Shaving your beard is an integral part of your daily life, and it’s one such operation which you can’t do without even if you wanted to. There are times when you are running late and have to shave as fast as you can. In situations like this, getting a cut from running your blades vigorously is nothing uncommon, and it can happen to literally any of us anyday.
Such cuts can often cause bleeding, which leads to one question at that moment: how to stop a shaving cut from bleeding? While it’s a straightforward question to ask, the answer isn’t that simple. Because there are way too many methods you can apply to stop a bleeding, and not all of them are effective or safe for your health.
So, our experts bring you this article that covers all the efficient methods that are easily doable at home. Some of these demand you to have certain products, while the rest of them can be performed with everyday stuff available at home. These quick & direct methods can spare you a lot of pain immediately, and serve you well in the long run!
Methods To Stop A Shaving Cut From Bleeding
Your shaving cuts bleeding for hours won’t do you good because of all the blood loss from your body. If your shaving cut won’t stop bleeding automatically, you can use any of our methods in this section of our article.
Holding An Ice Cube
This is the easiest method that you can apply on your shaving cut to stop bleeding. When you notice the patches of scarlet blood under your shaving foam or on your cheeks, the first thing you should do is to wash your face cleanly.
Use cold water and soap to completely remove all the shaving products to ensure proper sterilization is in progress. Once you’re done cleaning the wound, grab a cube of ice from your refrigerator and hold it firmly against your cut.
Cold ice helps you to solidify the wound and helps you clot the cut faster than usual. You can use the same ice cube to stop each of your shaving cuts from bleeding before discarding it into your trash can.
If you have sensitive skin however, we recommend you to pick a shaver that’s suited to your skin so that you don’t have to deal with such cuts in general.
Applying After Shave
Many of you may not know that your after shave is of great help when it comes to stopping your bleeding! It even helps with regular cuts that aren’t on your face and not induced by blades from your razor because of the properties of shaving lotions.
What you need to do is, clean the wound nicely and mop your face with a paper towel gently, so that there’s no residue water droplets. Then, drip a few drops of after shave lotion on your palms and spread them over evenly so that it covers the entirety of your face.
Then, gently slap on the lotion over your cheeks ensuring that your cuts are encompassed in the area of your operation. Don’t rub your hands, rather lightly press continuously. Otherwise it can damage your wound further. The isopropanol helps in sterilizing your wound and allows the bleeding to stop faster by sealing the cut for you.
Using A Washcloth
A clean washcloth is a multipurpose accessory which often comes in handy, especially in times like stopping a bleeding cut. It’ll come to you as a shock how easy it is to stop a regular shaving cut in a matter of minutes using such utility!
Make sure your washcloth is cleanly washed. When you realize that you’ve nicked your cheek, wash it cleanly and mop it up. Then grab your washcloth and fold it in half, press your finger on one side of the cloth and press it against your cut.
The pressure matters, so don’t just hold it gently. What the washcloth does is, it absorbs all the residue blood and prevents further leakage, allowing your platelets to form a clot. You can take this even further by merging it with our first method – ice cube.
Take an ice cube and wrap your washcloth around it. Twist the other end so that your cube is secure in place. Use this to rub on your cuts firmly which should stop your bleeding shortly.
Applying Unscented Balm
Scented balms often contain ingredients that aren’t friendly to a cut and it can cause you a certain degree of irritation when applied. Thus, we recommend an unscented balm like lip balm or something similar based on wax.
Wash your hands and face cleanly before the procedure. Squeeze the balm out of the tube and take a pinch at the tip of your finger. Pick your cut spot and lay the balm over it so that it covers the entire wound.
This prevents any of the germ from creeping in and stops blood from dripping out, letting your body’s metabolism deal with the cut in the time being. Since it’s coming out of a tube, the safety is ensured as the balm hasn’t been exposed to the outside world and remains germ-free.
Using Styptic Pencil
The styptic pencil is also known as alum block popularly among consumers. The reason behind calling it an alum block is because this is one of the materials integrated into the pencil along with crystal powder and sometimes aluminum or wax base.
The go-to procedure for this is to drench the tip with cold water to dampen it up, so that it reacts with the wound after settling in. It’s specifically made for small cuts or nicks and not for large cuts that can’t be dealt with at home.
It is often used by men as an aftershave by rubbing the styptic pencil all over their face after shaving. Remember that it’s not made for such a purpose and it would be a complete waste. You should opt for an aftershave lotion for general use after shaving.
Using it everywhere would only overdry your facial skin, which isn’t a healthy practice. Rather, apply it only to your cuts and let it dry up before putting it back in.
Alternate Lip Balm
Your lip balm is a great alternative to the unscented balms. It has almost the same properties as regular balms and a great potential to stop your shaving initiated bleeding shortly after application.
However, you must remember that your lip balm stick has been exposed earlier and been run over your lips which isn’t always sanitized. So applying it directly to your wound can even lead to an infection in the worst case scenario.
Your approach should be to scrape off the top portion of your balm so that it exposes a fresh surface for your cuts. Rub it gently over each nick and it’ll help you seal your wound momentarily, letting your blood do the clotting part itself.
Witch-hazel Toner
If you have a witch-hazel plant lying at your home, then you’re in great luck! Because witch-hazel has the natural ingredients to shrink your cuts so that both of the ends come together into a narrow pathway for your blood to leak. Just dip your cotton buds into the flower and rub it on your cuts, but it can sting so be cautious of that!
And even if you don’t have witch-hazel at home, you can always settle for a toner that carries the same ingredients. These take your preoccupation further as it’ll not only seal your wound but also disinfect the surrounding area, which is of absolute necessity.
Again, you now know the natural remedy to a cut and can directly go for your witch-hazel plant on any occasion where you can’t find anything at your arm’s reach. Just, be gentle with it!
Deodorant
Your shaving deodorant has all the properties to make a cut shrink into a stoppage that prevents any blood leakage. Although it sounds unorthodoxical, trust me, it has worked for many people and it’s very safe to be applied on an open nick.
The aluminum based ingredients are very helpful in terms of stopping an open wound. Don’t go on rubbing deodorant all over your face, rather clean up first and identify all the potential areas. Sprinkling water should tell you where you’ve made the nicks.
Once identified, make sure your deodorant is on the side where it has the liquid solution present on the sphere. Otherwise you might have to rub it a few times to drench the ball completely. Dab the ball gently on your cuts, which should see to the closure or blockage of the wounds and stop the cut from bleeding out.
Let It Be
One option that a lot of people don’t consider after nicking your facial skin during shaving is to let the wound be. It depends though, on the type & size of your cut, and where on your face it has formed, but letting your body take care of it isn’t always out of the question.
Your blood has three major elements, one of which is your platelet. It has the natural tendency to react with the oxygen around the cut and form a clot so that your body stops losing blood. It can take half an hour to a couple of hours to create a basic blockade.
So, you can clean and sterilize your cut with soap & water. After that, just let it be and check if it’s bleeding severely further. There is going to be a hint of blood, but that’s the droplet which is going to form your clot by solidifying, so don’t be afraid when such happens!
Using Coffee
Coffee extract is made with natural elements and it has the power to create a spontaneous glue for your cut. It holds together the ends of your cut to stop the bleeding caused by shaving and allow your wound to heal without allowing a bloody mess.
Take half a teaspoon of coffee and one teaspoon of water into a clean cup or glass. Mix it together nicely so that the coffee completely dissolves. Dip a cotton bud to the mix, drench it and rub it gently over your cuts.
In due time, you’ll witness that your cuts have stopped bleeding as the solution starts to draw results. It is a quick and easy way to help with small cuts or nicks.
Aspiring Solution
It’s often unheard of that aspiring can help you with your cuts, but it has proven effects and the necessary properties to achieve such a feat! All you’ll need is some water, an aspirin tablet and a cotton but to use for application.
You’ll proceed the same way as the coffee solution, instead of coffee you’re going to dissolve an aspirin tablet to water and stir. Once it’s mixed completely, use your cotton bud to lay the solution over your cut areas, and wait till you see the surprising result!
If you’re struggling with cuts while getting a clean shave with your razor, you can always opt for a trimmer to get a stubble instead. It has great potential to avoid such cuts or nicks as a whole and make your life significantly easier!
Apply Direct Pressure
Another common method to stop a small cut from bleeding out is by applying pressure. It’s not always recommended because your hands aren’t always sanitized and your wound not sterilized. But having none of the elements mentioned above, you can try it out as a quick & immediate fix.
Simply wash your hand with soap very cleanly and use a sanitizer to further sterilize if you have one lying around. Wash your wound, mop it dry and then use your finger to fully cover the cut and press hard.
Applying pressure directly for a couple of minutes should let your blood’s natural resistance the time to seal the cut and prevent further bleeding from happening.
Do It With A Tea Bag
Much like coffee, tea has the natural power to seal a cut as well. A tea bag comes in handy in such regard as it’s already concealed within a container and is ready for action in situations that demand swift response.
Wash your wound and dry it up before proceeding with the tea bag. Once there, drench the tea bag in water so that the grounded tea absorbs some of the moisture. Then, hold the wet bag against your cut and press it on with your finger.
It’ll allow the tea’s essence to be laid over your nicks and create a natural guard that’ll stop your blood from seeping out. This is a healthy and quick fix to such an occurrence.
Things To Remember While Stopping A Bleeding
There are a few factors you should remember before you attempt to stop your shaving cut from bleeding at home. Keeping these at the back of your mind should ensure a safe and healthy procedure – regardless of the method you opt for.
- Always clean your wound. Use soap and cold water. In some cases, hot water helps with sterilization as well.
- Sterilizing your wound goes a long way. Always keep such products around at your home for emergency situations.
- Wash your hands cleanly with a soap before applying any method, as introducing germs to your cuts can create costly consequences.
- Make sure the washcloths or paper towels are clean.
- Don’t hesitate to rush to the emergency unit if you think the cut is deeper than usual and it’s not safe to apply such methods at home.
If you can maintain all of these mentioned above, you’ll be eligible to treat your cuts at home without shedding a sweat! Also, there are certain upsides of using electric shavers which is going to make your shaving cut concerns redundant!
FAQ
Let’s take a look at these commonly asked questions to broaden our knowledge on shaving cuts prevention to attain a skin-safe routine.
Q: Why do razor cuts bleed so much?
A: Razor cuts are different to the regular cuts you endure. Razor blades are really sharp and leave behind a wound that’s cut neatly without any edges that can cling on to each other to form a clot. That’s why it takes more time to stop the bleeding and your body loses blood more than usual.
Q: How long do shaving cuts take to stop bleeding?
A: It depends on a lot of things like the depth or spread of the cut, your metabolism and your diet. On average, it can take between 10 to 30 minutes to stop a regular cut from bleeding.
Q: Can razor bumps cause bleeding?
A: Of course! Razor bumps are one of the prime reasons that cause you bleeding from a shaving cut. Learning how to avoid such instances can significantly improve your shaving experience.
Final Opinion
Now that you’ve explored all the available options, we hope you’ve found your answer to the ‘how to stop a shaving cut from bleeding?’ question. Our methods are mostly DIY that you can apply at your home without asking for anyone’s help, and can be achieved using elements available at your surroundings.
No matter which method you choose, make sure to check your wound’s nature first. Because not all of the cuts can or should be treated at home, and there’s no harm in rushing to the doctor if you think the nick is beyond your capacity of treatment.
Otherwise, we’ve given you some of the most straightforward options with detailed breakdowns. So, we are confident that you’ll be able to handle your shaving cuts better from this point onward and become a master at stopping such bleedings!
Also, another note to be added is that, you should consider moving to a trimmer for your shaving operations to reduce accidental cuts even further as trimmers are very handy in such regard!