# Shave & exfoliate - preferred order? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 26, 2011, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shave-exfoliate-preferred-order/590348 "2011-07-26T02:31:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shave-exfoliate-preferred-order/590348/1 "2011-07-26T02:31:05Z")
In a recent shaving-related thread, a poster described their routine, which included the use of a loofah on their face before lathering in the rest. My initial, visceral response to this was just a hair shy of “The horror! The horror!” and I rapidly concluded that the poster was suffering from some sort of cognitive defect. The idea was shocking to me. However… ever since then… I’ve been… haunted… I can’t shave without thinking about that. The terrible thing is, I have the sort of mind that (just barely) allows that there might not be a One True Way to shave, and I wonder if the assumptions that have which lead me to believe that this is a terrible, horrible idea might be confused. So… is there any sense in it? Could I… possibly… be… _doing it wrong?_ I know I won’t be able to feel right about a shave until there’s a consensus, so there’s a poll comin’ up. (Please show your work, if appropriate.) ---
**Author:** ![RoeCocoa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7feea3/32.png) [@RoeCocoa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RoeCocoa)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shave-exfoliate-preferred-order/590348/2 "2011-07-26T03:59:44Z")
I exfoliate my legs before I shave them; I think it helps the razor stay unclogged/last longer, but I can’t prove it. It doesn’t hurt. ---
**Author:** ![thursday\_next](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8797f3/32.png) [@thursday\_next](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thursday_next)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shave-exfoliate-preferred-order/590348/3 "2011-07-26T07:05:57Z")
I can post for both face & legs (face for my sweet pea). We both always exfoliate before shaving, he does a “wet shave” and his shaving brush does a good job of exfoliating his face. I am an exfoliating machine and use gloves with a scrub on my legs to get as much dead skin off and free ingrown hairs as I can before I shave. Exfoliating will allow for a smoother surface for shaving, make the hairs “stand up” more for the razor; both create less drag and less of a need to go back over the same area multiple times thus causing dreaded razor burn (the horror … the horror). What kind of exfoliating are you thinking of? Is it a gritty scrub/cream/mixture that leaves your face uncomfortable? Personally I wouldn’t use a loofah on my face but I have delicate, sensitive skin. There are a million options, like a Buf-Puf for sensitive skin, or scrub/cream that feels good to you. You just have to find what works best. If it helps any, once my sweet pea started using the shaving brush, his ingrown hairs and razor burn were a thing of the past. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shave-exfoliate-preferred-order/590348/4 "2011-07-26T13:13:46Z")
What’s this exfoliate you speak of? All I do is take a shower, then shave, probably much the same way my father and grandfathers before me did, allowing for slight differences in products. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shave-exfoliate-preferred-order/590348/5 "2011-07-26T13:17:14Z")
I exfoliate after I shave, with the thinking that dead skin cells and particles of bristles will be on my skin and the exfoliation will remove them too. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shave-exfoliate-preferred-order/590348/6 "2011-07-26T17:19:05Z")
You’re exfoliating **when** you shave–scraping a razor over your face is going to take off some skin cells, no matter how gentle you are. ---
**Author:** ![lindsaybluth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/90db22/32.png) [@lindsaybluth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lindsaybluth)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shave-exfoliate-preferred-order/590348/7 "2011-07-26T20:09:00Z")
I was told by my dermatologist to always exfoliate (manual with a wash cloth/loofah always superior than with a scrub) BEFORE shaving or waxing. So that’s my gospel 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shave-exfoliate-preferred-order/590348/8 "2011-07-27T02:12:26Z")
Thanks folks - I love having my stupid assumptions exploded. (I imagined this would lead to irritated skin and ingrown hairs, for reasons that aren’t entirely clear to me now.) Will definitely give it a shot. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shave-exfoliate-preferred-order/590348/9 "2011-07-27T14:21:19Z")
After I shower, I shave with a badger hair brush and shaving soap. If you let the brush soak in hot water for a bit before lathering, the foam goes on hot like from a barber shop. When I started doingt it this way it changed shaving from a chore to something I enjoy. ---
**Author:** ![MegaBee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f0a364/32.png) [@MegaBee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MegaBee)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shave-exfoliate-preferred-order/590348/10 "2011-07-27T15:41:43Z")
> [@LawMonkey](#): > > You’re exfoliating **when** you shave–scraping a razor over your face is going to take off some skin cells, no matter how gentle you are. That was my thought on the matter, as well. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shave-exfoliate-preferred-order/590348/11 "2011-07-27T15:59:48Z")
I’ve been participating in several shaving fora ever since I started shaving my head a month ago. People really into shaving seem to all exfoliate prior to shaving. ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shave-exfoliate-preferred-order/590348/12 "2011-07-27T18:43:03Z")
> [@LawMonkey](#): > > You’re exfoliating **when** you shave–scraping a razor over your face is going to take off some skin cells, no matter how gentle you are. LawMonkey wins it. There are some details that don’t get shaved (nose, forehead), and I exfolliate those before I shave. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2011, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shave-exfoliate-preferred-order/590348/13 "2011-07-28T13:16:23Z")
> [@LawMonkey](#): > > You’re exfoliating **when** you shave–scraping a razor over your face is going to take off some skin cells, no matter how gentle you are. _But_, the claim of the shaving aficionados is that a preshave exfoliation leads to a closer shave. Just sayin. ---
**Author:** ![lindsaybluth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/90db22/32.png) [@lindsaybluth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lindsaybluth)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2011, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shave-exfoliate-preferred-order/590348/14 "2011-07-28T14:33:55Z")
And the claim of dermatologists is that exfoliation and then shaving means fewer or no red bumps, ingrown hairs, irritation, etc. Obviously if these things aren’t a problem for you in the first place, why bother.