So we finally come to it, the actual shave. Some of you may be thinking, “I know how to shave, dammit, I’m not an idiot.”
No, you’re not an idiot. But remember that modern cartridge razors are designed to make shaving idiot proof. I wrote this post for people who’ve never used a DE razor (or a straight, that post follows); they may just be ignorant of certain facts of shaving technique. And before you get all huffy, many people forget these days that ‘ignorant’ isn’t a pejorative meant to offend, but a simple statement of fact. I am ignorant of the finer points of table manners and social niceties, but it doesn't make me a bad person. Actually, in this specific case...?
How does your beard grow?
Most people think of beards as growing straight down. If that were the case, I’d be able to grow a real beard, not the straggly puffball with which I’ve been gifted by genetics. Most of us will have some patches idiosyncratic beard growth, and to get the best shave (especially if your beard hair is coarse and wiry) you should figure out how yours grows.
Let your beard go for a day or three, long enough that you’ve got a millimeter or two of growth. Then, examine which direction the hair grows, which is to say, which direction does it point after it leaves your skin? As an example, my beard grows more or less straight down on my cheeks and upper lip. More or less the same on the lump of fat that passes for my chin, though either side it grows down and away from my mouth at a near 45 degree angle. On my neck, the hair oddly grows left to right at about a 45 degree angle. Take a look at your beard and figure out how your beard grows on different parts of your face.
The Learning Curve
Never used a DE razor before? Here’s what you WILL experience at first:
Acclimation time: your skin needs time to acclimate to any new tools or techniques. A week is not unreasonable, though it’ll be what it’ll be.
Irritation. You’ll get a lot until you learn to handle the razor.
Cuts. You’re going to cut yourself.
Poor shaves: You probably won’t get every hair the first time.
All these are natural and to be expected. Nothing worth having comes without cost, and a shave that is both close and comfortable is no different. If you’re worried about presenting yourself at work, try this over a long weekend or vacation if you get one. There are skills to be learned in real shaving, and until you gain some rudimentary proficiency you’re going to suffer the consequences of your lack of mastery. If these things worry you, well, stay with your cartridge razors and continue tolerating shaves that are the equivalent of cafeteria food. Most guys do. But in this case, the good news is that I can recommend several fashion accessories to compliment your risk- and quality-averse lifestyle:
Source: Wolfenstein
For reasons of injury potential, I think a DE safety razor is much better to start with than a straight. The DE has some measure of blade protection built into its design, and blade angles are easier to determine courtesy of the protruding handle. It’s a lot easier to master and use a DE razor, and thus easier to learn fundamental skills and concepts will transfer over if you decide to climb the Everest of shavedom, the straight razor.
Basic Techniques
Razor Stroke Terminology:
WTG: With the grain. The is a shaving stroke that cuts in the direction your hair grows. Should be the most comfortable stroke. Hair grows down, shave down. Grows left, shave left. You get the idea.
XTG: Across the grain. This is a shaving stroke that is made at a 90 degree angle, more or less and variable by circumstance, to the direction a given patch of beard grows. This stroke is more aggressive than WTG. Hair grows down, shave left or right.
ATG: Against the grain. A stroke that cuts in the opposite direction of hair growth. Most aggressive stroke of the razor, and difficult for some men to ever execute cleanly due to the potential for irritation.
ATG passes are difficult for me, as my beard grows virtually parallel to my face. Plenty of other reasons they might be difficult for you, and not uncommon reasons either. WTG passes tend to be the easiest, with XTG falling in between. Unusually, WTG can be oddly difficult for me -- because my beard grows so flat against my skin, I have to increase the angle of the razor for a slightly more aggressive stroke or the razor tends to slip over the hair in spots. Yet another reason variable blade angle is actually a good thing, and shouldn’t be managed by some frickin’ ball joint and floating blades on the razor head.
Some men, when first starting out with DE razor shaving, find it helpful to draw a 'face chart' to document their beard growth. Even such a simple (and free!) step such as this will improve cartridge razor shaves.
Blade angle: The angle at which the blade touches your face. Plop the head of the DE razor on your cheek with the handle pointing straight out, and you will notice the blade doesn’t touch your face at all. Drop the handle down slowly until the blade touches your beard. You probably want to start with around 30 degrees blade angle, but you’ll need to monkey around to see what feels best for you, and what feels best will probably change on different areas of your face. Cartridge razors pre-set the angle in their heads, so this kind of personalization, SO IMPORTANT to a good shave, is impossible to achieve.
If the blade angle is too shallow, you’ll just slip over the surface. Too acute and the blade can cause irritation, even cuts. With a sharp blade, good lather, and well-hydrated beard hair, a shaving stroke at the correct blade angle (for your face) should feel like the hair is being wiped off, not cut off. It’ll feel damn smooth and not hurt in the slightest.
Some people find that using progressively shallower/less aggressive blade angles as they progress through the WTG--XTG--ATG series of passes to be safer and cause less irritation.
Oh, and for those of you mocking my artistic skills?
Source: lé Trek dú Star
Pressure: The amount of pressure you apply to keep the razor in contact with your skin. Generally, lighter is better. Some people say, “no pressure WHATSOEVER”, but I find this somewhat deceptive. Perhaps this is because my beard is more wiry than some, but if I apply no pressure at all, the blade is prone to skipping. I find the perfect pressure is just enough to keep the razor in contact with my face, then letting the weight of the razor do the work. YMMV.
Skin Stretching: Just before they take a stroke with their razor, some folks like to tighten the skin by placing a few fingers of the non-razor hand on the skin (above the razor and parallel to the stroke) and gently pulling the skin against the direction you’ll be shaving. Example: To shave your cheek, place your fingers above your beard and stretch the skin up, then draw the razor down your face. The skin flattens out and provide a better, more stable surface for the blade to pass over. This is more common in straight razor shaving, but many folks do it in DE shaving as well. I find it difficult since my face is covered in slippery lather and it’s hard for the stretching hand to maintain contact with my face.
Instead, I use the muscles in my face, head angles, and puffed cheeks to stretch the skin. This is less common, but it works better for me. Bring one corner of your mouth in and turn your head a bit, maybe puff out your cheek slightly, and the cheek is stretched. Raise you head up and rotate it to one side, and the opposite area under your jaw is stretched. Straight up for the neck. Ditto for exaggerated frowning the mustache area, and jutting the jaw and/or exaggerated smiling for the chin area. This doesn't stretch the skin quite as much as using your fingers, but YMMV.
Whatever works best for you is fine. Some people don’t stretch at all, though I do recommend some sort of stretching. It allows you to dictate the shaving surface -- otherwise, it's the razor blade that does the flattening!
The Basic Three-Pass Shave!
You’ll be making three passes over your face, with an optional fourth XTG pass halfway through. A 'pass' is shaving your entire face with a single type of stroke. We’re aiming at successive stubble reduction rather than scything everything off at once. Believe it or not, this kind of shave should be gentler. First pass is WTG, second XTG (or two passes, one each direction across the grain), and finally, the third ATG pass. If you’ve not shaved with a DE before, it’s probably a good idea that your first few shaves consist of ONLY a single WTG pass to practice the technique. As you feel comfortable with each step, add XTG and finally ATG passes over time. Remember, it’ll take you skin time to acclimate to any new shaving tools or techniques. Give it that time, or you’ll pay the price in irritation and maybe blood.
Either wash your beard for a few minutes in warm water or hold hot and wet towels against your beard, or take a nice hot shower. Hot shower is easiest, and I find the best. Soak brush, if using (USE IT!).
Prepare lather to your specifications and apply an even layer to your face. Load blade into razor if not already done, or the old one is worn out. To load: open the butterfly top by twisting the knob at the bottom, or unscrew the head from the handle depending on your razor’s design. Either is fine if the razor is in good shape. Blade just drops in.
Heat the blade for a second or two under comfortably warm running water, then begin. Make one WTG pass across entire beard area. Rinse well with warm water, then reapply lather (One advantage of a brush is that it holds extra lather, not requiring a wasteful re-lathering between passes).
Perform one XTG pass. Use shallower blade angle if it works for you. Rinse well and reapply lather.
Optional: Perform a second XTG pass in the opposite direction of the first XTG pass. Rinse well with warm water and reapply lather. Probably a step to add after some proficiency has been attained.
Perform final ATG pass if desired. Use shallower blade angle if it works for you. Some people will never be able to achieve this without irritation for any number of perfectly valid reasons. Rinse well with warm water. Do not re-lather.
Examine face for missed spots. If feel is important, run your hand over your face to find any scrubby spots. Touch up by applying a dab of lather and taking a single pass over the problem area, repeating as necessary. This step risks irritation if carried too far.
Once shaved to your satisfaction, rinse well in warm water, then again in the coldest water you can tolerate to close your pores and seal minor cuts by contracting the damaged capillaries.
Apply post-shave products as desired, traditionally in the order alcohol-based aftershave, aftershave balms, and finishing tighteners/sealers (Corn Husker’s Lotion/Witch Hazel). Use whichever you desire -- I never use all three. Deal with any lingering cuts with a styptic pencil, alum bar, toilet paper bits, or major skin grafts.
Bask in the glow of a job well done. Or, get down on your knees and pray your face heals soon...
These steps give a very basic, yet quality shave. Ideally, once you have mastered all the techniques, you should now have an irritation-free ‘baby’s butt smooth’ face, or ‘BBS’ in the wetshaving community. This shave is very difficult for me to achieve without irritation due to (I think) my coarse beard and shallow hair growth angle, making that final ATG pass a chancy endeavor.
If you’ve never had a BBS shave before, it’s a great feeling. You may find yourself feeling your beard area throughout the day just to admire your handiwork, something wetshavers comically refer to as ‘faceturbation’. Heh. Never stops being funny.
Further Information
The variations to the basic three-pass shave are as endless as they are fascinating. Your solutions should end up highly personalized, as no two faces are alike and everyone’s tastes differ.
When the inevitable questions come up, take to the internet for answers. I highly recommend the wetshaving forums badgerandblade.com and straightrazorplace.com. I am a member of the former, though sadly not too active these days, and have gotten tons of great info from the latter. Both seem genuinely peopled by wonderful, helpful members who want to share and commune together. If you’ve got questions about technique or unique problems, ask away there and you’ll get more advice than you know what to do with! Join and introduce yourself, or just lurk and read up!
That’s all I have. Best of luck, and if you’ve read this far? Congrats, and welcome to your new addiction. Heroin might be cheaper once you start picking up creams, razors, and aftershaves far in excess of what any human needs in one lifetime. You’ve taken a step most men never will, and are enjoying shaves better and more comfortable than anything the masses ever will. You are an enlightened being, a shave buddha, and a pathfinder in realms above the clouds.
Source: Caspar David Friedrich