From beard to no beard and newly discovered skin scaling

January 12, 2019 7:53 AM

So after a solid decade with a beard, it went gray streaked like Dr. Strange and so I went back to no beard. What I found underneath was a lot of dry skin, dry scabs and scaling. So is this just a transitional thing that happens when you get rid of a beard? Is this something I need to be proactive about? Or do I give up and go back to looking like an evil hypnotist?
posted by rileyray3000 to Health & Fitness (7 answers total)

I think it goes away within a week or so, but I've been too lazy to stick with shaving for very long.
posted by wotsac at 7:58 AM on January 12, 2019

I agree it’s normal and should clear on its own, I’d use some exfoliating scrub to help it along.

Your skin exudes sebum etc based on its environment, and hair/no hair is a pretty big change. While the worst should get visibly better fairly fast, it could take up to a month for new normal equilibrium to be fully established.

But really, I disagree with the premise; gray-streaked beards are awesome and you should probably rock it :)
posted by SaltySalticid at 8:03 AM on January 12, 2019

My dad grows a beard on the autumnal equinox and shaves it off every vernal equinox. Sometimes scaley scabbiness is revealed in the spring, depending probably on environmental factors and how he's tended to his overall health through the winter. It always goes away inside a week.

If you have sensitive skin in general I'd caution strongly against an exfoliating scrub because that's a great way to get ingrown hairs and redness. Just steam your face in a shower for a while and use your fingers to gently rub off dead skin, wash your face like normal and pat dry.
posted by Mizu at 8:06 AM on January 12, 2019

You can wash your face with dandruff shampoo to try to calm things down.
posted by soelo at 8:35 AM on January 12, 2019

Use a moisturizer. A carefully selected, non-drying, non-stingy moisturizer.
posted by DarlingBri at 9:37 AM on January 12, 2019

Try a gentle face oil!

Jojoba, one of the many face-specific ones on the market, or Goē Oil, if you can find it, is pricey but fantastic. Warm a few drops in your hands, it only takes a tiny bit, and pat it on damp skin right after the shower.

You are not trying to lube your face up, because this stuff doesn't really sink in. You making a thin, skin-friendly barrier to slow the evaporation of the moisture your skin just soaked up. The end result, once dried, should feel like pleasantly supple, not-flakey skin; not greasy. Should tide you over until such time, as others have said, the sebum and skin surface have readjusted.

Evil hypnotist is a hard-core, high-maintenance lifestyle and no-one can blame you for needing to give it a pass. ;)
posted by Rube R. Nekker at 11:56 AM on January 12, 2019

Normal.
posted by hworth at 6:11 PM on January 13, 2019