This ones something we can really help all the guys with! Whether your just starting to shave and wondering if your doing it right, or your a parent wanting to pass on some great tips, we've got you covered.
Now of course this is a life skill that comes with practice but we've included some of our favourite tips here to help you get fast tracked to a great shave...
Here's our top tips for a great shave:
Hydrate the skin and keep it warm
The number one tip we can give anyone suffering with friction burns (razor rash) is to make sure you warm and moisten your skin and hairs before to shave. The best way is to wallow in a nice warm bath so you give your skin plenty of time to soften and your facial hairs time to hydrate - but if you don't have time (or don't like baths!) then a 2min shower is the next best thing. Make sure you get your face and neck nice and wet and it'll do the trick nicely.
Myth busting: you don't just need to shave "with the grain"!
In fact you'll need to shave in 3 distinct directions to get the closest shave and most comfortable results. We explain this with diagrams in our Shaving Kit Guides, but basically follow these 3 steps:
Shave with the direction of facial hair growth first, this gets all the long hairs that are in the best position for a clean cut.
Next, shave across the hair direction, so shave from the side. If your doing your neck, for most guys this means coming from the left or the right.
Thirdly and finally shave against the grain. If your doing your neck, this is likely to be up from the base of your neck towards your chin.
By the time your doing the last step you should have got most the hairs and this will just finish off and provide the closest shave with the least amount of friction.
Young skin needs to be treated gently!
Make sure all your shaving is always done with short and soft strokes. Our DRUCEBOX razor and blades are designed to spread any accidental pressure and alongside an easy-grip rubber-alloy handle, it's a winner for getting a close shave.
Use Quality shaving gels
Shaving gels are really important for helped your razor blades smoothly slide over your face, cutting the hairs precisely and swiftly in the process. The aim of smooth teenage shaving is to reduce friction, maximise comfort and be able to see what your doing. Clear shaving gels are a great idea because they don't have colourants in and they allow you to see where your shaving easily, so you're less likely to miss a bit!
Re-hydrate your skin with an intensive moisturiser
Why bother? We'll you've just ripped off the top layer of your skin with a sharp blade, so your poor skin now needs a bit of TLC to help it feel great again and be refreshed! When we shave we remove skin cells and the natural oils which help to keep our skin soft and subtle, so we need to put that moisture back into the skin to look after it, stop it drying out and also help prevent spots. What? Spots!?
Yes that's right, as soon as we remove those natural oils, our skin goes into panic mode because without them, the skin is left vulnerable to cracking and splitting. Now if you imagine your body is always trying to prevent bacteria and disease getting in, it makes sense your poor skin is going to try and repair the barrier of protection (your skin) which helps to keep nasty disease and bacteria out.
So what does it do? It produces an abundance of oils (called sebum) to replace the lost moisture, but in the process it usually makes too much and goes OTT - this helps contribute to oily skin (really normal for teenage boys). So the trick is to make sure you always apply a high quality aftershave moisturiser to let your skin know that it doesn't need to produce any moire oils (which can lead to spots) but instead it's all good as it is. The result? You should see less spots and soften, less irritated or dry skin!
Learning how to shave doesn't need to be tricky, but with a lot of care, some great tip's like these and a great set of shaving tools available here, you're onto a winner!
We cover all this with some great detailed advice in our shaving guide which comes with every fantastic Shaving Kit, so grab your with FREE UK shipping and get the full low-down on how to shave well.
About the author
This article was written by James, founder and youth advocate at DRUCEBOX. He is passionate about helping parents support their teenagers starting to shave and contribute to their positive teenage mental health.