Hello and thank you for your time, this will be a basic shaving guide to help men get better shaves, deal better with itch and help curb razor burn. Let’s get started.

Note: I do not keep a beard, this is for close shaving and not trimming or grooming facial hair.

  1. I recommend shaving after you take a warm shower.

Why? This causes your hair to soften and absorb some more water, which allows the razor to cut the hair better. This isn’t necessary however, but it is the way I prefer to shave.

  1. When you apply your cream, gently rub it in and let it sit for two to five minutes, five max. This further softens the hair and helps the razor to “glide” over your skin easier.

  2. Do a basic regular shave like you normally would but, once you’ve cut the hair down, use your razor to lightly shave sideways. This helps further cut the hair down and lessens the chance of ripping or getting the razor caught in the next step. Believe it or not your razor can get “caught” and “rip” at your hairs, which can lead to cuts and so forth. Even if you don’t actually feel the razor catching.

  3. Shave gently against the grain. Repeat this several times until you have no actual hair left. Be gentle however, as this is the part where it’s easiest to cut yourself. You don’t need to go particularly fast but, you don’t want to go too slow either.

Note: For the chin and upper lip you can pull your skin tighter by opening the mouth and curling the lips in while extending the chin. This allows for smoother, easier shaving of the area.

Note 2: When dealing with moles or other skin protrusions I recommend shaving gently from several angles until you complete a full circle around the protrusion. The goal here is not to completely shave the hair down, just make it look shaved down. Trying to shave it down will likely lead to cuts or, in my case, buggering it all up and slicing the thing off.

  1. Rinse the entire shaven area thoroughly with warm water to soften the skin. Once you have done this and removed the cream, give your face a second or two and then switch to cold water. Yes, the cold water sucks but, trust me it helps stop razor burn and post shave itch. It causes the skin and pores to shrink, essentially tightening while also soothing the areas you can already see developing into razor burn.

  2. Light pay your face dry, and finish up your shave.

This probably won’t work for everyone but, I have been shaving like this for a long time now and it has worked wonders for my face in dealing with razor burn, whilst minimizing cuts. I hope you find this useful.

Please post anything else you gents have found useful for keeping your face nice after a close shave.