Chances are, you’ve been shaving on autopilot. You probably haven’t given much thought to how you shave, best practices for protecting your skin, and whether you’re giving yourself the cleanest, best shave possible. Sound about right? We thought so. But the good news is, we’re here to help. Here are some “bet you didn’t know”s about shaving, to help you refine your shaving routine.
- Keep your skin warm and moist before and during the shaving process. This keeps the hair soft, which—we’ll say it again for the folks in the back—helps you avoid needing to shave over the same area multiple times. One way to do this is to shave right after getting out of the shower.
- Rushing your shaving routine is bad for your skin! Luckily, our ShaveAware Refined Routine will give you a faster shave to save you time without mistreating your skin. When you shave with intention, you’re less likely to nick your skin or get razor burn, and more likely to need less repetitions over the same area.
- Washing your face helps to better prep your hair for shaving. More specifically, face washing with a gentle cleanser, not a harsh soap. Gentle facial cleansers help soften the proteins in our hair, whereas harsher soaps strip the natural oils from our skin and hair. Softer hair translates to a closer, cleaner shave, and less shaving strokes over the same area. If you don’t have time to do a full wash, we recommend a splash of warm water after getting out of the shower.
- On days when you have a little more time to devote to your wet shaving routine, leave your shaving butter on for 2-3 minutes before starting, to soften the hairs more. Again, this is so that you’re able to get a cleaner shave the first time rather than going over the same area multiple times.
- Stop using your fingers to apply shaving butter! Use a beard brush. Applying with a brush is better for your skin, saves water (from having to rewash your hands), and it makes you feel fancy – we promise. When you apply the butter, brush in an upward motion on your face. This is the best way to effectively lift bristles from the skin so your razor isn’t pulling on hair, and to coat the hairs with shaving butter, making your shave smoother, closer, and kinder to your skin. Bonus: proper beard prep helps drastically reduce ingrown hairs.
- Even Doctors will tell you that shaving doesn’t actually have any effect on how fast or coarse or thick your hair grows back, so shave away!
- The average shaver uses a gallon of water per shave. Wowza! If you multiply that by the number of people who are shaving in the world on a given day alone…that’s a heckuva lot of water wasted. Add RAZCLE to the ShaveAware Wet Shaving Routine and you’ll use a pint or less.
Next time you shave, we hope you turn off the autopilot and take conscious control of the wheel —your skin will thank you, and the environment will be better off too, with the amount of water you’ll save with RAZCLE.
Happy refining!
