Razor bumps is medically known as pseudofolliculitis barbae. Razor bumps are very small bumps that develop on the skin, usually in the areas where there is a fair amount of hair. The areas that are most commonly prone to razor bumps are male cheeks, hands and chest, female legs and arms.
Causes of Razor Bumps
Razor bumps are caused naturally because of a simple reason. When a man shaves, it is possible for some specks of hair on his cheeks, chin, neck, chest, arm or legs to get curled up, to coil and then go back to get embedded inside the pore of the skin. When this happens, the speck of hair, no matter how tiny or long it is, gets coiled up and forms a small bump inside the skin. It seems like a bump which can be compared with a very small boil or pimple but without the fluidic sac inside it. The same razor bumps can develop in women, albeit a little different in its formation, when women remove hair on arms and legs.
Razor bumps usually do not develop if one is not shaving and using hair removal creams, gels or waxing as the method. It is only when one uses a razor and even then the hair has to be substantial in its length so it can get coiled up and can get embedded in the skin.
Razor bumps do not occur for all men. Those who have thicker beard or hair on the skin are more vulnerable to razor bumps. Besides, the manner in which one shaves also determine the possibility of the formation of razor bumps.
If someone uses a sharp razor that can easily cut off the beard from a certain point without exerting much force, if one shaves in the direction of the growth of the beard or the hair and if one doesn’t apply the razor too much on a single point then razor bumps are pretty difficult to get. Stretching the skin can also facilitate the development of razor bumps.
Preventing Razor Bumps
Razor bumps can be easily avoid or prevented. One simply needs to have a shower with hot water or one can wash his face with hot water and then shave. This allows the pores to open and that wouldn’t allow the hair to coil up and get embedded inside the skin. After shaving, one can rinse his face with cold water which would allow the pores to close and that can further prevent any leftover hair or specks to coil back.
