PFB
is a common affliction in areas of hair growth of people with naturally
curly or coarse hair, i.e. people of African, Mediterranean, and
Hispanic descent. It is widely believed that some 60% to 80% of
African-Americans and 5% to 20% of other races can are susceptible.
Because fashions, athletics, and society may encourage people to shave
hair in areas that would not normally be seen when covered by clothing,
men and women of all races encounter ingrown hairs in areas other than
the head and neck.
PFB
results in two types of ingrown hairs, Intra-follicular and
Extra-follicular. An Intra-follicular ingrown hair is a hair that, due
to its curly nature or the curvature of the hair follicle, curls below
skin level creating fluid buildup and irritation. Once germs and
bacteria are introduced to the lesion a pustule is formed, resembling
folliculitis, or acne.
The
Extra-follicular ingrown hair is a hair that has exited the skin and
re-enters, commonly known as an ingrown hair. If you have ever tweezed
an ingrown hair and found two hairs in the same follicle, one with a
root and one with a pointed end, you have found an ingrown hair that was
shaved leaving both ends exposed. This is common because human hair
lies on a grain of skin. When the hair is shaved, whether by razor or
clipper, the resulting cut leaves a pointed tip. We are taught from a
young age to shave ‘with the grain’ to reduce irritation. This is the
correct method but because the hairs we cut are curly by nature the
curly tendency of the hair allows the pointed tip to more easily
penetrate back into the skin.
Human hair
follicles are constantly in flux between active growth and periods of
inactivity. Depending on the area of the body, the percentage of
follicles active and the length of time those follicles remain active
varies. If you have ever wondered why we can grow dense, long hair on
our heads but not on our legs, this is your answer. This is also the
reason that PFB can be found on the scalp, back of the neck, shaving
wedge, underarms, bikini line, or legs. Anytime hair is removed it
grows back and the only way to control PFB is to control the hair
growth.
Any time a
follicle begins to actively grow hair, it is a fine hair. When we were
adolescents it was referred to as peach fuzz. Adults still have peach
fuzz, but because we have a dense growth of coarse hair we do not
recognize the finer hairs. If we then see the skin as a barrier to new
hair growth, we understand that the more we do to damage our skin the
more likely intra-follicular ingrown hairs will occur. Our skin ages
and toughens naturally due to exposure to the sun, chemicals, age, and
abrasions. It is for this reason that healthy skin is important to
healthy hair. We no longer have ‘soft as a baby’s butt’ skin – but we
can sure work towards it.
Many products on
the market have for years tried to treat PFB by exfoliating skin. The
use of harsh chemicals has been common. While consumers have tried them
and gotten satisfactory short-term results, those same consumers are now
skeptical of any product that claims to lessen PFB. The method used to
exfoliate skin is harmful to skin and results in long term worsening of
PFB. The same can be said for razors that claim to lessen the problem
or chemicals that melt the hair. The problem is not the removal of the
hair but the manner in which the hair grows back and the damage done to
the skin during the process.
Shaver’s Choice Skin Therapy Shaving System
is a three-step system developed to treat the causes of PFB. Most men
and women have a three-step system to remove hair. While two of the
steps can be used for users of depilatories, we are going to just
address razor and clipper use.
Use of
the system can allow most people to transition to razor or clipper use
if they so desire. While we are encouraged by the large percentage of
satisfied customers, we know that there are exceptions to every rule and
we have had a few people we have not been able to help make the
transition.
The first step
most shavers have is cleansing the skin. This is where we begin with
Swipe Towelettes. Barbers, beauticians, and dermatologists have for
years recommended the use of a mild astringent to deep clean the skin.
We agree and make it easy with individually foil-wrapped towelettes
treated with a mild astringent. The user gets a deep clean and kills
germs and bacteria that can cause infection. While soap and water may
be inexpensive, soap can dry the skin and only cleans the top layer of
the skin.
Men and women that
use a razor will use a foam or gel to lubricate. Many women only use
soap and water because when shaving their legs the razor is moving
against the grain and they have not found any product that works any
better than soap and water. The reason is because lubrication alone
does not meet the needs of most shavers.
Slick Shave Gel is
unique to the market because of its ability to lift the hair off the
skin and to soften the hair. This ingredient does more than just
soften, it degrades the strength of the hair by separating the fibers.
If you think of trying to cut a piece of twine with scissors it is a
difficult task. But if you pull the fibers of the twine apart, the
scissors can make a clean cut in a single slice. This is the purpose of
Slick Shave Gel.
Once Slick is
lathered on the shaving area, the hair is standing up and softened so
when the blade comes into contact, it cleanly slices the hair resulting
in a blunt tip, not a point. Menthol is used to harden the hair so that
the hair resists natural curl as it grows out. Many barbers use witch
hazel or menthol after they perform any close trim work on their
customers. We have brought the knowledge of the barbers to your shaving
kit.
Finally, men and
women have for years used a lotion, balm or treatment to moisturize the
skin, reduce irritation, or soften the skin as a third step. What has
been lacking has been a treatment to work below skin level at the
follicle to condition the hair and skin to prevent ingrown hairs.
Smooth Skin Therapy is a remarkable product invented by Rev. John
Campbell, a master barber and barber instructor from Mississippi. It is
the culmination of over 40 years experience with hair and skin that
brings these three treatments and more to the shaving kit. Smooth is an
all-natural, soothing cream that enhances the hair straightened and
strengthened out of the follicle, soften and moisturize skin, and
eliminate any skin irritations.
Mink oil is the
closest oil you can buy on the cosmetic market. When anything is
introduced to our system through the skin, the skin cells analyze it for
usefulness and decide whether it is natural or foreign matter. Foreign
matter is passed to the blood stream for filtration in the kidneys and
expelled from the body. This is why lotion seems to vanish within an
hour. But by using mink oil, the ingredients necessary to moisturize,
condition and feed the hair and skin are allowed to remain within the
layers of skin longer. We literally trick the skin cells into
maintaining moisture.
Oat protein plays
two important roles. First, it is a natural analgesic. It will stop
most any minor itch, burn or irritation of the skin. As a child, many
of us had country grandmothers that put us in an oatmeal bath or put an
oatmeal paste on us when we had chicken pox. They knew that oat would
stop the itching. More importantly, oat is a protein form that will
bond with, or feed, the hair in the follicle to give it the strength to
exit the skin before it curls. This is our way of helping to prevent
the razor bumps, or intra-follicular ingrown hairs.
Smooth doesn’t
stop there. We use vitamins A and E to help the skin maintain a natural
21-day exfoliation cycle. This results in smoother, softer, healthier
skin that is less of a barrier to the growth of new hair. The vitamins
also help to reverse the damage caused by chemicals, age, and exposure
that have caused blemishes and discoloration.
By systematically
treating all the causes of PFB, the resulting shave is not only healthy,
but will be the smoothest, closest, most comfortable shave a man or
woman can get. Even men and women who have not had a history of shaving
irritations are enjoying a better shaving experience as a result of this
better shave technology.
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