SHAVING GUIDE

9 PROFI TIPS ON HOW TO IMPROVE

YOUR SHAVE INSTANTLY

A. BEARD PREPARATION
B. KNOW YOUR BLADE
C. AFTER THE SHAVE
A. BEARD PREPARATION

The preparation of the beard can hardly get

enough attention. And many men are not com-
pletely satisfied with their shave, mainly the
skin isn’t feeling comfortable after or they even
encounter pain.
Preparing the beard has a big influence on the
feel and result of a shave. Let’s look closer:
We are convinced, that
a good shaving brush
and good soap/cream
are essential: Only a
brush can help to
spread the lather prop-
erly around every
single hair.

But this guide is to improve your shaving

result, as an add-on. However your usual
routine looks like. You might be suprised
about the results.
Here a short list of what we generally consid-
er a good preparation:

- a lot hot water

- a good face wash
- lather up
- give the lather 1-2 min time to do its work
A. BEARD PREPARATION

TIP NO 1. THE HOT SHOWER

Shaving after a shower has exactly the same
result of the hot towel treatment that you get
at the Barber shop. But what does it do?
The hair has a soft core and a shell consisting
of chips, that are harder than steel. If the
beard hair is soaked in hot water, the core
collects the water and will grow in its diame-
ter. This makes the chips open up.
Now the microscopic thin edge of your ra-
zor’s blade can enter the hair and cut it off.
Without softening the hair in this way, your
razor will still shave, but it is more forcefully
ripping, than properly cutting, as it is sup-
posed to.

The shower helps the hair to collect a lot of

water. It will do good for your skin and your
blade. So shave always afterwards and don’t
towel off your face before you start shaving.
A. BEARD PREPARATION

TIP NO 2. EXFOLIATING
Exfoliating is always a topic of which we men
don’t really know how to think about.
Isn’t it something only women do? Well, we
should do too. The reason why is simple: To
remove all dead skin, and
deep clean it. It pre-
vents from getting
tiny pimples and
other minor skin
problems that most
likely get shaven off.
Exfoliating prepares
our skin, that a very
sharp blade is about to come close soon. And
the best result will show, if done regularily.

There are all kinds of exfoliating products:

washlotions, soaps, powders and even masks.
But in the end it is all the same. There are some
abrasive particles inside the products that
remove the skin. Sandpaper basically. So, go
into your kitchen, and just use some salt,
sugar, or even honey, to wash your face with.
For more sophisticated mixtures look for “DIY
receipe facial scrub” and you will have exactly
what you need, prepared within minutes. Of
course many brands lead ready to use ones.
A. BEARD PREPARATION

TIP NO 3. PRESHAVE OIL

Another reason to apply a good beard prepa-
ration (besides soften the hair and cleaning
the skin) is to lubricate the skin. Shaving
soaps and creams lubricate already very well,
but who wants it even more slippery and also
norture his skin, pre- shave oil helps to let the
blade slide smoothly over the skin.
Pre- shave oil is available from many brands
with different scents. But one thing is clear,
none of them makes it more slippery than the
other. Other properties vary, but we found
only a very few
really natural ones.

Also here it just

makes sense to go into the kitchen and see
what you have there.
Argan oil, sesame oil, peanut oil even olive oil
and all the others can be used to test the
effect.
And the big plus: all these oils that you use for
cooking are natural and have valuable proper-
ties for your skin.
 B. KNOW YOUR BLADE

These tips are made so that you find a few ad-

ditional ways to enjoy your daily shaving rou-
tine more, disregarding which type of razor
you use.

In this part we look a bit closer at the blade

and what we can do to understand it better
and keep it longer fit.

In general it is to recommend:

- Don’t shave with a blade that hurts during

shaving

- don’t try to save money on blades while

compromising your shaving result.

- If you are having permanently rashes, you

need even to investigate more to find your
way.
B. KNOW YOUR BLADE

TIP NO 4. EVALUATE YOUR BLADE

We can actually learn a lot from the traditional

straight razor barber shave. A barber needs to
know exactly the current condition of his blade, to
not let the customer experience a dissapointing
shave or even pain.
Disregarding the razortype, every blade goes
through 3 stages:

- It cuts well and shaving feels smooth: The

blade is totally ready to use

- Shaving hurts, but the blade cuts well:

The blade is sharp but previous shaves deformed
the edge and it needs to be stropped. (This at least
counts for a straight razor. Or? See tip No. 6.)

- The blade just doesn’t cut properly:

Yes, it’s dull and needs to be sharpened (straight
razor) or replaced.
 B. KNOW YOUR BLADE

TIP NO 5. DRY YOUR BLADE

We learned earlier that a blade will get blunt just
from cutting hair. Besides wear from using it, cor-
rosion also has an influence on the sharpness of
your blade.
The razor gets wet during the shave and is stored in
a permanent slightly moist environment, since
most of us keep the razor in the bathroom.
Means: the razor blade will corrode. And that first
at the thinnest point. And that is the microscopic
edge that we badly need “razor sharp”. Corrosion
will destroy the edge, so it get dull faster.

Drying your razor blade after the shave can slow

this down. Shake it out then use a papertowel, toi-
lette paper, a q-tip or even a hair dryer before you
store your razor away.

(Remark for straight razor users: NEVER wash your

carbon steel razor with water, just wipe it clean with paper
and store it in a dry place, such as your nightstand)
B. KNOW YOUR BLADE

TIP NO 6. STROPPING ON A JEANS?

Myth or truth? Well, as seen in tip No.4,
stropping is a regular practice for straight
razor users. After the invention of the safety
razor, even stropping machines with a rotat-
ing leather belt have been sold.

And today these kind of pictures are all over

the internet, suggesting to strop your razor
on a jeans. (Those pictures are mainly dis-
played with a cartridge razor, but it can be
also done with a safety razor).
The blade itself just need hold in a flat angle
to the jeans material. And according to
theory it works. Stropping simply redirects
the small damages of the blade’s edge into the
original shape.
Try it out to slide you razor for about 15-20-
times as shown in the picture.
C. AFTER THE SHAVE

We are almost done.

That is at least what many men think once the

last hair is cut and start to rush in this
moment .

Please don’t do so.

Take this last step - the protection of the skin

- with patience.

The different temperatures of water, the

smooth feeling of the skin and finally the
scent and feel of your aftershave lotion can be
very enjoyable.

ONLY THEN START YOUR DAY

C. AFTER THE SHAVE

TIP NO 7. RINSE INTENSIVELY

A good feeling of the skin after your shave has
two components: the short and long-term
treatment. While for example using a sharp
blade and preparing your beard with a lot of
water is rather having the effect on this very
shave, exfoliating and also this tip are having a
long term effect on your skin.
After your shave you should get rid of any
foam residue in your face.
Many man immediately use cold water to
close the pores but rather do it too quickly
and not diligently enough. This makes that
there is still a bit of the foam
left on the skin. This can lead
to unwanted irrti- tations.
At this point there is no
need for cold wat e r.
Rather choose a water-
temperature that is
comfortable for you
and rinse intensive-
ly all foam off.
After that go
over to cold
water and towel
off finally with a
fresh towel.
C. AFTER THE SHAVE

TIP NO 8. THE FROZEN TOWL

This is one is one of our favorites! Since cool-
ing down the skin with cold water is recom-
mended to close the pores again after the shave
- a nice option here is the frozen towel.
brush you
Use a small towel, kitchen towel or microfibre
will be able
cloth, soak it under cold running water,
to spread the
squeeze it so that it is not holding too much
l a t h e r
water and place it into the freezer.
a r o u n d
every single
The timing you will need to try out according
h a i r .
to the actual time you need to shave.

The aim is not to really have it frozen to a hard

board, but just nice that it slightly started
freezing and is still flexible. Right after a
proper rinse off (no. 6), take it out of the
freezer and cool down the skin.

Maybe a frozen towel is not the

preferred way in winter. But
in summer the tapwater
might not even reach
the desired tempera-
ture, so this is a nice
and refreshing hack to
get around that.
C. AFTER THE SHAVE

TIP NO 9. BEFORE THE AFTERSHAVE

For the last step: the after shave treatment, a
good aftershave product is absolutely essen-
tial and there is no way around:
-No treatment at all leads often to dry and ir-
ritated skin.
- While a “wrong” product for
you will even do worse.

We strongly advice to stay

away from chemical
products and those
that contain alcohol.
Some think that disinfection is the point of
the after shave treatment. But it is rather to
soothe the skin. So, please look for an after-
shave product that is natural and more like a
lotion or liquid spray.
If you want to desinfect tiny cuts (or bigger
ones) get a bottle of pure lavendar essential
oil. This helps to stop bleedings and to speed
up the healing process.

Try also out to not immediately apply the af-

tershave lotion. Wait some minutes until your
skin is completely dry before you apply it.
 We hope these few simple tricks will make
your morning routine much more pleasurable.
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