Tips For A Great Shave

Most men seem on auto pilot during the morning ritual of shower, shave and out the door. For many of us, we do not spend enough adequate time and care giving ourselves a quality clean close shave. Well all that can be changed with a few easy tips. What we are looking for in a quality shave is obviously to remove any excess unsightly facial hair, but also do so in a manner that will leave the face free of nicks, blotches or severe razor burn. Creating a quality shave on a daily basis requires the right equipment, patience, and knowledge of a good shaving process.

Shaving Equipment

The shaving equipment begins with a quality razor. The sky is the limit on how much money you would like to spend. I usually opt for the Gillette Mach III razor as this model has always provided me with a really good shave. The downside to the Mach III and other name brand models is the high price of the replacement cartridges. This is a bitter pill that just needs to be swallowed as the name brand knock offs produce poor shaves as the razors seem to get dull very quickly. This is your face were talking about so spend the extra money.

The choice of shaving cream should be one that has a decent amount of lubrication or oils to allow a decent surface for the blade to do its work. Avoid the generic or basic super foamy creams that create a very thick meringue like coating on your face. These cheaper creams seem to just create more obstruction for your blade path and seem to dry the face out on occasion. The super foamy shaving creams are better left for locker room pranks.

Some extras that will be beneficial to your quality shave are the shaving brush. You have probably seen these brushes in barber shops as they are use them to twirl the cream on the face. This will provide you a closer shave. Finally, get yourself some rinse and aftershave products such as witch hazel and skin moisturizers to complete the process.

Shaving

It is always ideal to shave after a hot shower. Never ever shave cold dry skin as this will lead to a very poor shave as well as blotchy red skin. The key to starting out the shave is get the hairs very wet and warm before apply the cream. Once the shaving cream is on the face, let it stand a minute or two.

Next you will commence shaving with a few short strokes going with the grain of the face. The "grain" would constitute the direction the hair is growing towards. After a few strokes rinse the blade with hot water and continue. It is advised that the sides are shaved first, then the mustache area above upper lip, and finally the chin. If you see any visible short hairs growth, re-apply some cream with the barber brush, and re-shave the area.

Rinse off the remaining cream with warm water and apply a little witch hazel or astringent to the face. Rinse the astringent off with cool water and dry with towel. Finally add a little skin soother to make your face feel cool and refreshed.