Shaving is not something you can avoid but it can be fun and rewarding especially when you have the right tools. It can help your skin, boost your reflection and make you appear put together and ready for the day ahead.
The experience you get from shaving depends on a number of choices you make which may be informed by experience or tradition. First, you need to pick a great safety razor which can be double-edged or have a multi-blade for a closer shave. Out of the razors on the market, straight razors will give you the closest shave ever but using them for personal use may be too cumbersome.
Whatever razor, gel, cream or soap you decide to use for shaving, the steps you’ll take won’t be much different but putting a razor to your face has some risk. To minimize that risk, you need to pick the right products for your shaving needs.
What are the products available? Can you just pick anything up from the drugstore? Which product is the best? These are all questions we’ll answer in this article but first, let’s talk about why you need to use a shaving product to begin with.
Think of shaving as a harsh exfoliating method because using a razor strips the protective layer from your skin. Knowing why you need shaving products at all can help will help you make the best decision while picking the ones that are perfect for you.
Why Do You Need a Shaving Product?
Shaving products make grooming yourself easier. A shaving product should be able to improve your process in three simple ways:
- It’ll clear your hair away from the skin’s surface
- It’ll add lubrication to the surface of your skin
- It can soften your facial hair and make it easier to cut.
Shaving products that hydrate and moisturize the skin are well sought after and using this type of products can give back to the skin what has been stripped away from it by the razor.
While shaving soaps can get the job done, shaving creams and shaving gels can sometimes be more convenient to use. However, what you should completely try to stay away from are shaving foams. They usually come in aerosol cans and are often sold as shaving gels. While they lubricate, they don’t work well when it comes to drawing the hair away from your skin.
Shaving Soap vs Shaving Gel vs Shaving Cream
If you’ve decided to use a shaving product that’s not just a razor, picking the best should also be on the list. However, before you can decide which product is best for your needs, it’s necessary to understand the differences between shaving soap, shaving cream and shaving gel.
Even more important is the ability to realize the differences between shaving soap, shaving cream and shaving gel.
A Brief Introduction to Shaving Soaps
Note that by shaving soap, we don’t mean any ordinary soap. A shaving soap usually comes in a container in the form of a disc or hard puck and is created specifically to work as the best way to get a very high quality shave. Best shaving soaps can be purchased from a classical shaving store.
The only major difference between a shaving cream and soap is that the former contains more water and as a result is easy to lather. The soap on the other hand requires the addition of water before it can produce lather.
Furthermore, you may need to use a shaving brush with a shaving soap before it can build up enough lather to start shaving with no stress.
These days, you can get a lot of shaving soaps on the market but the most traditional ones mostly use triple-milled soaps which can be quite difficult to lather up. However, when you’re able to work up the soap after a couple of minutes, you’ll get an incredible lather that’s going to make shaving a breeze.
The triple-milled soaps are usually hard. What this means is that you can use them for two to four months before you have to start thinking of getting another one. That said, most traditional soaps can be quite pricey at first glance but with the number of times you can use them, they’re well worth the buy.
Still, you can always get cheaper alternatives that work just as fine as the traditional shaving soaps.
Shaving Cream vs Shaving Gel
One downside to working with shaving soap is that it needs to be soaked in water and worked for a while before it can be used. Shaving creams and gels don’t have that problem. You can easily use them the moment you open them.
If you want to carry out your daily shaving routine without having to spend extra time, either of the two is a great option as they are both easier and quicker to use than shaving soaps. Of course, that doesn’t mean they’re better than shaving soaps, it just means they’re more convenient.
Benefits of Shaving Cream and Gel
Shaving creams usually come in jars or tubes and it generally looks like a thick lotion that can be turned into a foamy lather once you start to work it with our fingers or shaving brush. The amount of lather a shaving cream can produce differs from product to product.
While some remain as the slick lotion they came in, some can produce as much lather as you can get from those cheap aerosol creams.
Gels on the other hand especially those of high quality hardly produce lather. They’re supposed to be used as they are and very many of them are clear. What this means is that you can exactly what you’re shaving.
As a result of the thick nature of these products, you should only ever apply them with your fingers in order to prevent your shaving brush from being damaged.
Usually, men with sensitive skin can benefit a lot from using shaving gels. Nevertheless, they’re great for men with all skin types.
Final Verdict
Since all men have different facial hair and skin type, deciding which shaving product is best can be quite difficult. Still, even with the difficulty involved, your skin type can help you narrow down which shaving product will be good for you.
Shaving gels are best for men in a hurry. While shaving gels come in different varieties, for sensitive skin, stick with a shaving soap or cream. If your skin is dry, shaving creams might be the right way to go because most shaving soaps can be bad at lubricating the skin.
While picking any of the three, you need to pick the perfect scent for you. Most shaving soaps have mild scents but if you don’t wear cologne, you can pick a cream or gel with a more noticeable scent as replacement. Still, testing out a product is the best way to determine whether it’s for you. We hope this article will be able to help you make an informed choice.
