Not everyone has time the time, money, or inclination to go
through a complex shaving routine. So what can you do to make your shave better
without spending too much time/money/dignity?
All in, this stuff will cost you less than
S$50. And you can get most of it at one place (Little India). This is what you
should get:
A
shaving brush. Go to
Mustafa’s and get the synthetic brush (S$10). They are not as nice as boar and
badger hair brushes, but they are good enough for a beginner. Synthetics also
don’t need to be broken in. If you figured out that you like it, later you
should upgrade to a badger haired brush.
A
brush and razor stand.
Water is the enemy of your razor and brush. It promotes corrosion
on your blades and nasty bacteria growth in your brush. This will quickly pay
itself off in longer razor and brush life. You don’t need a fancy one. I use the Kent chrome shave stand (S$16),
which you can get from here:
Shaving
scuttle
This is just a place to make foamy lather. I actually use a wooden
bowl that previously came with shave soap in it that I got from Sydney. But really, this can be any bowl. Think of
something that you have to whisk your hand around in a circle in/above, so look
for something with a wide mouth (not a coffee mug). You probably have something
in your house now that can be used, whether it is an old mismatched bowl. Just
remember that drop-proof materials are better than glass/ceramic. Think something larger than a mug, but
smaller than a soup bowl – smaller than two cupped hands. It just has to be big
enough to whip a bit of lather up, which you don’t need much of.
Shaving cream
I am talking about the shaving cream that comes in a tube, not a
can. At Mustafa’s there is a whole range of creams. There are those that smell
nice and those that are more lightly scented. I use Super Max cream, which
costs S$2.50 a tube and lasts a long time. Other creams costs more, but not
much more (S$4-6). This will save money compared to that fluff that comes in a
can.
A hand towel
This is that medium sized towel that you
got as a wedding setting. Now is the time for this baby to shine. You use this
towel because shaving leaves a lot of tiny stubble shavings and foam behind,
even after your rinse your face. You want that stubble going into this towel,
not your shower towel and back all over your body.
Pre-shave
conditioner (optional)
People with thick hair can soften up the hair. Some people shower
before they shave, which softens up the hair. The downside to this is that you
then get stubble debris left on your face. If you don’t want to shower before
your shave, you can put on pre-shave preparation lotion to soften up the hair.
A cheap way to do this is put on some hair conditioner or hand lotion, so long
as it is not too full of perfumes. There are pre-shave oils too, but they tend
to be a bit expensive and – at least for me – a bit too time consuming. So I
usually skip this step.
Post
shave toner
There are two ways to go on this. There
are alcohol based toners that tighten up pores, but also dry out the skin. For
oily skin, this is great for the first few hours in the morning, but the face
makes up for it by pumping out even more oil.
A nice alternative is Garnier Cooling Toner, which comes with alcohol to
tighten pores but also a castor oil and glycerin to recondition the skin. It is
light enough so that you don’t even feel it.
Cotton squares
You know those square cotton pads that your wife uses to remove
make-up. Yeah. Steal a stack of those. If you don’t have any, a bajillion of
them costs like S$2 at the grocery store.
Now,
this is what you should do when you shave:
1. Shower (optional)
2. Drape the hand towel over your shoulder.
3. Fill up your bowl with hot water then put
your brush into it.
4. Wash your face. This cleans off the dirt
and oil off your face. It also means that this crap isn’t getting onto your
brush.
5. If you have thick facial hair, apply a
pre-shave conditioner. Do something else while you wait for the conditioner to
set into the hair (eg, brush your teeth, trim your nose hair, floss). A few
minutes is fine.
6. Dump the water out of your bowl, then put
a tiny pea worth of shaving cream at the bottom of your scuttle.
7. Shake out your brush 2-3 times to remove
excess water, then lather up the shave cream.
It should get foamy.
8. Gather half the foam and put it onto your
face. Now brush your face in small circles. This exfoliates your skin, gets out
the last of the dirt, and really gets the lather under the hair.
9. Shave with a sharp, good razor. Pick a razor that gives you a good shave, but isn't so expensive that you'll save money at the expense of your face. Shave
downward, with the grain of the hair. Unless it is a hot date, your everyday shave
should focus on shaving the hair close to the face, not shaving it shorter than
the height of the pore and exposing you to blemishes and ingrown hairs. But you
should know by now what your face will take in terms of shaving. If your razor is sharp, you won't need to press hard. Just pull downward. You should not feel any tugging and the sound of the hair cutting will no longer be a scraping/scratching sound that you are used to, but closer to a higher pitched whisking/zipping sound as the sharp razor passes through softened hair.
10. Rinse your face several times with warm
water
11. Rinse your brush and razor out too. Shake
them both dry and put them back into their stands.
12. Shower (optional)
13. Grab a cotton square and apply the
post-shave toner in a downward stroke (otherwise the cotton will stick to your stubble).
All in, this routine is pretty fast – taking about 3 minutes more
than the squirt-foam-from-a-can-then-shave routine. The key difference is
the lather on the face. However, I have found that this is time well spent
because my complexion got better, the foam is cheaper, and there is something
oddly satisfying about putting hot lather on your face. And you get a noticeably better shave.
No comments:
Post a Comment