How to Shave a Beard for Beginners, Shaving Tips

When it comes to shaving no parent is going to go like say “Let’s Shave Together”. I will be teaching you the basics about shaving something that no one ever taught me and that I had to figure out myself.

First, figure out: How Coarse Your Beard is?”

Whether or Not You Need to Shave?

At What Point Do You really need to Start Shaving First?

Contrary to popular belief that you should start shaving later on after school, that’s not true.
If you got little bits of facial hair that sprout up initially in your teenage, that peach fuzz mustache or patchy hairs on your sideburns or anywhere on your face, just start shaving. It doesn’t matter how old you are?. But what does matter is that the universal rule of men grooming is that you want to look neat and tidy. So either you let your beard grow out completely and take care of it, look neat with a fully rolled beard or else completely shave off.

Your coarseness or smoothness of your beard is dependent on your genetics so if your dad has a course or smooth beard you will get a course or smooth beard. First, figure out whether you have a coarse and thick beard or a thin and patchy beard. In both cases, your essentials will stay the same. The good thing about having a pin beard is that you can shave
superfast with maybe a little soapy water or even just water and you can get away with it but
the older you grow the thicker your beard gets and that’s when you’ve got to start being careful.

Three essentials you need are A Dripping Bowl, Shaving Cream and Good Quality Razer. Make sure that your blades on your razor are still sharp. If you shave with a blunt razor you’re making yourself no prone to cutting yourself. Use a dipping bowl. Instead of wasting water by keeping the tap on continuously just fill the dipping bowl a little bit and wash that blade in that dipping bowl. After 2 or 3 strokes of shaving, dip your razor in that dipping bowl, get rid of all the dirt and come back to shave with a sharp razor blade.

1. Shave After Shower

Immediately after a shower, the pores on the skin of your face are completely opened up and very importantly facial hair softened because of all that steam from your shower. It makes a shave a lot easier quicker and safer.

2. Use Little Bit of Shaving Cream

You start by applying just a little bit of shaving cream on your foam brush. A lot of guys make this mistake of applying too much shaving cream. When you’re overdoing it with your shaving cream, it doesn’t give you a fine shave. It doesn’t allow the blades to reach the skin of your face and shave off those hairs that are meant to be shaved off. If you apply a lot of shaving cream you might have to keep stroking your face in order to get rid of the hairs. Apply a thin but even layer of shaving cream on your face and that’s when you can begin your shaving process.

3. Use Oil for Coarse Beard

Guys with a very coarse beard should use oil. Some people like putting coconut oil, baby oil or even better you get these pre-shaving oils that you can put on your face just kind of lubricate your entire face.

Guys also need to understand the concepts of grain shaving. With the grain, along the grain, across the grain, against the grain.

What The Hell is The Grain?

Hair grows outside the surface of a face. Hair doesn’t grow straight out, it’s always slightly bent.

1. Shaving With the Grain

If you decide to shave the hair along the same direction in which the hair is growing that’s called shaving with the grain.

2. Shaving Against the Grain

If you decide to shave it against the direction of growth that’s called shaving against the grain.

3. Shaving Across The Grain

If you shave it perpendicular that’s called shaving across the grain.

What do you do depends primarily on the thickness and coarseness of your beard. If your beard is thin and smooth, usually shaving along the grain does the job for you. So your first option should always be shaving along the grain. It’s a very safe way of doing things and
in making sure that you’re not prone to getting acne or rashes after your shave.

Secondly, if your beard is slightly thicker than just a fine beard you can try shaving across the grain. That’s perpendicular to the growth of the grains. Usually for most shaving once along the grain and once across the grain is enough.

If you’re someone who has a very coarse beard that’s when you need to shave against the grain. Tricky spots of your face especially in spots like your neck you sometimes need to shave against the grain. The downsides of doing this is sometimes you get issues like acne and ingrown hair but keep in mind once again this comes down to cleanliness. If you shave
against the grain and then you touch your face with dirty hands that’s what leads to infections, ingrown hairs and rashes and all that and this is where your Post-Shaving Routine comes into play.

Now before we get to the post-shaving rules you need to understand three important pointers.

1. Only Shave Where Needed

If you’re younger who doesn’t have a completely grown beard and you only have facial and a few spots of your face only shave those spots off your face. You don’t want to overdo it on other parts of your face thinking that hey if I shave here my beard will grow out from that. It doesn’t work like that. Your beard is going to grow out only when your genetics allow it to and for most people if your beard still hasn’t come completely, It happens sometimes after the age of 25 or after the age of 26. It’s about being patient.

2. Don’t Shave Over Acne

If you’re who someone suffers from acne, don’t shave over your acne. It might get inspected, it might get worse and worst of all it might give some permanent scars on your face.

3. Don’t Miss Tricky Spots

You don’t want to miss out on the tricky spots of your face. Most guys in this process of shaving miss out on tricky spots like the corner of your face, your neck, under your lips, all those spots are very crucial in order to look neat and tidy. Remember you are going for a Clean-Shaven Look because you want to look tidy. If you miss out on all those tricky spots and just leave these little blobs of hair all over your face, you won’t end up looking tidy. You look even worse than you did before shaving. Make sure you get those tricky spots.

Post Shave Routine

Your post-shave routine can go one of three ways. Firstly you need to understand the biology of your face after a shave. Most probably your pores are completely opened up and you’re prone to infection. So your job is to close the pores on your face. The first way of doing it is by applying an aftershave lotion. This is alcohol-based and it’s kind of like a disinfectant. When you put it on your face, it immediately closes all the pores and shuts off the possibility of infection. Usually, aftershaves have a very strong scent which a lot of people may not like. The other option instead of using aftershave is using a good-quality perfume or Cologne. It does the same job as an aftershave. The third and final option if you do want to go for aftershave or cologne you can go for the simple face wash. Keep in mind you want to wash your face with cold water. Coldwater does the same job as these other two options. It ends up closing your pores. It’s doing the same job as an aftershave or cologne but it’s meant primarily for people with sensitive skin or someone’s prone to acne. For all, you young bros, go for this method of doing things. You can also apply Cologne after washing your face. Keep in mind that washing your face should be a morning habit for every single man irrespective of your age.

The final step when it comes to the shaving process very importantly is respecting your tools.
You’ve got to respect your razor blade. Dip it in your shaving bowl and then wash the razor under running water. If you want to get a little bit further, you can take some liquid soap, apply it on your razor and then wash it underwater. Finally, dry your razor. Remember water on metal exposed to air causes rust to accumulate on metals and if you shave with a rusted razor that going to ruin the health of your face.