Why A Wet Shave Is Best For Your Sensitive Skin
Naked Armor
An issue that comes up whenever the talk involves shaving is how difficult it is to shave when a man has sensitive skin.
Published by Naked Armor
In America today, more than one in three guys say that their skin turns red and breaks out in rashes every time they shave.
It’s not as if they’re doing something bad to their skin to get that kind of reaction. Most of the time, they’re just leaving it alone. And yet it still reacts poorly whenever a hint of any shaving product touches the skin.
For most guys, the only way to handle it is to not shave at all.
With beards becoming fashionable these days, it’s always easy to deal with sensitive skin by just hiding it under a thick volume of facial hair. That’s fine enough if you’ve got some Viking ancestry in your genes; you can easily grow a beard that’s going to be the envy of any man.
But if you don’t have the genes for it, there’s no way you can hide your skin sensitivity under a meager fuzz of lame facial hair. In fact, you’ll probably end up shaving it anyway because it doesn’t look good on you. So you’re back to your original dilemma.
Not that being able to grow a beard is enough of a solution. There’s also the question of whether your workplace will allow you to rock a beard. Especially if you’re serving in the armed forces. That’s because they require you to be clean-shaven every day. So that’s an even more terrifying situation for someone with a sensitive skin. Imagine shaving every single day? Your skin will have a hell of a freakshow of a reaction!
So What Causes Sensitive Skin?
Natural skin sensitivity is the unfortunate result of genetics. Some people are just born with dry or sensitive skin. For some, it only develops at certain stages in one’s life, like childhood or adolescence, but for the others, it’s a life-long condition.
It can’t be cured but its symptoms can be reduced so that your skin won’t break out every time it is exposed to an external trigger.
The symptoms are usually in the form of itching, dryness, redness and soreness. And because the face is the area which gets the most exposure to the sun, weather and razor, it’s usually the area which suffers these unpleasant symptoms.
How to Fight It?
The key to reducing skin irritation is knowing what triggers it and finding a way to eliminate or counteract its effects. Some of the common trigger factors include weather, environmental pollution, stress, lack of sleep and sensitivity to chemicals and metals.
Now, for sensitive shavers, exposing the skin to chemicals and metals is usually the cause of all their troubles. Solving it though doesn’t mean the drastic solution of throwing away the metal razor (especially, when one is required to shave), but rather adopting a whole host of habits and new products to lessen the discomfort while improving the overall health and appearance of your skin.
And this means taking up wet shaving.
Pick a quality razor as it will mean a world of difference. Quality doesn’t have to be expensive. There are razors out there that won’t drag down your pockets and still give a nice and clean shave.
— Derek Dodds, Naked Armor Founder
Welcome to the World of Wet Shaving
Wet shaving, as the name suggests, is simply shaving with the use of water.
In the olden days, wet shaving simply meant shaving. Because that is how traditional shaving has been done for centuries. It was only when the practice of dry shaving appeared that people began using the name wet shaving to differentiate itself. See, there was already branding in those days.
In due time, the term began to encompass the use of a shaving brush together with a glycerin-based soap or cream. All these help to keep the face wet, hence the term wet shaving.
Why is it Best for Sensitive Skin?
Shaving causes a lot of friction, not only on your skin but also between the blades (if you happen to be using those multi-razor blade thingies these days). This causes heat to build up in the blades, which is then transferred to your face because it is in close contact with your skin. If you have sensitive skin, this heat, along with the constant pressure of the blade on the skin, will cause rashes and irritation.
In a wet shaving routine, such concern is alleviated by the presence of water and the moisture-laden shaving products that one usually applies. The warm water opens the pores of the skin and relaxes the facial muscles, while softening the whiskers for more effective cutting.
For sensitive skin, shaving experts recommend that one spend time preparing the skin for shaving. This includes applying pre shave oil. Since shaving removes moisture from the skin, pre-hydration is important and the pre-shave oil will not only moisturize the skin but also protect it while shaving. It will help lessen the redness, bumps and ingrown hair.
It is also important to choose shaving products that are less likely to cause an allergic reaction, like organically made shaving soaps or fragrance-free creams which are made for sensitive skin. Products like Noah’s What The Puck Organic Shave Soap and Mini-Fab Beard Oil & Balm are naturally made shaving products which are perfect for sensitive skin.
Benefits of Wet Shaving
Overall, there are greater benefits to wet shaving and not just for those with sensitive skin. Wet shaving has a reduced risk of in-grown hairs, far less irritation to your skin and less expensive in the long run.
Because the facial hairs have been prepped up with moisture even before shaving, the actual process cuts more hair than compared to a dry shave. You get a closer and clean shave. It also lowers the odds of getting razor bumps and burns because the skin has been hydrated and cleansed, resulting to an easy and comfortable shave.
It’s also cost-effective; you won’t need to run to the doctor for medication to help treat your skin irritation.
What is the Best Razor to Use for Sensitive Skin?
Pick a quality razor as it will mean a world of difference. Quality doesn’t have to be expensive. There are razors out there that won’t drag down your pockets and still give a nice and clean shave.
Now bear in mind, that what works for one, will not necessarily work for another as skin sensitivity varies in every person. Still, here are the basic features that one should be looking for in a proper razor.
• A pivoting head - This bends with the curves of the face or body and gives a closer shave with less irritation.
• Metal blade - Don’t use disposable razors. Not only is the quality not as good as a regular manual razor, but the plastic body is also basically a toxic material. It’s not environment friendly and it might have some harsh effects on your sensitive skin.
• Fewer blades - The lesser number of blades, the less friction it will have on your skin. In fact, multi-blades are highly overrated. A single blade will do a far more effective job than these recent ones manufactured by razor companies.
• Go Old School – Nothing beats a straight razor or a safety razor in giving a clean and close shave for any skin type. It’s eco-friendly, less expensive and far more versatile in its approach to shaving. You can do no wrong with these kind of razors.
The Solomon or the Spartacus
Here at Naked Armor, we’re such purists that we’ve produced a line of artisanal safety and straight razors that will elevate your shaving experience.
Our razor are made with high-grade quality Japanese steel, with durable wooden handles sourced from sandalwood, one of the world’s most valuable timbers.
Our Spartacus Sandalwood Safety Razor Kit features a durable sandalwood handle + stainless steel accented end caps for the perfect face-to-shave ratio and balance.
Meanwhile, the Solomon Straight Razor, with its hardness rating of 61-65 HRC, is designed to be a hybrid of a full hollow and a half hollow, to make sure that we capture all the best aspects of razor shaving.
So pick the best brand that gives your sensitive skin the luxurious shave it needs, minus the irritation.
Click Add to Cart now and get the Naked Armor Safety Razor experience.
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