The media could not be loaded. You must have seen those shaving advertisements on TV featuring a man maneuvering a razor blade across his well-defined jawline and selling the dreams of a suave and clean shaven look to men like me. I say those dreams are nothing but lies, sir. You see when I shave, it is more like a frenzied raccoon peeling a pineapple with a butter knife. My morning stubble looks like the iron filings aligned across the earth's magnetic field. Shaving for me is as pleasant as dragging a shovel across the concrete floor. As you can imagine, I have tried several things to make the shaving experience less memorable. This involves using scorching hot water, lathering up enough to shave a wild bear (as opposed to the domestic ones), using Mac 3 blades with alien technology, praying to Poseidon before each shave. However, a clean and painless shave has remained elusive for me. Usually, at this point, a person would stop shaving and embrace a caveman look, but since my beard grows faster than a bamboo in monsoon rain, so if I stopped shaving then within a week I would be warding off squirrels and birds seeking domicile in my facial flora. WHAT DOES PRE-SHAVE CREAM DO According to the Gillette researchers, a dry whisker of hair is as tough as copper wire of equivalent thickness. However, if it is hydrated then the hair becomes significantly soft and easier to cut off during the process of shaving. Therefore most of the shaving products are focussed on providing moisture to the facial hairs, for instance, a shaving brush of badger hair is significantly better at retaining water than nylon ones. The process of lathering during wet shaving technique is to provide moisture to the hair strands so that they get soft. Therefore it is necessary to lather up properly so that the hair gets loosened up and gets enough moisture. Pre-shave creams, on the other hand, ensure that your skin is loose enough to give you a closer shave. Pre-shaving products seep into the pores of skin hydrating and loosening them up so that they contort easily according to the motion of shaving blade. It also provides a lubricating layer between the skin and razor blade so that razor blades do not irritate the skin that much. MY IMPRESSIONS OF THE PRE-SHAVING CREAM I found that this pre-shave cream does take the edge off of burning sensation of the razor's onslaught. However, it doesn't help that much. Of all the things I do to make the beard whiskers soft, the pre-shave cream has the least effect but still has some noticeable effect. I shaved with and without the pre-shave cream on different days and I could feel a slight difference between the shaving experience. Your mileage may vary depending upon the type of your beard and skin type. SHOULD YOU BUY THIS PRE-SHAVING CREAM Pre-shaving creams are always quoted as optional and some people do not find them to have any effect at all. I would agree with this as well. In my opinion, if a person has a soft beard or the amount of facial hair is not much then he may not feel the effects of this cream at all. Your mileage may also vary depending upon the type of skin you have. People with dry and sensitive skin are would probably notice the effects of pre-shave cream more. You might have to try it to be sure. But again don't be surprised if you buy this cream and it doesn't make much difference. Also, some shaving blades also come with a lubricating strip such as Gillette Mac 3 blades which provides some functionality of the pre-shave creams. HOW TO USE THIS PRE-SHAVING CREAM Pre-shaving creams are supposed to be applied before lathering the face. So I usually wash my face, scoop up some of the pre-shave cream using fingers and apply it on the face. Your face doesn't need to be dripping with it, just a thin layer of cream is fine. You are not supposed to wash to off as it needs to stay on the skin during shaving. IS A DRY WHISKER REALLY AS TOUGH AS COPPER WIRE That's what the Gillette research says. Gillette has been doing lots of research in the shaving industry and determined lots of interesting facts such as 1. A dry beard whisker is as tough as copper wire of the same thickness 2. A wet whisker is 70% easier to cut than a dry whisker. 3. For a man, the beard grows on an average of 5.5 inches in a year. 4. Shaving removes about 65 milligrams of whiskers daily, which amounts to a pound of hair every 16 years. 5. During an average lifetime, a man will spend 3350 hours (around 140 days) scraping 27.5 feet of whiskers from his face. HOW CAN I GET THE SMOOTHEST SHAVE Use martian shaving technology. Seriously have you ever seen a martian with a 5'o clock shadow? Every time a martian is shown they are squeakingly smooth with moonlight shining off of their cheekbones. It makes sense that all the information about aliens has been so tightly controlled since they don't want all of us to look like Jon Hamm. Until we get our hands on that sweet alien technology we are stuck with primitive shaving techniques such as shaving after taking a shower, using hot/warm water to soften the beard, wrap your face in a warm towel, maybe use a pre-shave cream/oil, lather up properly using a high-quality brush that can hold more water, etc.
