SHAVING ROUTINE - FROM START TO FINISH
Are you looking for a simple, concise explanation of the steps of shaving that will allow you to finally start wet shaving for real? Then you've come to the right place. Below is a moderately complicated description of the shaving ritual - from start to finish.
1. THE WORK IS THE KEY!
The basis of all shaving - as with everything else - is preparation, preparation and preparation. If you want a good result, there's simply no way around a proper preparation! A classic is to shave in or after the shower, when the bathroom is warm and humid, which softens the skin and beard hair. Alternatively, clean your facial skin in warm water first and simply skip the drying procedure. If you have an extra coarse beard and/or dry and sensitive skin, you may need a pre-shave, which you apply thinly and leave for a few minutes to work.
2. SHAVING FOAM
Then we come to the shaving cream itself, and here we mainly mean a proper shaving cream or a shaving soap, both of which are worked up with warm water and a shaving brush into a creamy, rich, high-density lather that provides good protection and optimal glide for the razor. The shaving soap requires a little more time and technique to work up with the brush due to its hard texture, but is a ritual that real shaving nerds can't do without. Work the lather with a wet brush (adding more water as you go along if necessary) until you get a creamy, rich lather that resembles soft-serve ice cream or thick whipped cream. When you're done, rinse the brush, gently squeeze out the excess water and hang it up.
Shaving cream, like shaving soap, is worked up with warm water and produces the same rich lather, but its soft, paste-like texture means you can also quickly work it up with your fingers, which is especially handy when travelling. Make sure to use light, quick circular motions so you don't push the beard hairs into the skin - they should be lifted, not the other way round.
-
GentsShaving Brush Pure Badger£29 -
Sailor'sShaving Brush- and Razor Stand£22 -
Benjamin BarberShaving Soap Black Oak100 g£11 -
Sailor'sCleansing Bar - Land and Sea£8.60 -
Sailor'sSoap Net - For a rich lather£4 -
Benjamin BarberClassic Shaving Brush Wood£46 -
Benjamin BarberShaving Cream Black Oak100 ml£28
3. SAFETY RAZOR: TIME TO SHAVE!
We at Gents always recommend that you invest in a traditional, classic safety razor with sharp double blades, as these are unbeatable in terms of close shaving and thus also gentle on the skin. The double blades are also extremely cheap compared to the Gillette blades, but at the same time more effective.
We highly recommend Sailor's new 99R with the classic "butterfly" function, which is both quick and convenient when changing blades (you just screw the bottom and the doors on top of the head open - no disassembly). In addition, the new version of the planer has been improved with more efficient blade exposure. With the appropriate blades as needed, it works great for those with both normal and very coarse beards and even those with sensitive skin!
For those who are the "basic" type and perhaps prefer a "gentler" plane because you only have soft scales, there is also the Sailor's 98R as an alternative, where you manually unscrew the different parts of the head to change the blade.
4. post-shave
After shaving, the skin should be moisturised and given a soothing treatment and this is done with different after shave products.
Sailor's aftershave is an easy-flowing cooling gel that effectively soothes, disinfects and softens the area treated with the razor and also comes in three fragrant flavours: the fresh cooling Antarctica, the forest-inspired Forest and the warm oriental spicy Desert. Squeeze a few drops from the pipette into your hand and massage the product into the skin on your face and neck.
That's it - you've done the whole shaving routine. You've had a clean shave from start to finish, right? And hey, if you've had the misfortune of inflicting a little nick or cut on yourself in the process, you know you can just get out the alum stick, right? Gently wet the tip, rub the wound, and voila - the bleeding stops like magic. If you prefer to use a whole alum block, that's also available.
That's it! You've made it to the finish line and got a nice shaving experience in the bargain. Not so difficult and complicated really, right?