Soapy lather covers your badger hair brush. You apply a generous coating, until you resemble Santa Claus. You pause for a moment to consider whether this would be a viable look for your retirement. Carefully raising razor to cheek, you perform the perfect swipe. Stubble disappears leaving a finish smoother than Barry White’s silky voice. Now for the second round. Disaster! Your Father Christmas beard is tainted with a splash of scarlet red, opening a tiny cut that just won’t stop bleeding.
Learning how to stop shaving cuts from bleeding is a right of passage in any man’s battle with facial hair. A really close shave requires a sharp razor, and tiny cuts on vascular areas of the body can result in a lot of blood, stained shirts and general embarrassment on your daily commute.
This article explains how to stop bleeding after shaving your face, with simple instructions on what to do right away after a nick. So here are three simple steps to help you learn how to take care of cuts on your face after shaving.
1. Assess the severity of the cut.
Don’t panic as shaving cuts tend to be minor lacerations. To choose the most efficient way to stop bleeding after shaving your face, it is important to take the right steps immediately.
If you are unlucky enough to have what we in the industry refer to as a “gusher”, you should stem the flow of blood with a bandage or tissue and apply firm pressure to the wound. If the blood flow continues uninhibited, better head to the hospital as you might need stitches. Don’t worry – this kind of shaving injury is rare, but a gentleman should always be prepared.
2. Wash the affected area.
Assuming that you haven’t been hospitalized by your grooming mishap, it’s time to clean up.
Get rid of any blood or remaining soap around the cut, and rinse the wound with clean water. You can even apply an antiseptic wash at this point, but for most small cuts this isn’t necessary. Once all rinsed off, gently dab the wound dry with a clean tissue.
3. Stop the bleeding
The most efficient way to stop bleeding after shaving your face is to use a styptic pencil. This is an antihemorrhagic stick, which when applied to the wound, causes the skin to contract and encourages a clot to form.
Most styptic pencils are good for a few uses, but have a tendency to crumble as they lack a protective casing. One pencil on the market has solved for this problem – Glyder offers a portable styptic pencil that is retractable and well protected, greatly extending the average product lifespan.
Once applied bleeding should stop in a matter of seconds. Sometimes two applications are required, and bear in mind that because this is such a fast way to stop bleeding after shaving, it will sting a bit when applied to the wound.
If you don’t have a styptic pencil on hand, you can try applying ice to the cut, or failing that just pressure on a piece of tissue paper. This should stop the bleeding, but often takes a long time, and you may have to head to work with a face covered in toilet paper confetti.
If you currently use a cartridge razor, you may not be experiencing regular shaving cuts. However, we encourage you to try out a more traditional shave. As long as you know how to stop bleeding after nicking yourself, you’ll find that there’s nothing quite like doing it the old school way to get that unrivaled close shave.
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