE could have clued me in. But I was grateful to her for that advice.
Now, I don’t stockpile the “Magic Shaving Powder” in the white and steel blue can, I stockpile Dial Gold Antibacterial Liquid Soap in the large, golden jugs!
And thanks for your service.
Very interesting story that you tell. You have educated this woman, sir.
So glad you now have a solution.
Blessings to you.
Very nice homepage
That’s one heck of a story. I learned something. Thanks, FRiend.
Great story!
Thanks for taking the time to share it.
____________________
Now I know what to get you for Christmas.
Great Post...must be read by all men who have growing beards.
In my own case, I use hair clippers every other day. It is much quicker than shaving down to the skin. It leaves a short stubble, which is sort of in fashion these days. And short stubble on my face does not cause hair to dig back into the skin, causing the problems you stated.
When I have to go to an important meeting or a good party, only then I use the electric shaver. Those shavers works better on short stubble, but are painful on longer beards because the hair get pulled and that hurts.
Good advice, rlmorel. Antibiotics also help some guys with infected bumps. But, if bumps can be kept under control with antibacterial soap, that’s even better!
Man, what an ordeal.
Well I don’t feel your pain, but I can imagine it. Glad you found a solution.