There’s been a few mentions of “wet shaving” in OYS the past few weeks and as a practitioner and proponent of the activity, I thought about how many boxes it can check in the context of sexual strategy, especially for men reclaiming our masculinity in a Red Pill kind of way.

You need hobbies

Without a doubt, there are more efficient ways to remove the whiskers from your face and neck, so by wet shaving, you’re deliberately choosing to slow down focus on details. By my criteria, that makes it a hobby. Like any hobby, the rest of the interweb has sites dedicated to the detailed discussion of technique and comparison of the plethora of products available, so I’ll keep that sort of content fairly light in this post, but if you’re hooked, check out AoM, Badger and Blade, and Straight Razor Place. There’s even /r/wicked_edge/ and /r/Wetshaving/, probably more.

So why is this a good hobby for the improving man?

TL;DR: It’s fun and it feels good.

But men like to extrapolate, hypothesize, debate, and draw conclusions. So here we go…

You must be well-groomed

Sexual strategy boils down to Be Attractive. Don’t be Unattractive. Part of being attractive is your personal presentation (appearance).

“But 2guns…”:

  • “Shaving every other day takes effort!” Suck it up, buttercup So did going to the gym when you first started. Besides, do you like it when the woman you’re fucking doesn’t shave her legs for a week? Me either. Lead by example.
  • “My morning routine is already tight on time!” Double dip to save time in the morning AND have an out when you need to withdraw by shaving at night.
  • “I’m growing a beard!” There’s still opportunity for you here. Even with a beard, gross neck whiskers are gross. Is the cheekline of your beard naturally sharp and defined?
  • “Is it really a better shave?” That’s debatable, but I think it is. Probably not because of the DE razor itself, but because of everything else about the process.

Grooming is a variable of attractiveness that is completely under your control regardless of your current physique. Don’t make excuses for looking like a slob. Because your diet is on point (right?) your skin is probably clearing up and looking good. The products you’ll use when wet shaving will enhance this effect because they typically have much fewer artificial ingredients than the “modern” products you’ve been buying. The prep and finishing steps of the process also condition your skin to look and feel cleaner and tighter, thus helping you [Be Attractive].

Self-indulgence

High-end barbershops sell this experience as a luxurious indulgence and it is certainly that. Sure, your lady gets to feel the results for a few minutes, but this activity is something you do for yourself. You select the products you like, spend the time learning, spend the time doing, walk around all day feeling your face and smelling your smell. You learn about your body and how it tolerates different products and different techniques. You occupy the bathroom, your attention is on yourself. For that time, [this is your mission] and it’s all about you.

Skill and focus

The major elements of wet shaving, building lather and slicing the hairs off your face, both require skill.

Your lather will be weak, too wet, too dry, too much, too little, until you figure out how wet to leave the brush, how much soap to pick up, how much water to add, and how long to whip it. When you finally build that rich, long lasting, somehow-simultaneously-dense-and-fluffy foam that lubricates your skin just right, you’ll know it. You’ll strive to get it every time and continue to fuck it up. Then one day, you’ll realize you’ve made awesome lathers for the last month and didn’t even think about it!

You’ll hold the razor too high, too low, at the wrong angle, and move it sideways. You’ll press too hard with the blade, stroke the same spot too many times, hit the hairs in the wrong direction at the wrong time, take too long and let your lather dry out, and slice the shit out of your neck. You’ll get bumps, burn, and nicks. You’ll cut yourself and learn how to stop the bleeding or avoid the nick. Then one day, it’ll click and you’ll somehow magically know how to operate your razor on every part of your face.

Even when your motions are ingrained, you MUST [clear your mind of distractions] during the actual shaving. I usually shave in the morning and there’s nothing that wakes me up better than a laser-focus on that task. If there’s someone else in the space (kids, wife, plate, whoever), you have to tune them out for the 2-5 minutes it takes to complete a pass.

Traditionally “Manly”

There’s an image associated with a man lathering up with a bowl and brush and it’s strongly linked to refined masculinity. Your kids will want to watch. Have fun with it and give them lather beards or dab a bit on their little noses. Playfully dab it on your lady’s nose too when she butts in. She probably saw her dad or grandpa shaving and you can reinforce the rebranding of yourself as [her new “Daddy”].

Multiple times when a plate slept over, I’ve been shaving in the morning with the bathroom door open and caught her sitting up in the bed, staring at me and biting her lip (they all do it the same way…). There must be something sexy about watching a man prepare himself to crush the day. The modern equivalent of donning armor and war paint?

I’ve taken my kit camping and shaved using the side mirror of my truck and some water I heated over coals. Imagine yourself as a Legionnaire trekking across the Sahara. It’s rugged as fuck yet still refined.

Diversion of time / attention

Don’t want to watch The Bachelor while your lady scrolls her phone? Open up your computer and research technique and products. Need to [be busy] because your chores are done and hers aren’t? Take that long steamy shower and pamper yourself with a full-prep shave. Even if you shaved that morning, you can practice building lather. Or iron your shirts, or shine your shoes, but that’s another post…

If this activity is new to you, “she” will notice and probably say something about how much time you’re spending on research, time you spend in the bathroom, and the space you’re now using to store your equipment. Oh, and you suddenly smell fantastic, in a way that can change every few weeks as you try out new products. The hamster bait is endless- [have fun] smashing softball shit-tests!

You just got a hard no, it’s 9 at night, and you already mowed the lawn this week? NBD, you have a hobby and some [plausibly deniable dread]! Take an hour to shower and shave, then try again. Still “no”? Get dressed and head out to grab a drink or something, looking and smelling great!

Frugality

Not so much directly related to sexual strategy, but spending less money on something means more money can be applied to some other part of your life that you’re improving. After the startup costs, the sustained expenditure on wet shaving is very little. You’ll probably spend more on aftershaves than you did before, but the good creams and soaps last longer and cost about the same or less than the crap you used to use. The very best blades (Feather) cost about $0.30 each and last me 5 shaves. “But I just bought a 5 pack of cartridges for $38!” Keep those around for manscaping until you can switch to cheap generic Mach3 cartridges or you’re brave enough to do it with a DE.

Wet shaving is not a shortcut to getting laid.

Yeah, we can find sexual strategy in any activity there is, but don't do it because women. Your lady might not notice or GAF about any of this. The hobby is for your enjoyment.

OK, so you wanna do this?

Like I said above, look at the dedicated sites for extensive tutorials. The following is the process that works for me after 5 years of practice. It takes me about 20 minutes.

Tools you need:

  • A shave bowl or mug
  • A Badger hair shaving brush and a drying stand There’s a kit at Walmart and most drugstores that comes with a bowl, brush, and stand for $30. This is fine for learning or forever if you just want to brush on good canned lather. Upgrade the brush ASAP or start with one that’s at least a “Best Badger” quality if you find you like building lather because it really does make it easier. Amazon has hundreds of options.
  • A Double Edge (DE) Safety Razor- Probably the least important element of the whole process, but it's a tool you can hold so it gets the most attention. There are again hundreds of options here; I use a pristine 1947 Gillette Super Speed that I got for $20. But before that, I spent at least $100 on various modern non-adjustable razors trying to find the right balance and aggressiveness. For the beginner, I recommend a 1960’s Gillette Fat Boy Adjustable from Ebay for about $50. You can find the setting that works and leave it there. If you don’t like the hobby, turn around and sell it back.
  • A box of Feather brand razor blades. Don’t waste your blood, time, or money on anything else. I get mine from Amazon.

Consumables:

  • A tub or puck of Shaving Soap, or a tube of Shave Cream, intended for whipping into lather. There are countless options but I recommend starting with Proraso Green. It’s nearly ubiquitous because it really is good. They even sell it in a can if you want to skip the building lather step (I still like to brush it onto my face though).
  • A tub of Pre-Shave cream. The forums debate the effectiveness of this product, but I’ve tried with and without and for me, it really does make that first pass feel smoother. Again, I recommend Proraso Green, but there are countless options.
  • An Alum block. Some guys use witch hazel instead, but I find alum to be superior for closing pores and stopping micro-nicks.
  • Styptic Pencil. You will cut yourself, it will bleed, this will stop it.
  • Some kind of aftershave lotion. They call it “Lotion”, but it isn’t always white and creamy. Most of the time it’s clear and alcoholic. My choice is Clubman. It’s not too strong, absurdly cheap, available at any drugstore, and I (and damn-near every woman who’s smelled me close) think it smells fantastic.

Still don’t want to drop the dough on a safety razor? Ease into it by doing the prep, 3-pass, and finish process, but use the cartridge razor you already have.

How to do it

  • While you still have some whiskers, figure out and remember which direction they grow. You really might have to make a sketch of your neck and face and draw a map of the different zones. Really. I have small patches on each side of my neck that grow perpendicular to the rest of the hair in that zone.
  • Fill your mug with hot water and put the brush in to soak, bristles first. If you’re using a soap puck, put some hot water on top of that to soften the outer layer.
  • Shower. Don’t wash your face with soap but get it good and wet with hot water. Don’t dry your face when you get out.
  • Rub a thin coating of Pre-Shave Cream on your wet face ASAP then finish drying off.
  • Dump out the water in the mug, squeeze out the excess from the brush, build the lather. See one of the other sites for exactly how to do this. Alternatively, shoot some canned Proraso into the mug after you dump out the water.
  • Brush the lather onto your face, right on top of the PSC, painting it against the grain or swirling. You should have about a quarter inch of lather. You can always add more.
  • You’ll be taking three “passes”, which means you’ll be lathering your face three times. Make sure you made enough.
  • Wet your razor (obviously with a blade installed). Keep rinsing and wetting the razor after every few strokes.
  • Hold the razor lightly at about the point on the handle where it would balance naturally. Figure out the handle angle at which the blade makes a 30 deg angle to your skin. Remember how this feels.
  • With your off hand or by turning your head, puffing your cheek, whatever, tighten the skin in the zone you’re about to shave.
  • Without pressing the blade into your skin, rest the blade on your skin and pull it through the zone (that’s called a stroke). Imagine you’re sliding the blade between the lather and your skin. If the skin is still wet, you can take another stroke but the blade shall never touch dry skin. You’ll re-wet and lather again so just leave it.
  • Shave all the lather off your face and neck.
  • Rinse off with hot water, and while your face is still wet, lather up again.
  • Shave, rinse, lather, shave, rinse. You’ll do each thing 3 times total, PSC only before the first lather. Take your time with the last pass.
  • After your third hot rinse, inspect your face for the small areas you probably missed. Spot lather and shave those if you want, or save ‘em for next time.
  • Once you’re satisfied with your shave, rinse everything off with cold water.
  • Wet the alum block under cold water and rub it on your entire face (forehead too) and neck. It will burn. The lighter your touch with the razor the less it will burn, but it still will burn.
  • While the alum residue is drying on your face (3-5 minutes), brush your teeth, rinse the extra lather out of your brush and bowl, do whatever. When your face starts to feel “crackly”, rinse it off again with cold water.
  • Towel off your face and immediately slap on the aftershave wherever you had whiskers. It’ll burn too. Your skin might even get red for half an hour but it’ll get better.
  • Got a beard? Get a boar’s hair beard brush and some beard oil. Keep that shit soft and tidy.
  • Try not to molest your face all day because it feels so fucking smooth.

I intentionally didn’t tell you in which hair-growth direction to make your passes. The forums recommend never going against the grain because ingrown, but I do it with no problems. My pattern is across the grain, across the grain the other way, against the grain. The forums say “with the grain, across, across the other way.”

Remember, it’s a hobby, so experiment to find out what works for you.