Originally posted by: mantic
Originally posted by: waggy
so would this help with someone wh gets major "burn" after shaving?
Every time i shave my face turns red and it hurts for hours. I have tried diffrent razors and gells and nothing seems to work. Granted the Mach 3 turbo has been the best so far. So now i don't shave very much but prefer the clean shaven look.
Well, it wouldn't hurt to try. The main reasons for razor burn are not enough hydration on the face, too much pressure on the razor (or incorrect technique), and (often) too many blades in the razor (it may only take one blade to cut a whisker, but a multi-bladed razor shoves across more blades whether you want it or not).
Hydration: Shave after a nice, steamy shower (when you towel-off, don't dry your face), or at least wash your face with a gentle soap and rinse with hot water. Then splash hot (not scalding) water on your face for a good 30 seconds, or, put a hot towel on your face for a couple minutes.
Avoid a shaving cream/gel/foam that comes out of a pressurized can. The ingredients can actually dry the face (and then they have to put in artificial lubricants which themselves can cause irritation). Neutrogena Shaving Cream and King of Shaves gel are OK products you can probably find locally;
Sharps Kid Glove,
Molle', and
Cremo-Cream are excellent products. The *best* products, and the best for your skin, are the "old school" creams and soaps that require a shaving brush: Williams Shaving Mug Soap, Surrey shaving soaps, and Polmolive lather cream (red label) are widely available and OK to start with; Proraso is a big step up, and then there is the "high-end" stuff like Art of Shaving, Truefitt & Hill, Trumper, etc. (I put "high end" in quotes because its really not that much more expensive per shave). The Proraso shaving brush is OK; its made of boar hair, which is not nearly as good as the badger hair used in better brushes, but it'll get you on your way (just make sure you shampoo the brush or soak it in a mild Borax solution--the "20 mule team" stuff--before you use it for the first time, as the smell can be reeeeeally nasty if you don't).
Technique: OK, you're ready to shave. You want to
gently shave with the grain of your beard, using smooth strokes and just enough pressure to keep the razor on your face. Don't hack or swipe at your face. Avoid going over the same spot over and over again. After you're finished, re-wet your face with hot water and relather. This time shave at a right-angle to the beard, again using smooth strokes and light pressure. Then rinse off with cold water to close the pores and clean off the remnants of the lather. Use just a dab of an alchohol-free aftershave rubbed into your face.
(If you can't figure out the grain of your beard, or it goes all over the place, try just shaving straight down for the first pass, and straight up for the second.)
See also:
MSNBC Story
Shavemyface.com
Badgerandblade.com
Good Luck!
--Mark
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