Wet Shaving - What I learned so far.

Revised: 10/02/2007

It's been a year since I started my odyssey of wet shaving. It's safe to say I learned a lot and come a long way. It has been an eye opening experience for me for not only wet shaving but the whole grooming experience. Here are some of the methods, highlights and tips I have learned for my personal wet shaving experience.

The Shower:
Use a gentle shampoo. Shampoo twice if needed. Use a conditioner for dry hair conditions.
Use a facial scrub twice a week
Use a facial wash the rest of the time on my nose and ears only.
Natural hand made soaps are best. Olive Oil, buttermilk and shea butter are good choices. Super fatted soaps are great for really dry skin.
Don't dry face with towel. The trick is to have a face as hydrated as possible with open pores just before shaving.

Pre-Shave:
Fill lather bowl with warm water and put brush in bowl to soak. Rinse face with hot water to keep hydrated. A couple of drops of glycerin is OK but I use a pre shave lather instead. After 30-45 seconds of hot water on my face, I will apply a shave cream to my face and lather it by hand making sure to scrub and smooth the lather all over my face. I leave it on while I make my regular lather. I will re-hydrate the lather as needed if I take a long time to make my regular lather. Don't be in a hurry to make lather. I have found with both soaps and creams it does not pay to be stingy or too quick. There are different methods I use for creams versus soaps. I like a boar brush or best badger brush for soaps and a finest or silvertip badger brush for creams. Some brushes are great for both. Check shave equipment. I use a DE blade no more than 3 times and then dispose of it safely.

Lather Making:
Like I said, it does not pay to be stingy. Creams and soaps are lathered in a shave bowl. For creams, I start off with a moist brush, swirling about a quarter size amount of cream in the bowl and adding hot water a couple of drops at a time to the breech of the brush until I get the lather I want. I might have the brush pre charged with a little shave soap if I am looking for a super lather. Once the lather is done, I make sure my face is rinsed with hot water one more time. For soaps, I will charge the moist brush with soap and begin swirling the soap into the bowl adding drops of water to the breech as needed. I will then gently scrape the lather out of the brush on the side of the bowl and recharge the moist brush with soap. If the lather has been curing and drying in the bowl, I will add a few drops of water to "freshen" it. Slow swirling and pumping the brush a little usually gets me the lather I want. If I've done this right, I will have a bowl and brush full of rich creamy lather that is looks like soft peaked meringue with almost no bubbles. One difference is I'm using a small puck of shave soap. Instead of a bowl, I will make the lather in my hand. I can get some really nice lathers that way.

The Shave:
It doesn't matter what the equipment is. It's pretty much the same. Very light pressure, make sure of your angles and know the contours of your face and the direction(s) your beard grows. I use a 3 or 4 pass stubble reduction method. The first is with the grain (WTG), the second is across the grain (XTG) at a 45° angle, the third is across the grain the opposite direction (XTG) at a 45° angle and the fourth is against the grain (ATG). I may skip the ATG if my face is feeling a little abused. The final step is cleanup of stubble patches with some light quick blade buffing or J-hooking. I splash my face with hot water between passes and spread the leftover shave cream around before applying the new cream. I swirl the new lather on my face and then do a "painting" to cover the lather patches. I try and make the ATG pass as slick as possible since this is the most critical part to get BBS without irritation. I will feel for whiskers with my hand until they're gone. I will reduce passes if not needed. This especially true if I am using a Feather non-folding ACD-N Razor or straight razor in combination with a double edged razor.

Post Shave:
For me with my very sensitive skin, this last step is very important. I rinse all the lather off my face thoroughly with warm water. I then do a quick rinse with cold water. I have not had to use a styptic pencil in a long time to stop any bleeding. Optionally, I run an alum block over my face to close the pores and cut back any irritation. I then rinse any alum residue off with cold water and apply some witch hazel toner. At this point my shave and face care are done. All that is left is waiting a little bit for the pores to finish closing and checking my face for any final irritation or dryness. I mostly use Thayer's Witch Hazel Aftershave by itself or in combination with another aftershave. If my face is dry or has further irritation, I will use an after shave balm with a little aloe vera and a couple of drops of oil mixed with water on my hands. A little goes a long way. The reason I talk about irritation so much is that I have very sensitive skin. Water will give me a rash. The shave brush bristles will give me rash and most certainly, passing a blade over my face will give me a rash if I'm not careful. The one place I will always have some irritation is the hollows of my neck just on either side of my esophagus. My most stubborn spots are just above these hollows and certain spots on my jawline especially the hollow just below my chin. My chin is not smooth and tends to protect stubble in the little pockets.

Other care:
Due to the nature of my skin, I try not to put to much stuff on it. However, I do have some very dry patches on my shins and abdomen. I will use a moisturizer on those patches during the day. My face is usually OK for the rest of the day unless I have been out in the elements for a long time. A few drops of ASB (after shave balm) works well. My final step is to use a little ASB and aloe vera just before going to bed. It keeps my face hydrated overnight and helps with the shave the next day. If I happen to get a bad ingrown hair I use icthamol to help draw the hair out. Anherb gel and balm followed by Aloe Vera gel and raw shea butter is my potent weapon to fight a bad shave. Luckily, my shaves average 4.5/5.0 results.