My routine is working, but it still needs some fine tuning.

[Irishdeerhunter]

Hi guys

So here's the routine I am currently using every 2-3 days, with a few questions to follow.

Hot water on the dome, exfoliate with cuticura soap using an exfoliating pad, apply shaving foam/gel with a shaving brush, use Mach 3 blade with the grain/against sometimes (no problems with pimples here), exfoliating pad (only) to remove anything on top, clean the dome with skincare wipes, cold water rinse, witch hazel as an astringent (I apply it before bed sometimes on non-shaving days), dry the dome gently and finally some aloe vera gel. Sometimes if there are a few pimples, I apply BP.
 
Afterwards my dome feels really smooth, with no irritation apart from some ingrown hairs towards the top/back of the scalp and maybe a bit of redness at the neck area.


So, would an exfoliater like St Ives be better than the cuticura?

Is exfoliating everyday, even when not shaving a good thing?

Over time will exfoliating with the scrub remove the ingrown hairs or should I get  Anthony Logistic's In-grown hair treatment for post-shaving application. 

Thanks guys!

[omegapd]

Sounds like you've thought this out well. Good deal.

Are you sure the red bumps are ingrown hairs? I went to the dermatologist this week and what I thought were ingrown hairs in a few spots are actually cherry angiomas

https://health.google.com/health/ref/Cherry+angioma

They're basically just harmless red bumps but all the exfoliating in the world won't get rid of them.

 If you're sure that what you have are ingrown hairs- don't waste money on the in-grown treatments. One of the main ingredients in the treatments (it will be some type of tree bark) is plain ol' aspirin. If you take a couple of aspirin, put a few drops of water on them to make them dissolve into a paste-like substance and then rub that on the ingrown hairs, you'll help exfoliate and treat them just as well as anything you can buy on the market for a fraction of the price. There's a few videos on You Tube describing it better than I can, but a lot of folks make a face mask with the aspirin paste and use it everyday.

 Hope some of this helps. 

[Irishdeerhunter]

Sounds like you've thought this out well. Good deal.

Are you sure the red bumps are ingrown hairs? I went to the dermatologist this week and what I thought were ingrown hairs in a few spots are actually cherry angiomas

https://health.google.com/health/ref/Cherry+angioma

They're basically just harmless red bumps but all the exfoliating in the world won't get rid of them.

The areas are black dots that remain after shaving, not red at all.

If you're sure that what you have are ingrown hairs- don't waste money on the in-grown treatments. One of the main ingredients in the treatments (it will be some type of tree bark) is plain ol' aspirin. If you take a couple of aspirin, put a few drops of water on them to make them dissolve into a paste-like substance and then rub that on the ingrown hairs, you'll help exfoliate and treat them just as well as anything you can buy on the market for a fraction of the price. There's a few videos on You Tube describing it better than I can, but a lot of folks make a face mask with the aspirin paste and use it everyday.

 Hope some of this helps. 

I'll try that. Thanks for the tip omegapd!

[omegapd]

Ok, black dots...sorry I assumed red. The few times I get ingrown hairs, they're red and look like a pimple.

I have the black spots too on the back-top of my head. My hair is pretty coarse and even after shaving there's a good bit of shadow left over. I just assumed that's what mine was. It's the same with my beard, also. I don't think there's a way to fix that other than tweezing or maybe the laser route.