Razor Bumps: What One Barber Educator Says to Do and Avoid

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Razor bumps are one of the most common complaints after a close shave or lineup, especially on textured hair. I watched a barber tutorial from the Cadmen Barber Academy on how to prevent and treat them and summarized the advice. This is one barber’s view, not medical advice, and we did not test anything.

A flag: Cadmen is a barber academy that sells its own courses, and the speaker is its instructor. For anything painful, infected-looking or recurring, see a doctor or dermatologist.

Why Razor Bumps Happen

The instructor says razor bumps usually show up on clients with more textured hair, meaning coily or wavy hair. After a very close cut, the hair can fail to push out of the pore and instead coil inside the skin, where it gets stuck. That produces an inflamed bump, sometimes with pus.

He says the cause is cutting too close for that skin to adapt. That applies to a straight razor and to a foil shaver on textured hair.

Source: How to Prevent and Treat Razor Bumps | Barber Guide, Cadmen Barber Academy.

How to Prevent Them

• Take the head and neck down to trimmer level, rather than to bare skin with a razor or foil shaver.
• On textured hair, he says you can sometimes get away with a razor on the cheekbones and mustache area, but not on the neck or the head.
• Swab and sanitize the area every time a client has been cut down close.

If you do lineups on textured hair, this is also a reason to finish with care. For more on lineups, see our hairline lineup guide.

What He Uses to Calm Them Down

He recommends tea tree oil to bring down irritation and swelling of the pore, and witch hazel to sanitize and soothe. Both are available at pharmacies, he says. He applies them before doing anything else.

If a bump has an ingrown hair under it, he says that once the swelling comes down and the skin tightens, a hair tip may pop up. At that point he extracts the hair with very fine-tipped tweezers. He says the hair can be an inch or more long. He adds that this is something you do only if you are up for it.

This is his method as a barber educator. Skin reactions vary, so a client with a severe or lasting reaction should see a medical professional.

For Barbers and Clients

For barbers, the lesson is to talk to textured-hair clients about how close they want to go on the neck and head before you reach for a razor or foil shaver. For clients, it is the same question to ask your barber. If you use a foil shaver at home, our foil shaver guide and foil shaver fade technique post are good next reads, and our clippers for textured hair guide covers clipper choice.