Shaving with the Grain!

This little diagram shows you which direction you should shave, to go "with the grain". Do not shave away from the grain or else you will be cutting into your skin!

"Punny" picture

Funny little picture I found on using straight razors. These little guys can be very dangerous, so be cautious!

The Proper Angle At Which to Shave

That is pretty much it for the shaving method, but there are a few other tips to keep in mind. First, only use each blade once, twice at most. Yes, it feels weird to throw away blades after each use when we are use to using expensive models, however, DE blade are very cheap and expendable. This is important because if you use a blade which is dull, you risk not getting a clean cut, and you will end up with a poorly shaved face, or worse, nicks and cuts.(for more information, check out hello hair styling)

When you shave for the first time, it can prove to be a pretty daunting task. I highly advise that you do not use a straight razor the first time that you shave, especially if you are already use to disposable razors, as you will be very surprised at just how easy it is to cut yourself. Instead, opt for a safety razor, and then maybe move up to a straight razor if you really want to.

Using a safety razor is all about technique. YES, you will need a technique, unlike the the blind razor chaffing which we do today on our faces, you can easily cut yourself on a safety razor, even with the guard. The first tip that everyone should learn, is that you want to shave with the grain. What is with the grain? Basically, the whiskers on your face grow a certain direction, 99.99% of the time, this is down, so if you are shaving, shave downward!

The second tip is to shave in "sections". When you are using a disposable razor, its very easy to get carried away and to want to shave your entire face at once. This is far from ideal, and you can easily end up cutting yourself if you try to do this with a safety razor. Instead, pick a one to two inch section on your face and shave only that section, going in a downward angle.

The third tip, is to make sure that you only use an angle of 30 degrees or less. If you push it, you will be cutting too deep and will chaff your skin or completely dig into it. Likewise, 20 degrees is way too shallow and you will leave a lot of whiskers left to be pruned off. Here is a nice site that is packed with great info on safety razor techniques.Information on safety razors provided by hello hair styling

Final Tips

Shaving soap and cream is also very important. The preparation for shaving is just as important as the shaving method itself, because you have to make sure that your whiskers are properly soft. Using traditional shave soap and cream(and not that used out of a aerosol container) will push up your whiskers and prep them properly.

That is pretty much it. If you are new, go extra slow until you have this down pat, and you will be an expert at this in no time.

How to Shave Video

Check out this awesome video created by the artofmanliness. They have a lot of information on grooming but also go deep into other manly activities(such as knife throwing and chopping down trees!).

Anatomy of a Safety Razor

Here is a picture of a safety razor. It is similar to a disposable razor, which makes sense because it was its predecessor, but it isn't the same as the guard, handle, and design are a bit different. For instance, most disposable razors today have a higher guard and a non-adjustable angle where you can just about hack at your face and still be fine.

Cap: The cap is a metal frontal guard which goes on the front of the safety razor. It is designed to help keep the blade inside.

 Blade: The blades are typically double edged(DE) and can be used twice before being disposed. There are some single edged blades but they are rare, its simply more cost effective to use DE blades. These should slide right into your preferred safety razor through a locking mechanism which is typically unique per the razor brand.

Guard: The guard is what prevents you from cutting at too steep of an angle, and was a revolutionary design step by Gillette way back in the early 20th century.

Handle: The handle is where you hold the safety razor.

Straight Razor Anatomy

Many people people think that a straight razor is a single piece of metal that men use to shave off or trim their facial hair. Many times when I mention a straight razor to clients, they think I'm going to pull a shank out and start slicing away with a crude piece of equipment, or at most, a two piece tool, but that simply couldn't be further from the truth. A straight razor actually consists of many different parts, which will be important for you if you want to learn how to shave.

Point: This is the very frontal tip of the straight razor and what you will use to guide your shaving. This should be dull so that you do not cut yourself.

Toe: Directly underneath the point, this is the part of the razor which first will contact your skin, it is very important to keep this sharp.

Spine: The spine is the elongated, back end of your straight razor. It is dull to the touch and blunt.

Edge: This is the part of the blade which you want to keep sharp, and what will do the actual cutting. Its the front of the blade which leads all of your cutting.

Heel: This is the bottom of the frontal side of the blade. The toe is the front, the edge is the long frontal side, and the heel is the bottom.

Shank: Not like what you think it is, the shank is where the blade connects to the handle.

Tang: Part of the blade will slip out past the handle, this is called the tang.

Scales: This is the "handle". and where you will hold onto the straight razor.

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog on the world of traditional shaving! Look throughout my blog for any information you can find that might be able to help you learn how to properly groom, as you will never have to go anywhere else to find tips on shaving with a safety razor or straight razor again!

Also, feel free to leave a comment or contact me on my contact page here

http://bestsafetyrazorpro.blogspot.com/p/contact-me.html