I recently changed my shaving routine somewhat in a misguided attempt to shave a little time off my morning toilet.
I use a double-edged safety razor, and my habit has been to apply shaving soap with a brush for the reduction pass, followed a second pass using an oil.
My wife has grumbled a bit that my shave takes too long, so as an experiment I tried switching from brush & soap to a conveniently-dispensed aerosol gel for the first pass. I noticed right away that the quality of the first pass was reduced a lot, and that I actually spent more time, on both passes, before getting a decent shave.
Then, I ran out of oil. Normally not a worry, as I’d just use soap for both passes until the next time I go to the drug store. Leaves the skin feeling a little dryer, but it’s still a decent shave. However, using gel for both passes leaves me looking like a bum in need of a shave – more of a shadow than I am used to when I come home from work, before I’ve even set the razor down.
I understand that this product is probably intended for use with a 17-blade cartridge system, but how the heck does it grant my beard near-invulnerability against my normally-better-than-any-cartridge-razor-I’ve-used safety razor? The thing happily scrapes the gel clean off my face and leaves it hairy. I’ve got to go over the same patch about eight times before I can walk out the door with a shave that’s actually pretty shameful. What the…?
Do you just rub the gel straight onto your face or do you whip it up into a lather in your hand first? IIRC, with gel, you squirt a dab onto your palm, then get some hot water in your hand and froth it up with your other hand. At that point it’s basically a foam.
That said, I use shaving foam, or if I’m in a hurry, hot water and the razor (I’ve got the manly facial hair of a Took, of course). I’ve used soap and water in the past, but the soap dries up my skin (then again, dry/raw skin is why I keep a bottle of after shave at my sink).
The obvious answer is that the brush and soap provides more moisture and softens your beard more.
I find I get a much better shave if I do it immediately after I’ve bathed and washed my hair (I wash my hair every other day). That must be because of the extra wetting my beard gets. If you shave before you shower, try shaving with the gel after your shower and shampoo.
I second that your whiskers are not getting wet enough - I usually shave in the shower as the last thing and I get a mighty close shave.
I also remember that when I was younger and used shaving gel (I just use plain old soap now) it would gum up my safety razor something fierce; after a short stroke the blades would be filled with foamy gunk that I’d have to rinse out (and it didn’t come right out, which soap suds do, it took some work) which severely reduced the efficiency of my razor.
If you shave at the sink and you don’t want to use your brush and regular shaving soap, try washing your face with nice hot water, lather up good using plain old soap, then rinse using hot water. That’ll take a minute or two and should get things ready for shaving. Without drying your face off, use just a bit of shaving cream, work it up into a nice lather and apply. Now shave. If you’ve just been getting your chin damp quickly and then slapping some Edge Gel on that’ll make for a lousy experience.
The product’s directions do say to dispense & massage directly onto a wet face, though. I do shave at the sink before a shower.
I am surprised that this stuff stays on the shelves, and that people pay a premium for it.
I’ll just be going back to my shaving soap & oil combo, as it works best. My wife can continue to grumble about the time it takes; at least I don’t look like a bum.
Before I started shaving in the shower, my sink routine involved first soaking a washcloth in screaming-hot water and holding the cloth to my face and neck for a while. When the cloth cooled after 30 or 60 seconds, I’d heat it up and repeat, usually four or five times. The hot water and steam did wonders to soften my whiskers, and I think the heat also prepared my skin. After that, I’d splash on a liberal layer of hot water as a “base”, then apply my cream and shave.
The cloth method adds a few minutes to your routine, but in my book it’s time well spent.
I’ve done that when I’m at hotels (my hot water at home isn’t quite that hot) and it works. Makes me think of the old-time shave you see in movies with the barber wrapping the customer’s face in a hot towel from a towel steamer.
I use a DE razor, along with a badger brush, and Tabac shave soap. Unfortunately, there’s no substitute for time when it comes to getting a good shave with a DE razor. I just get up 10 minutes earlier in the morning, since I do a 3 pass shave every morning (with the grain, across the grain, against the grain).
Granted, I also use Feather blades in my razor, which are ungodly sharp. If you’ve never tried them, I highly recommend them.
The Tabac soap Dante mentioned lathers faster than most soaps I’ve tried; you might save a little time with it. Another quick lather is Kiss My Face Moisture Shave; you can just smear it on like a gel but I like to squirt some into a mug and work it with a brush; forms a dense lather very quickly. These are my two favorite shaving soaps and time to form a good lather is part of the reason, along with they both smell good and are non-drying.
Also, it seems odd to me that a lot of guys choose to shave before they shower. Ever tried after?
Nobody’s talked about it, but I figure I’ll bring it up for the fun of it: I read somewhere that you should get your face nice and hot and wet (shower, steamed towel, whatever) to soften the hairs and make them easier to work with, but you should always rinse your razor with cold water. The reasoning is that metal contracts when it’s cold and expands when it’s hot, so you’ll have an ever-so sharper blade if you keep the razor cold.
I just shave after a shower, or I try to keep my beard wet for ten minutes or so, while getting the kids and puppies their breakfast. I just splash some water on my face every few minutes-- makes a huge difference.
And then I just scrape all those hairs off with a razor.
