1st day!

[tgrogan21]

This morning I woke up and just decided to shave off my hair. I am a 27 year old and have been dealing with losing my hair since I was 17 ( I decided to cut my hair into a buzz cut the day before my senior prom and my hair never grew back the same way) and have always just kept my hair fairly short, around a 1/4" or shorter but never shaved it completely bald before.

First day in and I love the way it looks except for the back of my head. I've always had some issues with a few bumps on the back of my head when I had hair but didn't think it would be that bad when I shaved it. And then I did and the bumps on the back of my head are awful and makes me second guess the decision I made to shave. I bought some bump patrol after shave to see if that starts making a difference and I'm going to continue on the 30 day rule and hope that the bumps start clearing up. Any tips or advice on any other products (keep in mind I'm a broke college student) to help with my bumps?

[reddog]

Mine looked a little like that after my first headshave. After about 3 or 4 days it started clearing up, keep using the bump patrol, good stuff. Everytime I try to grow hair back, the sores return. I think it is a folliculitis caused by sweat glands. I would give it a few days.

[slybeard]

As your scalp adjusts to being exposed and shaved it will likely clear up.

[Semi-Sly]

i have had the same problem several times.  In my case my dermatologist said that it was Folliculitis caused by the newly shaved hair shafts irritating the openings of the follicles and then getting swollen and sometimes infected.  She told me that:

a:  This is common with first time shaving or occasional shaving.  She said that i should choose to either not shave or shave regularly
b:  The only way to deal with it is to keep it very, very clean.  After shaving use some witch hazel or some kind of skin cleaner.   Do NOT use oils or creams - they will simply clog the pores and follicles and exacerbate the problem.
c:  Once, when I had not shaved in a a few weeks and then did it again, I got it really bad and she gave me some steroid foam to put on it.  She told me that while this will clear it up quickly, over time the stuff would turn my skin into paper so I shouldn't rely on using it.

[tgrogan21]

Hey everyone! Thanks for the replies and suggestions! I've been continuing to shave my head every day and I would love to shave twice a day because I love the smooth feel of the clean shave but all of the bumps are keeping me from doing that! It's still a bit discouraging because I feel like the bumps are getting worse on the back of my head instead of clearing up and now I'm starting to get a bump or two on the top of the dome and around the sides close to the top of the ears!

My routine has been this:
1. Take a hot shower (as hot as I can stand it) and scrub my face and head with St. Ives apricot scrub.
2. Get out of the shower and put my fusion razor under hot water while I wet my head down really good and use Cremo Cream for my shave. I go back to front the first time and then put more on and do back to front and then check to see if I've missed any spots and use some of the remaining shaving cream for those spots.
3. I then put my head under the shower and blast ice cold water over my head for 30 seconds or so before putting on bump patrol.

Not sure if I should be doing anything different or adding anything to my routine but something has to get better because I can't continue shaving every day if the bumps continue to get worse.

[Sir Harry]

Your routine is not bad...but I would rub an ice cube over my head for several minutes in place of the cold water. Alsp, looking at the pictures, it looks more like a pigmentation issue than a bump issue. Another trick to try is wetting an aspirin and rubbing over the affected areas. Lastly, always check your bedwear. Dirty bedwear can affect the pores of beginner shavers. Good luck!