The Secret to Achieving a Close Shave
Isn’t a close shave what every person that shaves is looking for? I would argue that that isn’t exactly correct. I believe the ideal shave is not only close, but comfortable too. Quick story: my one and only straight razor shave was a disaster. The barber actually did a fine job with the shave itself, I only had one minor nick (I’ve cut myself much worse on many occasions) but my face burned when it was over. It felt like it was on fire. Even after repeated applications of moisturizing lotion it didn’t feel better until the next day. I’ll never do that again. So I submit that in achieving a close shave we judge both baby-butt smoothness and secondly, of nearly equal import, comfort. I believe the two go hand in hand and I personally don’t want a close shave if my skin is irritated, dry or dinged up. So back to our question: how do you achieve a comfortable, close shave? The answer comes in two parts:
For Shave Closeness, Think Hardware.
For Shaving Comfort, Think Software, mostly.
(I’m a “geek” at heart, please humor the computer analogy.)
Hardware (K.I.S.S.):
• Your blade has to be sharp. Sharper is better. Simple. If the blade is sharp, it takes less force to cut. Another way is that a sharper blade generates a higher pressure because the surface area of the cutting surface is smaller. Think of this: A LASIK eye surgeon uses a new blade for each cut.
• The fewer the blades the better. Simple. Each blade in that razor head is another piece of metal scraping across your skin. It’s just like another stroke of the blade. So one stroke with a 5 bladed razor is like five strokes of a single razor blade. If you have to have a multi-blade razor the fewer blades the better say 2, or perhaps 3 at most. Personally, I switched to a Double edged razor (a.k.a. Safety Razor) over a year ago and I’ve never looked back. You can buy a two years supply of blades for just over $10. I can achieve a shave as close as using a triple bladed beast.
Software:
• Use an all natural, plant oil based, lubricant. Oil is a much better lubricant than foam. Regardless of which product you prefer, be certain to avoid alcohol. It is extremely drying to your skin as it pulls oils out of it. (I have an old-school electric cooktop that is essentially glass which I clean with a squirt bottle of alcohol, which works much better than windex as it cuts through the grease) I can’t say chemical free lubricant as that would be impossible to do. Plant oil is a chemical, it is naturally occurring in nature, but is a chemical none-the-less. However, it is not synthesized through a complex (or even simple) process. Almaden Shaving uses mechanically pressed oils, not chemically extracted. This means the oils cost more as the producers cannot extract as much oil from the plant stock (seeds, stems, leaves, whatever). But then neither can they contaminate them with harmful chemicals.
• Use a natural moisturizer. As you run the razor across your skin during the shaving process it removes three things. Besides the hair, can you guess what is removed? Part of what is removed is your skin, mostly dead cells and water. Since you have just shaved the outer layer of skin off, that “fresh” skin is greeting, seeing and feeling the world for the first time. If it gives up too much moisture, it can become irritated.
That should be simple to remember:
• Sharp blade
• Natural lubricant
• Moisturizer
Believe it or not, Almaden Shaving is a lubricating moisturizer so now you only need to remember two things: Sharp Razor and Almaden Shaving Oil to get your comfortably close shave.
Remember, that I said achieving a close shave was hardware dependent and comfort was mostly dependent on software? What’s the non-predominant part of comfort? Believe it or not we’ve already discussed it: A sharp razor. The reason is if you have to drag a dull razor across your skin multiple times to achieve the desired closeness, that’s lots of irritation because of extra skin removal. Better one swipe with a sharp blade. Also, a sharp blade requires less pressing the razor against your face. Since you’re pressing less, the razor is less likely to “grab” your skin because it isn’t bunching up.
So buy some Almaden Shaving Premium Shaving Oil for incredible shaving comfort the next time you want a comfortably close shave.