A Simple Wet Shaving Tutorial

You might've read or heard the term 'wet shaving' before and wondered what it was. It isn't complicated; in fact it is incredibly simple.

Wet shaving's the concept of using water to hydrate your face and 1 blade to shave it. That means beginning with a wet face and re-wetting your face throughout the process. The concept's identical whether you choose double-edge safety razors, single edge safety razors, or a straight razor. It is hard for me to understand how any experienced user with the time on their hands would not eventually gravitate to the straight razor as the pinnacle expression of the wet shaving concept.

Most shavers today use either an electric razor upon dry skin or a multiple-blade cartridge disposable razor along with shaving foam/cream/gel from pressurized cans. Although those cans can have quite good stuff in them, they'll never have the water content you'll get from starting with a soaked shaving brush and building lather from a soap bar or dollop of cream. Wet shavers believe better shaves originate from more hydrated skin and emulsifying agents.

All electric razors and multiple-blade razors share one thing; they put (secondary) sharp edges in contact with your face without any cream in place (because the primary edge removed it). Electric razors gyrate multiple blades at extremely high revolution rates, oscillating in place so that even wet-dry models assuredly have blades passing by skin that's already had a blade pass along it. Multi-bladed cartridge razors all use a shared concept-the leading blade edge both cuts and lifts whiskers, with the last blade edge cutting the whiskers while not actually being in simultaneous contact with whisker and skin.

The wet shaving concept believes one ideal blade in simultaneous contact with wet skin and wet whiskers yields the closest and most comfortable results while never actually lifting the whiskers from their 'natural height'.

Multi-bladed cartridges aim to achieve excellent results with a single pass of the blade. For wet shaving to achieve superior results without lifting whiskers, it generally requires multiple passes of blade across skin from different angles of approach. This requires more time, obviously, but also means you'll never pass blade across dry skin because you'll have opportunity to rehydrate and re-lubricate skin before successive passes.

• Implements are Costly, Longterm Costs are Low: Converting to wet shaving isn't cheap. At the minimum you'll need a safety razor, double-edge blades, a shaving brush and some good soap/cream - all of which typical cartridge shavers don't already own. However, even in the 1st year of joining wet shaving brigade, aggregate shaving cost decreases vs using Gillette ____ razors and ____ creams/gels. As time goes on, when all you're buying is consumables, wet shaving's far, far cheaper. Interestingly, for me the cost benefit was the least compelling reason to change.
• It's Much Slower than Cartridge & Electric Shavers: Likely the most important detail for many, there's no way that even the most accomplished wet shaver can approach the speed of even a novice cartridge shaver (neither shave's as quick as an electric shave). I could get the maximum value from a Gillette Fusion and some Aveeno gel in ~4 min. At wet shaving a few years now, and can speed through a straight razor shave in ~12-15 minutes, or a safety razor in just under 10. But I look forward to it daily! If you've the extra to spend, isn't that worth your time? On weekends I spend 30 minutes with the straight razor and enjoy every minute.
• You're Going to Cut Yourself: You need to get over this right away, or not try wet- shaving at all; it's highly unlikely you're going to learn this process without hacking your face a time or two. It is like baseball-those whom can't accept that the ball will hit them should go elsewhere. Unless you're scarfing half an aspirin because of life-threatening blood clots, however, it isn't particularly dangerous to cut a face with these blades. With time, you'll only cut yourself out of carelessness or pure stupidity as opposed to naivete. But be aware; some of these blades are awesomely sharp compared to any cartridge razor, and though the process isn't inherently difficult, it is (like flying) supremely intolerant of errors. Just take your time and you'll be fine.

Now as for the process of actually moving that blade across your face...well, I can't say I'm an expert upon it like mantic59 can rightfully claim. But I've used what he teaches to my advantage, along with the plethora of information littered all over the web, and give these tips;

• Have Patience: Try to go too fast, and you're surely gonna slice into you face. Be slow and deliberate.
• NEVER Bear Down with the Blade: Safety razors are heavier near the blade for a reason. Lightly passing it across the skin will provide the correct tension-you needn't pull down as one does with a cartridge. This is even truer with the straight, which doesn't have the guard. - Always Have Cream on the Skin: Methinks many make this mistake, but wet shaving razors should be super sharp and shouldn't require repeated strokes in the same direction to be effective. If you must bring the blade across the skin you just shaved in the same direction you just used, lather again!
• Stretch Some, But Not Too Much: Your skin should be straight and tight, but not tarpaulin taut. Try contorting your neck and facial muscles alone as a skin-stretching regimen, for if as a novice you decide to use your second hand to stretch the skin before bringing the blade across I'll bet you end up with some painful ingrown hairs. It would be better to get comfortable shaves which are less than ideal at first than to try and fail to achieve a perfectly close shave immediately.
• Try the 'Method Shave': I've had great success, and am content with, using 3 passes of the blade for all my skin. I 'shave with gravity' first, then a pass with the blade coming towards an imaginary line running from the top center to the bottom center of my face, then a 3rd pass starting at that same imaginary line and going towards the outer portion of my face. Intermittently I'll finish by shaving 'against the grain', a direction that varies greatly across your face but is predominantly 'against gravity'. You can figure out which way is 'against the grain' by stroking your heavily-unshaven face and sensing where the whiskers are most apparently felt.

If you've got time, these tips will maximize the amount of shaves you get from each double edge blade and further benefit the minimalist environmental approach

1. use a blower brush (such as the ~$15 Giottos Rocket Air Blower) to eliminate standing water on the blade
2. mist isopropyl alcohol on the blade afterwards
3. flip the blade over within the razor daily

Beyond maximizing the quantity of shaves manage from a double edge blade, the shaves will each be subsequently better if you do this stuff. For straight razors, first dry them off thoroughly, and I personally never store a carbon steel straight razor dry-use camellia oil, clipper oil, or some other oil to coat the dry blade edge.

Straight razors and double-edge ('DE') safety razors provide a similar single-edge base to the wet shaving concept. Safety razors require no maintenance beyond occasional cleaning (the wholly obnoxious maintenance hog Merkur Vision excepted). Straight razors need about as much maintenance as any tool you'll ever use.

It is likely best to start with a fixed safety razor, such as Merkur's 34c or an old Gillette "Super Speed", for your first foray in wet shaving. If you spring for an adjustable model, tone down its adjustment to the lowest setting and leave it there awhile to safely develop some skill.

Double-edge safety razors present a blade similar to a straight razor's, but always with a bar of metal (or little 'slots' of metal on "open comb" models and older classic Gillettes) between skin and blade. An ideal wet shave has perfectly hydrated skin which has been stretched and aligned to be taut and parallel to the blade, with the blade needing only pass along the surface with practically no pressure applied. A piece of metal ahead of the blade serves to stretch and align the skin just before being touched by the blade.

The ideal angle of incidence of blade to skin varies across one's face, and decreases over repeated passes (reduce the angle with successive passes). Coarse hair and variable growth patterns present a need to increase the angle of the blade (meaning blade edge points down into face, instead of decreased angles where blade edge becomes nearly parallel with skin surface), while extremely sensitive skin areas such as the corners of the mouth present the need to greatly decrease the angle of the blade to the skin.

Even fixed double-edge safety razors, with their constant relationship between blade and metal guard position, allow some adjustment of angle of blade to skin by adjusting how the razor's held relative to your face: handle closer to face increases angle of blade to skin, and handle held further from skin decreases angle of blade to skin. The varied pressure created by the metal guard just before the blade is ultimately changing angle of blade to skin a bit.

But with fixed razors, there's not much room to manipulate; hold handle too close to face and skin passes beneath blade without touching, while handle too far from face makes top of razor end up touching skin instead of blade. This is where adjustable-angle double-edge safety razors (Merkur's Vision, Futur, Progress, classic Gillettes, etc) present an advantage, offering a variable spatial relationship between guard bar and blade to better vary the ultimate angle of incidence blade to skin. You'll still have the additional adjustment capacity created by varying how the handle's held relative to the face, too.

But even the adjustable double-edge safety razor limits angles at which a blade can be applied to the skin. This, as much as anything, is why straight razors offer the greatest results from wet shaving. There's nothing between the blade & skin but lather; you control the pressure and angle of the blade to the skin, so that stubborn hairs around the chin can be given an extremely-steep angle of incidence and sensitive parts of the face can have the blade applied at an angle as low as 1-2 degrees. Without taking blade away from the skin, experienced users feel the needs for adjustments in blade angles as they pass blade along skin, making on- the-spot adjustments that are far more effective than changing how you hold the handle of a safety razor.

Beyond control offered by infinitely adjustable blade angles, straight razors have many other advantages to seasoned wet shavers. The blade length's ~50% greater than double-edge blades, allowing complete shaves with fewer strokes. The handle of the straight razor is also not fixed to the blade (Japanese straight razors excepted), allowing you to move it around as needed to eliminate physical or visual obstructions. Lastly, the modern (beginning late 19th century) hollow ground straight razor blade is more pliant than the double-edge blade, allowing it to flex across small variances in skin topography better than double-edge blades.

All of these advantages of the straight come with unavoidable disadvantages.

• First and foremost, the blade's much more dangerous. Apply too much pressure and you'll get cut. You're also responsible for proper stretching and alignment of skin to blade, tasks the safety razor helps easily accomplish. Skin too loose and approached with a poor choice of blade angle is quickly cut.
• Straight razors also require plenty of maintenance. You'll have to strop the blade before each use, drawing the blade across a tuft of leather to help align its microscopic edge. You'll occasionally need to draw the blade across a hone to sharpen its edge, a skill in its own right no matter how easy it sounds. And better straight razors are very prone to developing rust- they must be dried immediately, and should always be oiled.
• And while most devotees would scoff at the idea of describing this as a disadvantage (it is our favorite part of the day, after all), even the quickest straight razor shave takes more time than any other shave, especially considering the blade pre/post prep and maintenance.

But for those with enough time on their hands to endure the maintenance routine, the straight razor likely becomes their de-facto choice. As good as modern adjustable razors such Merkur's delightful Futur can be, once experience with the tool's been developed they simply can't compete with the ease, comfort, and closeness achievable with a straight razor.

Cool Shaving Links (These Open in New Window):

Enthusiast Sites:

• www.theshavingroom.co.uk (by far the least-commercial shaving board we've found)
• theshaveden.com
• badgerandblade.com (likely the largest such site)
• shavemyface.com

Merchants We Like: (merchants, if you'd like to be removed from this list just contact us)

• Em's Place (great site, my favorite competitor)
• Classic Shaving (biggest vendor by a long mile)
• Vintage Blades (this dude flat out knows his brushes & has lines we only are allowed to envy)
• ShavingShop (gets lots of hard-to-acquire new straight razors)
• BullGoose (cool little obsessed shop like me, tremendous reputation)
• ShoeBox Shaveshop(another cool little obsessed shop like me)

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