After many years of using this I got an email from Amazon asking to review.
This is the very best alternative to seal a razor cut and I will elaborate below. Your alternatives are:
1. Styptic pencil. The troubles are many: white residue on your face, the pencil melts if left wet (so you'd have to dry it), etc.
2. Alum. This is a rock which tastes sour and that constricts your blood vessels. The concentration isn't large so you'll run the rock a lot on your face and irritate the skin further. I kind of like this mostly because of tradition I inherited a few from my grandfather.
3. Styptic roll-on's. The problem here is that blood gets on their ball and in the can. Kind of gross.
4. Sponge that stops bleeding (usually for more serious wounds). You look like you applied toilet paper pieces to your nicks until the bleeding stops.
5. Clubman's dab-on-nik. This is best. It has a sponge that yes, gets blood on, but you can wash it BEFORE the blood gets in the can. Concentration is about right, you may need to reapply, but I guess if you make it too concentrated, it would sting you. The sponge ensures that you apply it on the right spot. There is no residue. Really the best alternative, and from far. I have been using it for 10 years by now.
I've accumulated decades of experience in finding ever-better styptic solutions. Right now, I've got it boiled down to these three choices:
(1) THIS PINAUD CLUBMAN DAB-ON NICK RELIEF ITEM. Clubman Nick Relief used to be commonly shelved at major drugstores I could find it at CVS as recently as three years ago but no more. I'm guessing the reason for the slow disappearance of styptic products is the dominance of cartridge razor blades (eg, Fusion, Quattro, etc.) that has developed over the last several decades. Cartridge blades are actually pretty dull compared to DE (double-edged) "safety" razor blades and/or cut-throat "straight" razors, so shavers using cartridges typically cut themselves far less often. Of course, they're getting a duller shave as well, but they don't realize it. In addition to here at Amaz., most of the major online men's shaving stores sell Clubman Nick Relief as well. (I actually have links to most of those stores on my homepage.)
The active ingredient in Clubman Nick Relief is alum, specifically aluminum sulfate. This is the same active ingredient as found in a classic dry styptic pencil. Nick Relief is better than a pencil by far because dampness basically destroys the pencil in short order; you have to wet the pencil to use it and even if you dry it well the place that was dampened cakes up and becomes unusable. I can remember having to constantly whittle off the unusable parts of a styptic pencil with a pocket knife just to be able to keep using it.
Clubman Nick Relief WILL INDEED leave a chalky white residue on your skin after it has dried. The product is fairly effective and it does have some sting to it. Because it is a liquid, it "gets into" the cut/nick much better than a styptic pencil or an alum block does. The way I use this product is to dab some of it on my finger, then use my finger to apply it to the cut in a back-and-forth-then-change-direction process. I think of it as tracing out an asterisk on the site of the cut. I do it that way to help the liquid get into "the grain" of the cut/nick, no matter what direction the "grain" is running. Then I have to go back later after it's dried and remove the white chalk residue with a wet Kleenex. Dabbing to the finger prevents blood from contaminating "virgin" product. (This is in issue, I suppose, only if you are going to share and/or lend the product with others.)
There IS a small yellow/orange hemisphere-shaped sponge-like material at the top of the Clubman Nick Relief stick, covering the hole that leads to the liquid. Once the sponge is dampened with the liquid, the sponge dries up, becomes crusty and rough, making subsequent applications tougher. I just tear the sponge out from the get-go, though without it liquid can leak more easily out of the stick (and into the screw-top lid) more easily.
(2) KDS RADICAL TOUCH LIQUID STYPTIC. I've been using this product for a couple of months now. It is much more effective than anything I have ever used. It also burns like the dickens. It has, on occasion, actually brought a patch of little welts up on my freshly DE safety-razor-shaved neck; they go away after a while. The active ingredient is zinc chloride; it also contains lidocine, to try to counteract the sting with some numbing. When this stuff hits the blood in a cut, it'll turn it black and hard almost instantly. The bottle is essentially an eyedropper; there's no sponge or anything like that involved.
The way I most often use this product is to just press the tip of the eyedropper into the cut/nick then squeeze. The squeezing "drives" the liquid into the cut/nick regardless of the direction of the grain of the cut/nick. This approach usually leaves a drop or two dripping away from the cut/nick. Since I mostly use these products in the shower (where I wetshave), all I have to do is wait about 1-2 seconds than rinse the entire area clean ... before this product has a chance to inflict much irritation on the area. Out of the shower, I use a damp Kleenex to accomplish the same effect. I figure the squeezing motion is preventing contamination of "virgin" product, so I don't have to dab.
I do keep and use these items "as a pair." If the cut/nick is minor or is "a weeper," it gets the less-painful Clubman Nick Relief treatment. If it is a larger and/or more "stubborn" cut/nick, it gets the KDS treatment. If I am in the shower (where I can rinse away most of the pain before it occurs), I go straight to the KDS product. If I am in a hurry and I have to "be sure it's stopped right now," I use the KDS product. If I am in a hurry and I don't have time to go back and remove the white residue, I use the KDS product.
(3) PACIFIC SHAVING COMPANY NICK STICK. I am just beginning to test out this product as a possible substitute for Clubman Nick Relief. It is a roll-on product; keep in mind that roll-on means you are absolutely rolling the blood from any cut/nick back inside the bottle and into contact with "virgin" product. (Or you can just dab it on your finger first, as above.)
The active ingredient is aluminum chloride. The product also contains some aloe vera and vitamin E (that helps heal skin/burns) ... as well as bergamot (orange) that gives it a very pleasant scent upon application. It dries clear without any kind of tactile residue. The product seems to work pretty well, at least as well as the Clubman product; not nearly as effective as the KDS product, however. It doesn't sting the least bit.
(4) In addition to these three products, I also do keep in/near the shower both an alum block and a bottle of Thayers Alcohol-Free Rose Petal Witch Hazel. These are also astringent products ... that will constrict skin & blood vessels and stop minor bleeding. After shaving I apply one or both briefly to my entire face. They do not sting in any way and in fact have a slight soothing effect. If you don't want to think of them as 'nick relief,' think of them as 'after shave skin bracers' that don't brace/shock the face ... since they are non-alcoholic.
Whatever you decide, decide something. The well-groomed gentleman doesn't appear for his evening on the town sporting little patches of bathroom tissues wetted to his face.
UPDATE [2012-05-30]: Since writing this, I've abandoned use of #3, Pacific Shaving Company Nick Stick. It just wasn't as effective as stopping nicks as the other two items. It smells good, rolled on comfortably and felt soothing in application ... BUT the other two items stopped up the nicks better.
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Yes, it does sting a little bit, but it does work. For most cuts, it stopped almost immediately. It took me a couple applications on some deeper nicks to stop the bleeding. It was easy to use and mess free. A great thing to keep in your medicine cabinet and travel bag.
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This is so much more convenient than classic styptic pencils. Stops the bleeding instantly, but, like every other product that does the same thing, burns like crazy.
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stops bleeding fast and doesnt leave residue like regular steptic pencils do.The only thing is this stuff DOES sting when applied,but its not too bad.
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