Save his shave?

November 22, 2023 1:16 PM

My partner has a fast growing, coarse facial hair. He likes to be clean shaven but his face doesn't seem to like it at all-- he's always cutting himself and breaking out in rashes. I was thinking that I would gift him a Save-My-Face shaving smorgasbord for Hanukah and am looking for tips, tricks, and products to include.

He's one of those people who can grow a beard by thinking about it and has a 5 o'clock shadow by the evening so he needs to shave frequently. He's tried different razors and shaving creams to no avail. The biggest problem seems to be cutting himself and razor burn. He currently uses a Gillette razor and shaving cream for sensitive skin. My questions are: What products should I be thinking about and also are there magic techniques he could give a whirl?

posted by jeszac to Shopping (17 answers total)

Best answer: What electric shavers has he tried, and how recently? The tech has really come a long way if it’s been a while.
posted by supercres at 1:56 PM on November 22, 2023

Best answer: Shaving cream sometimes has alot of alcohol which would dry out the skin and cause irritation. Perhaps a cream or oil shave barrier? Is he using a fresh blade? Disposable blades tend to dull quickly if his hair is coarse.
posted by tipsyBumblebee at 2:21 PM on November 22, 2023

Best answer: A shaving brush is really nice for getting soap/foam on all sides of every hair. A bar of shaving soap in a mug also lasts forever.
posted by being_quiet at 4:25 PM on November 22, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Has he tried Cremo shaving cream? Instead of being foamy, it's a light layer of a very slippery surface. I've admittedly only used it for shaving my legs, but it's night and day difference in how protective it is as compared to the standard foamy stuff I had tried previously.

You warm up the skin with some warm water, spread a small amount on, and then rub it vigorously until you get just a very tiny amount of bubbles. That causes some kind of alchemy to occur, where the razor is able to cut the hair close to the skin without cutting the skin or causing razor burn.
posted by past unusual at 4:41 PM on November 22, 2023 [5 favorites]

Best answer: Has he tried an old style double edged razor? I have beard hair that could be harvested for use in industrial wire brushes, that's the only kind of razor I've ever found tolerable (though I imagine a cut throat would also work). Anything disposable has universally been torture, no matter how much marketing has been thrown at it.

My end solution was to give up and grow a beard, so YMMV.
posted by deadwax at 6:09 PM on November 22, 2023 [4 favorites]

Best answer: My beard is tough, so I use crazy-sharp Feather blades in a DE razor handle by Merkur.

I use Proraso shaving cream from Italy because it makes the blade gliiiiide instead of digging in. I froth that up with a brush, and I only only only shave after I have showered (so the beard is softened).

In all sincerity I wish him luck. There are TONS of high-end products that smell nice for you, and will baby his face. :7)

Check out the shavemyface.com web site for recommendations.
posted by wenestvedt at 6:27 PM on November 22, 2023 [6 favorites]

Best answer: Agree with wenestvedt on using good quality blades. Plenty of guys are reluctant to get off of the cartridge razors, but going with an old fashioned safety razor gives you a lot more options in blades and it is so astronomically cheaper that it is no big deal to try different blades or change them as soon as they begin to dull.

Hot water, shaving soap, and a badger brush is also worlds away from shaving gels and foams from a can. Proraso cups are very good for the price and widely available, but if this is for a gift you might splurge for a Pannacrema Nuàvia soap.

For what it is worth, I find it is waaaaay easier to cut yourself with a cartridge razor than a safety razor. Something to do with the multiple blades and lighter weight. I suppose if you've picked up some bad habits there might be a few days of unlearning them.
posted by forbiddencabinet at 7:33 PM on November 22, 2023 [4 favorites]

Best answer: Adding my vote to a safety razor with all the goodies that turn shaving from a dreaded chore into a daily pleasure. The learning curve is not that steep, and there are tons of resources to hone technique. Two that I have found invaluable are the Wicked Edge subreddit and the Maggard Razors store.
posted by Cobalt at 7:58 PM on November 22, 2023 [3 favorites]

Best answer: Recommendation on Henson Razors from Rohin Francis I cued this at 31:24 where he talks about his reasons for liking this particular type of razor. Tender skin, fast growing heavy beard that he compares to a copper wire. Lots of fun with different facial hair styles. About one minute. I hope you find it useful.
posted by effluvia at 9:48 PM on November 22, 2023

Best answer: I have the same kind of un-shavable face as your partner, and I can't use a cartridge razor or an electric of any type worth a damn. The double-edged safety razor works really well, especially with real shaving SOAP and a brush. I also have the Dovo shavette which lets you simulate a straight razor with a disposable blade. I use that for getting the beard off if I've let it grow. It takes a single pass over the whole face and does a decent job just like that, but then I follow it with the safety razor.

You really can't mess up with the safety razor after your face gets used to it. I can press too hard, not use enough soap, use water that isn't hot enough, or even use just plain water and it works reasonably well without cuts. (soap makes it more pleasant and the razor easier to clean)
posted by ctmf at 11:19 PM on November 22, 2023 [4 favorites]

Best answer: Just as a counterpoint, I find it much easier to cut myself with a safety razor. I'm in my third year of shaving with a safety razor and after three years of watching videos and trying different blades/razors/gels/routines, I have only now figured out the exact right way to minimize my risk of cuts. Even now, my adam's apple is pretty much guaranteed to get nicked. (I have only persisted for three years because I hate the amount of waste plastic that a cartridge razor generates.)

In short, everybody's facial shape and skin is different, and unfortunately, I don't think there is such a thing as a magic technique that works for everybody.

On the plus side, this underlines how clever your idea of a "smorgasbord" is-- your best bet is to get him sample sizes of a lot of different things so he can experiment. You might even suggest that he try different products on the left and right sizes of his face so he can really compare the results.

One thing you may have to splurge on is the safety razor itself, because I don't think there's a really good cheap version. You might consider splurging even more on the Parker Variant Adjustable Safety Razor which allows you to adjust the aggressiveness of the shave.
posted by yankeefog at 2:43 AM on November 23, 2023 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Not exactly an answer to the question, but I HATED shaving for years - my neck in particular - because I would get razor burn no matter what I did. Then I grew a beard and decided to go to a fancy shave barber to get it cleaned up and looking good - didn't know where to have a neck line on it for example. There the barber told me that I should be shaving up my neck instead of down, because that was with the grain of my neck hair. It changed my shaving life. Simply by shaving up my neck instead of down, I no longer get razor burn on my neck and I don't mind shaving anymore.

Another thing you could consider as a gift is sending him to a fancy shave place and then he can ask the folks there for any tips. I went to an Art of Shaving in NYC, but there are a lot of places.
posted by slide at 9:08 AM on November 23, 2023 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Kiehl's White Eagle is by far my favorite shave cream.

Warning: ordering something from Kiehl's means that they will send you a lot of emails. If that's something you don't want, both physical Kiehl's stores and Ulta carry it.

Nice razors and handles: Harry's (good value, online, also sold at drugstores and Target and such), Leaf (a little pricey, the reduced-plastic-use option, seems like the kind of product that advertises on podcasts), Bolin Webb, Mondial 1908, Wilde & Harte (design-y, unabashedly expensive luxury objects).
posted by box at 10:44 AM on November 23, 2023

Best answer: Nth-ing giving a DE razor a try, it helped me through a sensitive face period. If you avoid super boutique brands the cost barrier to enter can be fairly low. Learning what works for you (time wise and comfort wise) vs what YouTube shave 'experts' say is the correct way was key for me. I ended up skipping the bar soaps and brushes in favor of regular gel cream, doing one pass with the grain if I'm in a hurry or my face is breaking out, and a second pass perpendicular to the grain if I want a closer shave.
posted by token-ring at 1:48 PM on November 23, 2023 [2 favorites]

I got a cheap $15 safety razor and a 100 pack of blades for $8. Nivea shave cream in a tube is like $5 and lasts forever. No nicks, no cuts, no rash. There's too much faffing about with boars hair etc in online shaving communities, cheap and cheerful works just fine.
posted by sid at 2:37 PM on November 23, 2023 [3 favorites]

Best answer: You've gotten some good advice already, so I'll just add a few additional thoughts:

1) I really like Proraso shaving cream (also sold in the US under the C O Bigelow brand). I give my face a good soak with several handfuls of hot water, put a hazelnut-sized dollop on my hands, rub it into a lather, then put it on my beard. As a lefty, I rinse my left hand to hold the razor, but keep the excess lather on my right hand for reapplying.

2) I use a Gillette Mach3 razor, and do two strokes down, rinse the blade, then repeat. After doing my whole face, I use the leftover lather to reapply, then shave upwards. I'll then rub what's left of the lather on my face to find any spots that are still rough, and shave those. Reapplying cream for a second pass is very helpful; if your partner doesn't already do that, it can make a big difference.

3) After a few shaves with the same razor cartridge, I'll use an old pair of jeans as a strop. It extends the life.

4) Finally, I discovered that with the rate my beard grows, I look better overall if I shave every other day. If I shave daily, the new growth is a bit short to do a really close shave. so my five-o'clock shadow is noticeable. If I shave every other day, I get a really close shave, and my overall look is cleaner—though if I have an important event the evening of the second day, I might do a quick shave beforehand.
posted by brianogilvie at 6:52 PM on November 23, 2023 [1 favorite]

Rashes can have multiple causes. He could be pressing too hard, which is easy to do with a cartridge blade. In search of the closest shave he could be shaving against the grain, which is much more likely to irritate skin than shaving with the grain is. He could be shaving with inadequate lubrication, possibly by making too many passes over the same skin without lathering up again in between. He could also be sensitive to an ingredient in whatever products he uses either to prepare his skin or to recover after shaving, or he could be skipping a critical step either before or after his shave.

After a trip to Las Vegas years ago when I spent my gambling budget buying a badger hair shaving brush instead of at the blackjack tables, I became a convert to what shaving geeks call "wet shaving," which is when you create a lather using water and a shaving cream or soap, usually with a brush. (By contrast, just using a cream, foam, or gel directly on your skin is considered dry shaving, despite the presence of water in every one of those products). I also learned to make just a single pass with the razor over any patch of skin before lathering it up again. You don't have to have a brush to get a wet shave, but the paradox of wet shaving is that spending a little more time building up a good lather at the beginning makes a subsequent application of lather to any patch of skin pretty quick, and a brush helps with both parts of that. If you're creating a lather in your hands, you kind of have to do it every time. I shave in the shower but I do it blind and use my fingertips to find any spots I missed. You can buy an anti-fog shaving mirror for the shower, but I never have.

Not long after switching to wet shaving, I bought a double edged safety razor and learned to use it. There's a learning process with a double edged razor that means he'd almost certainly cut himself a few times until he learned how to handle it. He might also just decide never to use it again, because the learning curve can be frustrating. I definitely pressed too hard with a cartridge, and I had to unlearn that habit. My skin is easily irritated, my beard hair is relatively fine, and it grows slowly, so I don't need to shave every day. When I do shave, I do one pass with the grain, lather up again, and then do a second pass against the grain. I am very careful on that second pass not to press the razor into my skin. If I were shaving every day I'd probably just shave with the grain, in order to minimize the irritation to my skin.

I'm also sensitive to ingredients in common products. I can't use creams from The Art Of Shaving, for example (ironically not even their line for sensitive skin), but the old school English brands (Taylor of Old Bond Street, Truefitt & Hill, Geo. F. Trumper's) all seem to be fine for me. Of mass market creams and gels, I had the best results with Aveeno. The oatmeal really does seem to help. My long time choice of post-shave product seems to have been discontinued, and it seems like Clinique for Men "post shave soother" is the best bet for my own skin. (Jack Black "post shave cooling gel" is OK, but it stings a bit when it goes on, whereas the Clinique doesn't do that). On my scalp where I can't smell it, I use Nivea Men "post shave balm," which is cheaper. It's a little thicker and slower to absorb, but it's cheaper and more readily available than Clinique.
posted by fedward at 9:20 AM on November 26, 2023