This is the place to ask beginner and simple questions. Some examples include:
- Soap, scent, or gear recommendations
- Favorite scents, bases, etc
- Where to buy certain items
- Identification of a razor you just bought
- Troubleshooting shaving issues such as cuts, poor lather, and technique
Please note these are examples and any questions for the sub should be posted here.
I’d be interested in seeing some kind of scientific paper on this. Do you have a link?
the links I can give you are the ones can be found on google (alum + vasoconstriction). Better to talk to some folks on the sub like u/rdthedo and such who are actual doctors, and my original source.
I googled and I couldn’t find anything that relevant. I just don’t think it’s fair to say people are spreading misinformation when what you said isn’t backed by scientific data either. It’s not good enough for me to hear, “Oh, a doctor told me this so it must be true”. I’ve never heard of alum blocks being used in a medical setting and Google isn’t turning up any results either. To me this is the same as the videos going around at the beginning of COVID where a doctor put out YouTube videos telling people how to disinfect all their groceries and he was called out by a actual food microbiologist for spreading misinformation.
I’m in the camp of alum doesn’t do much for me (and yes, I have Osma), but I’m happy to be proven otherwise. So far everything I’ve seen has been anecdotal. It might have some effect at stopping minor bleeding, but in my experience it doesn’t work as well as styptic. To me, alum is just one of those things that you try and you use if you like the way it feels, don’t use it if you don’t like it or if it irritates your skin. Definitely don’t use it just because someone tells you it’s great.
The reason I didn’t give you the links is because I don’t want to be your first hand source of medical information. I can’t answer your follow up questions, I can’t clarify your confusions with the level of confidence I would like to, because I am not a doctor, not someone educated (beyond google) in topics involved here.
But my source of ‘alum preference’ is far from ‘a doctor told me so’. More like a doctor explained my experience - why after a shave (and aftershave) if I go out, for a brisk walk, or run, or hike - the sweat affects me differently based on my alum usage or lack of. If I don’t use alum, the sweat stings. Why alcohol doesn’t have similar effect. what is alum doing here, that alcohol isn’t doing. That question was answered by a doctor who happens to be a wetshaver himself. But he pointed me to enough documents that convinced the software/electrical engineer in me enough. But I still don’t want to be someone else’s first source of medical use of alum. That being said, here are some sources that mention the efficacy of alum as a vasoconstrictor or hemostatic agents.
https://www.scielo.br/j/ibju/a/33TK8r9RwFJLNv5GKpBGfHD/?lang=en
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4163818/
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265692280_A_review_on_common_chemical_hemostatic_agents_in_restorative_dentistry
https://magazine.zhermack.com/en/studio-en/astringent-haemostatic-vasoconstrictor-agents-impression-taking/
Cool. The part about sweat stinging is very interesting. Thanks for sharing.