When it comes to shaving we’ve all picked up a few bad habits and adopted some terrible advice over the years. Whether it was your father hastily giving a young you some tips with a face full of shaving foam or mates passing on their “expert” advice. For the millennials amongst us, it might have even been a dodgy YouTube tutorial. Wherever it was you learned to shave, these shaving myths have somehow become part of the collective consciousness. Like I before E except after C…ignoring the several hundred exceptions to that rule.
So let’s debunk some of the most ingrained shaving myths we’ve heard to keep those chins smooth and looking sharp.
“Shaving against the grain is the only way to get a close shave”
Shaving with the grain means foregoing a close shave. Wrong! We know a lot of men have always shaved against the grain, and for the lucky few that can handle this then that’s great, but the reality is the skin on our face is too delicate for this and many men (including the chaps here at Cornerstone HQ) can’t handle shaving against the grain.
You see, shaving against the grain means the blade is tugging on the hair and pulling it back from the skin which can cause damage and a lot of irritation, so you’re left with sore skin and an increased risk of in-grown hairs, which can swell up into bumps that the razor then catches on. And we know what happens next, right? The razor catches on these bumps and before we know it it’s a blood bath and we’re heading out the door with little bits of tissue stuck to our face!
So if you’re looking for a more comfortable way of achieving a close shave simply make sure you use a sharp blade as dull blades increase the chances of tugging and require more passes across the same area of the skin (here are a few ideas as to what to do with your blunt razor blades).
“Shaving just causes stubble to grow back thicker, darker and faster”
Where this old wives tale came from we don’t know, but one explanation is that shaved hair is blunted, giving it the appearance of being slightly thicker. That withstanding, stubble and beard growth is determined by what’s on the inside — hormones, DNA and scientific stuff of that ilk. Not how often you shave.
“A new razor causes more nicks and cuts than a broken-in razor”
This is the Loch Ness Monster of shaving myths. If you have an all-important date, or client meeting, do not, I repeat, do not reach for you blunted old razor. The sharper the razor, the cleaner the shave. Your old razor will do nothing but cause nicks, cuts and leave you with an uneven shave. That we can guarantee.
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