5 things that actually reduced my razor bumps as a Black man (and the 3 that made them worse)

Thirty years of bumps on my neck. Here's what finally moved the needle, in the order I'd do it again.

Written with a reader, 55, who asked us not to use his name · Updated October 2026

If your hair grows in a curl, you already know the drill. Two days after you shave, the hair comes back, curls, and goes right back into the skin. Bump. Then the dark spot it leaves behind, which nobody talks about. I've had them since I was sixteen. Every Sunday morning before church, same fight with my neck.

I'm not a dermatologist. This is just what I tried, what didn't work, and what did. Start at number one.

01Stop using five blades. This is most of it.

Nobody told me this for thirty years. A multi blade cartridge works by having the first blade grab the hair and pull it up, so the next blades can cut it below the skin line. That's the whole patent. On straight hair it gives a close shave. On curly hair it cuts the hair under the skin, and when it grows back it has nowhere to go but sideways, into you. That is the bump.

One blade cuts at the surface. The hair grows back out of the follicle the way it's supposed to. I went from bumps every week to a few a month, and the few I get are smaller. Not zero. Anyone who promises zero is selling you something.

Five blades cut under the skin. For curly hair, that's the bump.

02Shave with the grain. Always. Even if it's less close.

I spent my twenties shaving against the grain because the commercial said close. Against the grain on curly hair is a bump factory. With the grain, the hair is cut in the direction it grows, so when it comes back it comes back out. Map your grain once: run your hand over your neck two days after a shave and feel which way it drags. It usually changes direction under the jaw. Follow it.

03No pressure. The weight of the razor is enough.

With a plastic cartridge you press, because the blades are dull by day three and pressing is how you get it to cut. With a single blade that's sharp, pressing is what cuts you. Rest it on the skin. Short strokes. Let the head do the work. It feels wrong for a week and then it feels normal.

04Change the blade before it tugs.

A dull blade pulls the hair before it cuts it, and pulling is what sets up the ingrown. On a cartridge you push that moment back because each head costs four dollars. A standard double edge blade costs about 11 cents, so you change it the first time you feel it drag. For me that's every four or five shaves. Nobody in my family had ever changed a blade that often, because nobody could afford to.

05Warm water first, cold water after. Nothing fancy.

Warm water and a minute of lather soften the hair so it cuts clean instead of tearing. Cold water after closes things down. That's it. No powder, no "bump" cream, no special gel. I'll get to those.

The 3 things that made it worse

The depilatory powder. You know the one. Smells like rotten eggs, stinks up the whole house, my wife made me close the door. It dissolves the hair with chemicals and it burned my face more than once. It also doesn't stop the hair from curling back in. It just delays the shave.

The "bump fighter" cartridge razors. Same lift and cut mechanism as the regular ones, just a guard that keeps it from cutting as close. Fewer bumps than a five blade, more than one blade. And still four dollars a head.

Going against the grain on the neck "to clean it up." Every time. Every single time I did it, bumps within 48 hours.

Why most Black men never switch to one blade

Because the old safety razors cut you. Not because of the blade, because of the angle. A traditional safety razor has to be held at about thirty degrees to the skin, and you have to find and hold that angle yourself, every stroke, on a neck that isn't flat. Get it wrong and you bleed. So men tried it once in 1994, bled, and went back to plastic. I did too.

Rest it flat. Tilt until it touches. That's thirty degrees. It's built in.

If you do one thing

Do number one. Switch to one blade, with the grain, no pressure. The other four are details. The first one is the mechanism, and the mechanism is what's been cutting you under the skin for thirty years.

Get one for your son too. Don't let him go through what we went through.

Le Guide du Rasage is an editorial resource on shaving, supported by CRAN., which sells the razor mentioned. This article describes one reader's experience and general shaving technique. It is not medical advice. Razor bumps (pseudofolliculitis barbae) vary by person; if yours are severe or infected, see a dermatologist.