Five steps to a satisfying and comfortable shaving experience for smooth skin

Date Posted:28 June 2022 

Painful conditions such as razor rash or uncomfortable, itchy red bumps can largely be avoided with the right approach to beard prep, shaving and post shave. Skin irritation from shaving can largely be avoided with the right approach.

With shaving being a necessary part of the daily grooming routine for many of us, it’s important to understand how the right products, tools and techniques combine to ensure a smooth, comfortable experience.

Painful conditions such as razor rash or uncomfortable, itchy red bumps can largely be avoided with the right approach to beard prep, shaving and post shave.

Here we’ve stepped out a typical wet shaving routine to follow to get the best results. This routine also works as a morning and night cleansing and moisturising practice - just omit the shaving. Men’s skin can be sensitive on the cheeks, on the neck, and around the mouth and easily irritated by a daily wet or dry shave. If you use natural, gentle products and follow this routine, you can work to eliminate irritation or redness.

What you’ll need for a Washpool natural wet shave experience:

 

1. Wash your face with a gentle cleanser and warm water

Washing with a gentle cleanser helps to soften the facial hair, open the pores and remove any excess oil. If you are shaving, this is the perfect preparation to start that process to avoid ingrown hairs or razor irritation. Choose a facial cleanser to work with either a combination skin or maturing skin depending on skin oiliness. The use of a clean facial towel or face wash cloth can support this by exfoliating dead skin cells on the skin's surface, to provide a smoother, closer shave.

 

2. Use a natural shaving soap to lather the beard

A shaving brush is an enjoyable and mindful way to lather your shaving soap and provide a richer lather, to get in and under the beard hair for optimum shave results and reduces ingrown hairs. Start the shaving process by soaking the bristles of your brush in warm water, and allow it to drain until the water stops running off. Rub your brush over the shaving puck or shaving soap until it's collected enough product to create a lather in your mug. Turn in circular motions so that the lather is very fine for application to your beard area. Apply to your beard in a circular motion, to ensure the hair is well coated ready to shave.

 

3. Shave with the hair grow not against it

When shaving, go in the direction that your hair grows. This might feel strange, however it will still get a close shave, without the irritations. Rinse the blade with warm water between strokes. Ensure that you have covered all of the beard, prior to washing off with warm water. You may need to do a light re-apply with the shaving soap lather if you haven’t got all the hair. Pay attention to hair around the adam’s apple area, as the growth doesn’t always grow downward.

 

4. Rinse down

Rinse your face, and shaving brush with cold water. This will prolong the life of your brush, and only store away once the brush fibres are dry. Rinsing your face in cold water will close the pores and wash away the soap lather. If you’re using the Washpool Shaving Soap or Puck, your skin should be left soft, smooth and supple, not tight.

 

5. Apply Face Oil

Men’s skin has a lot more sebaceous glands than women’s skin. It has more oils and is around 20% thicker. As a general rule men’s products need to be light textures and leave the skin supple, without being oily. Whilst your skin is damp, add 2 drops of the Face Oil to the palm of your hands, rub together, and apply to your face and neck area. This Face Oil will absorb into the skin and keep your skin nourished and hydrated.

 

A little about Washpool Traditional Shaving Soap

Our first test recipes for shaving soap go right back to 2009 so this has been a long time in the pipeline. With the growing trend away from disposable razors and fake foam in a can we thought it was high time we shared our own unique formula with our clients. 

When formulating this wet shave soap our focus was, as always, on people who prefer a genuinely natural product and those who might be sensitive to many of the additives commonly found in commercial products. Our batches are small and artisanal, meaning real hands working thoughtfully with real ingredients.

This soap is a fusion of liquid and solid soap making methods, resulting in a soap that loads easily onto the shaving brush. Many shaving soaps are made with manufactured stearic acid derived from palm oil, however, our soap is made with hand rendered (by us) tallow from local, organic, grass-fed stock. The stearic acid naturally present in tallow, cacao and shea butter make for a lovely stable, creamy lather.

Our shaving soap also contains coconut oil, avocado oil and castor oil for a long-lasting lather that doesn't dry delicate facial skin. We have 3 Traditional Shaving soap blends, including a Scent Free for Sensitive Skin, Bergamot, Patchouli & Cedarwood, and Lemongrass, Lime & Lemon Myrtle essential oil blends.

 

Razor Best Practices

  • Throw out your disposable razor once it has a slight drag on the skin. This may cause skin irritation and a rash.
  • Between shaves, ensure you wash your razor in hot water and keep in a clean, dry location between shaves.