Does MiN New York Solution2 Get Rid Of Razor Bumps?

Ella’s inquiry…Despite it’s rather silly name, I’m interested in trying MiN New York’s Solution2 for my razor bumps. Is it any good?

The Right Brain’s bumpy reply:

Before we talk about MiN New York’s product, let’s pause for a short recap on what causes razor bumps, which are also known as PFB or Pseudo Folliculitis Barbae: (new from Mattel – it’s Psuedo Folliculitis Barbie!)

Razor bumps

After shaving some of the hair shafts are left with a pointy end that can penetrate into the skin. This is especially a problem when the follicle tends to produce curly hairs (you know what kind of curly hairs I’m talking about, right?) Anyway, the pointy tip of the hair can cut into the skin and cause a foreign body reaction. This leads to the formation of papules or cysts that show up as reddish bumps on the surface of the skin. Hence the term, razor bumps. The next time you shave these bumps get irritated even more to the point where they can become infected. Trust me, it’s not a lot of fun.

How does MiN New York Solution2 work?

Solution2 allegedly works three ways: it tightens the skin so the freshly shaved hair is less likely to re-penetrate the skin,  it kills bacteria on the surface of the skin that can cause infection, and it provides an analgesic effect that reduces the pain of the razor bumps. According to their website, most of the credit goes to acetylsalicylic acid (aka aspirin). This sounded a bit odd to us since most pain reducing lotions don’t use aspirin, they use related chemicals like methyl salicylate. Plus, as we all know from our post on How Aspirin Masks Work, aspriin masks don’t really work because the acetylsalicylic acid has to be metabilized to salicylic acid before it can have an exfolliating effect on the skin.

So imagine our surprise when we found a couple of studies that show ASA can have a pain reducing effect when applied topically.  We couldn’t find any definitive mechanism for MiN New York Solution2 could prevent the hair from growing into your skin, but there does seem to be a plausible date suggesting it could reduce the pain of razor bumps. So, despite our doubts, we have to give this one the benefit of the doubt unless some of our more medically inclined readers give us a more definitive explanation.

The Beauty Brains bottom line

We’d give this MiN New York a rating of: 2 brains

The Beauty Brains Product Rating Scale

No Brainer
A dumb-ass ridiculous product making crazy claims without any scientific basis. Don’t waste your money.

1 Brain
We can’t find enough information from the company or in the scientific literature to indicate this product might be any better/different or not. Try at your own risk, and if you do happen to come across any legitimate technical data, let us know and we’ll blog about it.

2 Brains
A nice, basic product but with nothing to indicate it does anything special. If you can afford it, try it and you might like it. But don’t expect any extraordinary results.

3 Brains
A product making extraordinary claims which at least appear to be grounded in real science. May be worth trying but make sure you don’t spend too much.