I first heard of this condition from my good friend M-Sadiki of Los Angeles back in the mid-1990s. It is the medical term for inflammation of hair follicles.
 This condition is common with many Black males who suffer from bumps on their chin, neck, and face, usually caused by razors, unclean razors, and caustic chemicals used under the pretenses of personal care and/or hygiene. Being technical, the kind of folliculitis commonly experienced with African-American males is known as 'pseudofolliculitis.'
The American Osteopathic College of Dermatology defines 'Pseudofolliculitis' as:
"Pseudofolliculitis barbae (razor bumps) is a common condition of the beard area occurring in up to 60% African American men and other people with curly hair. The problem results when highly curved hairs grow back into the skin causing inflammation and a foreign body reaction. Over time, this can cause keloidal scarring which looks like hard bumps of the beard area and neck. Shaving sharpens the ends of the hairs like a spear. The hairs then curve back into the skin causing pseudofolliculitis barbae."
Sites for folliculitis are usually the chin, face and back of the neck. For pseudofollicultis, it's the beard area.
Folliculitis results in tiny unsightly bumps in very noticeable areas which is why it's usually an embarrassing situation for people (males) who experience it.
A major cause of folliculitis is the use of harmful chemicals on the face that cause inflammation. The greatest culprits would have to be shaving gels and creams and after shave creams, lotions, and balms due to the toxic ingredients they contain. For pseudofollicultis, the major cause is SHAVING itself!
Commercial grade and brand shaving products (gels, creams, balms) such as Afta, Value, Edge, Nivea for Men, Old Spice, Gillette, Barbasol, Noxema Medicated, Magic Shave, and Neutrogena to name a few, contain very toxic chemical ingredients such as PROPANE, SODIUM LAUREL SULFATE, PROPYLENE GLYCOL, LAUREL GLYCOL ETHER, STEARYL ALCOHOL, ISOBUTANE, TRIETHANOLAMINE, SD ALCOHOL, BHT, DIAZOLIDINYL, BUTANE, and GREEN NO. 5 and YELLOW NO. 5 (chemical coloring agents made from petroleum).
These chemicals have no business on the human body for what you put on the body you put inside the body for whatever goes on the skin will seep into the bloodstream and travel throughout the body and impair and tax the organs, especially the liver, the body's first internal line of defense against toxins (poisons).
Now where do you apply these chemicals named above? Answer: to your face (cheeks and chin) and neck; and where is folliculitis usually found? Answer: The face (cheeks and chin) and the neck! Well then, there you go!
These chemicals inflame the skin causing inflammation at the site of the hair follicles. The follicles swell up and protrude giving the external appearance of bumps, unsightly bumps at that.
Use of razors also causes razor burn that causes redness and irritation of the skin. This is why many products nowadays contain anti-inflammatory and cooling agents, though most are chemical-derived and a few are botanical-derived.
Razor burn compounded by constant nicks and cuts almost every time you shave only complicate matters with your skin.
And to compound matters, many males are displaying poor hygiene by using dirty razors, knowingly or unknowingly, be it shaving razors or hair razors. This is highly unsanitary.
Now put all of the above together and consider how the lower part of your face that encompasses your chin contains lymph nodes. This part of the face is a major lymphatic system region, especially for releasing toxins. Lymph nodes are exit points for toxins. The lymphatic system contains your lymph fluid (clear blood) and flows throughout the body just like the blood. This system helps to eliminate toxins and it is important that this channel functions optimally.
As the lymphatic system helps to remove toxins from your body, when constant use of harmful shaving products cause excess dumping of toxins into the lymphatic system itself, you are taxing an important area of elimination. Now, the lymph nodes don't work (throw off toxins) or is impaired and inflammation results in the hair follicle sacks or pouches, and now you are experiencing painfulness via the law of cause and effect.
Healing Folliculitis and Psuedofolliculitis Naturally
As diet always helps to heal any disorder or disease, diet helps here in folliculitis. With pseudofollicultis, good grooming and hygiene is the key.
Folliculitis is more so the result of poor male hygiene and ignorance. So while I will advocate a healthier diet (mostly raw foods or vegan-based), I will greatly advocate consciousness in the area of male hygiene.
One should eliminate the use of all commercial brand chemical-grade shaving and post-shaving products (gels, creams, balms, solutions). You are mostly using these products (if you do in fact use them) for their lathering effect (usually the result of toxic Sodium Laurel Sulfate). However, there are many basic agents that also lather well, such as soap. Well, let me clarify though because there are two kinds of soap - healthy brands of soap and unnatural brands of soap.
Avoid all commercial brands of soap (despite their lathering ability), i.e. Dial, Irish Spring, Dove, Caress, Ivory, Olay, Lever 2000, Zest, Kroger, and Soft Soap as well as all generic brands of soap (usually produced by supermarket chains).
 Good alternative and healthy soap brands include Kiss My face, Grandpa's, Dr. Bronner's, Nature's Gate, and Avalon Organics to name a few. We list a plethora of natural brand soaps (and their websites) in our Dherbs.Com "Alternative Diet and Lifestyle Manual" e-book.
And because Dherbs.Com specializes in healing, our Therapeutic Shaver's Soap and Healing Skin Soap are good natural and healthy soaps that will assist in one healing from folliculitis while simultaneously calming and soothing redden and inflamed facial skin.
Your soap's base should always be botanical-based, i.e. vegetable glycerin.
Now the key thing (or ingredient) to look for in any natural and healthy brand of soap is COCONUT!
If you can find a coconut-based soap (with other ideal ingredients, meaning healthy and friendly ingredients), purchase it!
Coconut is a great lathering agent. This is why you will find some brands of healthy products listing Sodium Laurel (or Laureth) Sulfate, a/k/a SLS, as an ingredient but with an emphasis on the SLS being derived from coconut. There's always a chemical version and natural or healthy version of most ingredients. Commercial companies tend to use harmful synthetic chemical versions of ingredients due to their being cheap which saves the company money while bringing in major profits, but of course, while harming the consumer.
Beware of all perfumed soaps that can irritate already irritated and inflamed skin. This includes Chandrika brand soap and certain Nubian Heritage brand soaps as well as certain Black Soap brands (not all).
Natural brands of Black Soap (especially liquid ones) that do not contain perfumed scents are good for healing as Black Soap is very therapeutic.
Nubian Heritage also makes good natural soaps but some are perfumed and should not be used in cases of folliculitis.
There are also natural and healthy brands of shaving products available at good health food stores. Brands include Alba's and Avalon Organics. Again, we have a listing of alternative/healthy brands of shaving products in our "Alternative Diet and Lifestyle Manual" e-book.
Use the best razor available (despite its cost). You have to pay to stay these days. Spend the money for your health. Stop being cheap and trying to save because when you try to save you end up spending any way. Have you ever noticed this when you are trying to cut corners financially? You might as well go out and purchase what you really need and want. You owe it to yourself! Stop being and thinking CHEAP, and start being and thinking HEALTH!
 Wash your razor after every use. Soak the razor in water (a cup), hydrogen peroxide (1 ounce) and or essential oil of Tea Tree (4-6 drops) over night. You can do this after every use of your razor. Dherbs.Com has an Antibacterial Razor Soak solution containing natural essential oils that you can simply add to a cup of water to let your razor soak.
Remember, the major cause of pseudofolliculitis itself is the use of razors. Yes, razor use itself leads to this condition, especially with African-American males, so in this case, avoid use of a razor altogether.
Instead of applying a chemical-based, post-shave solution or after-shave solution to your face after shaving (with a natural lathering agent, preferably soap), slap or pat on or apply Aloe Vera Gel. Aloe is very healing, soothing, and calming and especially where there is redness due to inflammation like in cases of folliculitis.
A good Calendula gel or cream will also work here in cases of folliculitis.
Other good natural substances to apply to your face after shaving include Shea Butter, Cocoa Butter, Coconut Oil, Jojoba Oil, Olive Oil, Grape Seed Oil, Sweet Almond Oil, Kukui Nut Oil, and Rose Hip Seed Oil to name a few.
Good essential oils to use on your face for healing of folliculitis include Rosemary, Sage, Lavender, Tea Tree, Cedarwood (best for itching conditions), Callophyllum, and Blue (or German) Chamomile.
To prevent the skin from drying and to stay hydrated, vegetable glycerin can be used (applied to the skin).
Witch Hazel is a good astringent (if it lacks alcohol as an ingredient). It should be used over alcohol (isopropyl alcohol).
One of the most harmful things you could ever apply to your face after shaving (or getting your hair cut) is ALCOHOL! Alcohol is a poison derived from petroleum. It burns for a reason. If it burns, it's because it inflames. If it inflames, it's an inflammatory agent.
Folks, if you apply alcohol to your skin and it burns, it's HARMFUL! You would be wise to refrain from using it. Alcohol burns the skin because it is not natural and has no business on the skin or inside the human body. Period!
And what toxic substance is commonly being applied to the skin of Black males at most urban barbershops after a shave or haircut? Answer: ALCOHOL!
"Doctors use alcohol at the hospital right before they give you a shot!?" And does this make the substance good or unharmful? Hell no! Medical doctors are some of the most unconscious people pertaining to true health. They'll give you a poison (drug) in a minute and think nothing of it afterwards. It's how they are trained.
And remember, all hospitals will use petroleum-based chemicals because the Rockefellers who own the oil industry also own the American medical industry as well and their chief substance is petroleum that they have converted or refined into oil, gas, and pharmaceutical drugs. It's business for them (Rockefellers) and life and death for you.
When I go to the barber shop ('Just N' Time' in Pasadena, California), which is every 2-3 months, I let the barber know up front that I don't use any synthetic chemicals whatsoever on my head and I hand them a bottle of my own after-cut solution that is skin friendly and that does not burn or irritate my skin like alcohol used to do.
I remember when I used to be a consistent barbershop goer back in the 1990's attending Beard's Barbershop in South Los Angeles on Broadway near Imperial Highway, and being unconscious health-wise, sitting in my seat squirming silently to the best of my ability in response to my man, Ralo, or his father, Dave, rubbing and patting my head down with green colored alcohol that burned the crap out of me, setting my head on fire. It used to burn so bad I had wounds on my head. Yes, the damage from the razor due to a heavy hand (in some cases) and exacerbated by the application of alcohol used to really mess me up. It used to feel like somebody doused my head with gasoline or lighter fluid and then lit a match and set my head afire!
Now don't get me wrong, the best barber that ever cut my hair was Dave, owner of Beard's Barbershop! This man used to cut my father's and my uncles' hair, so he was an old school barber (with serious skills).
Females are not the only creatures that undergo torture for beauty, grooming, and/or vanity. Males do too, but simply not to the same degree and with the same intensity.
A female will undergo some serious torture for so-called beauty, even to the point of surgery for bigger boobs or tits. A man, or even a little baby for that matter, can't do anything with plastic titties! But a female (certain ones) could care less.
Deep down inside I knew this (barbershop experience) was torture and that I was allowing myself to be tortured simply to have a groomed look, just like I used to undergo serious torture when I had a Jheri curl to have that 'in' look back in the day (1980's).
I remember back in the 1990's when I was a member of the Nation of Islam (Fruit of Islam) in Mosque #27 in Los Angeles where the brothers were fined if they didn't have their hair cut. Basically, if your hair was nappy and frizzy, you were fined. Didn't matter that this was the natural state of your hair. If it napped up, you were penalized. A strange thing considering we were always told in the mosque to "Be yourself and accept your own!" But I guess this didn't apply to the natural state of one's hair. Oh well!
Returning to the gist of the article, I knew there had to be a better way, that I could still get my hair cut and trimmed and not have to suffer after each and every barbershop or haircut session. It soon dawned on me a few years later that I could bring an alternative solution with me and give it to the barber in advance and that solution was Aloe Vera.
Later, I experimented with Witch Hazel (which was skin friendly), and then my own concoctions made with water, essential oils, and flower petals (which are very skin friendly). It didn't matter what the new solution was as it was better than alcohol and didn't burn my skin.
In the early 2000's, at first the various barbers would make fun of me because of my personal healthcare views but it wasn't long before they came around and started asking me what I was using on my hair.
In closing, folliculitis and pseudofolliculitis are 100% healable just like every other condition or disease. You have to believe this is you want to heal.
Always make sure a clean razor is being used on your skin.
From time to time, steam your face, especially your chin and neck area. Steam will help open your pores to release toxins.
Do not pick at your bumps. This will not help you. Not at all!
If the situation is pseudofolliculitis, let your hair grow out. Use of a razor will only cause more problems. Follow the suggestions herein about diet and allow the problem to heal naturally. Work from the inside out as far as the body is concerned.
According to the American Osteopathic College of Dermatology, "Some doctors recommend chemical "shaving" with products such as Magic Shave, Surgex shaving powder, Nair or Neet (these are brands of Barium sulfide or Calcium thioglycolate depilatories - very mild to strong) in cases of pseudofolliculitis. These dissolve the hairs but can cause chemical burns on facial skin. It should be left on for less time than the package recommends until one sees how the skin reacts to it."
You would be wise to never adhere to the insalubrious advice of the AOCD supra and use chemical shaving products and risk burning your skin. It's not worth it! Man-made chemicals such as Barium sulfide and Calcium thioglycolate cannot help you, but only harm you!
Only use natural ingredients and substances on your skin (facial skin). Remember, ideally you are supposed to be able to eat everything you put on your body. Would you go to a nightclub and order an 'isopropyl alcohol on the rocks'? Wait a minute! My bad! Considering the mental state of many people nowadays, many people would. Certain people would try and blow fire out of their mouths like a damn dragon if the could and all to get wasted. Man, people are crazy as hell today. Many will drink anything from lighter fluid, rocket fuel, paint thinner, clear nail polish, etc. Mix these with a little Remy Martin or Alize and it's on and poppin'. Look out now! A fool will set him/herself on fire drinking Gin and lighter fluid and then putting a cigarette in their mouth, causing a big explosion. BOOM!!!! Setting people on fire while on the dance floor. People are crazy as hell today!
Okay, to close out this article:
If you have boils, please read our "Boils" article.
Follow the advice herein and you will prevent or remedy folliculitis and/or pseudofollicultis - guaranteed!
Thank you for reading!
This article is compliments of www.Dherbs.Com |
