How to Shave with a Razor for Beginners or People With Sensitive Faces

When I first began shaving with a razor after over a decade of using an electric shaver, it was so painful that I almost cried every shave. I looked forward to shaving like someone does getting a tooth extracted. It’s necessary, but not pleasant no matter how much you want it.

My electric shaver wasn’t doing the job anymore, especially after very sweaty morning workouts. I remember having to wait to cool down, if I had time before work, just so I could get a decent shave with my electric razor. And then one day I realized that my electric shaver wasn’t cutting it and I was going to have to learn how to shave with a regular razor…like a real man. <grin>

The first few months, if not for years, were absolute agony. Shaving parts of my face hurt more than most injuries I had in my life. I’d rather run a nail through my foot. So, when I say I had a sensitive face to shave, I’m not kidding.

This is the shaving guide I wish I had read when I first started using a razor blade to shave.

Use a Good Razor and Shaving Cream

You need to do all the normal expected stuff, of course, like buy a decent razor/razor blade and good shaving cream/foam/gel. You don’t need to spend a bazillion dollars or subscribe to expensive monthly razor/razor blade schemes. Just don’t buy the cheapest. The regular ones I buy in Walgreens are more than good and expensive enough.

How Often To Replace Razors/Razor Blades?

In general, you don’t need to replace razors/razor blades as much as the manufacturers say. They are just trying to sell more razors/razorblades. You should clean the razors/razor blades between each shave, making sure the blades themselves are spotless and shake out any leftover moisture with a few quick shakes. I replace my blades every few months when I notice that I start nicking myself more than average.

But for new shavers and people with sensitive skin, start with a brand new, quality razor/razor blade, and replace more frequently. New razor/razor blades cut better for sure and every use is a slow run toward dullness. You can replace less often as your beard and face tolerates overtime.

Secret to a Smooth, Comfortable Shave

Out of all the hints I could give you, this is the one to pay attention to the most. The secret to a good, smooth shave is heat! You want to shave with warm/hot water (hot as you can tolerate without burning yourself or your skin). You want to shave in a warm place. A cold face with cold skin will hurt far more to shave.

Splash your face with warm/hot water, several times. Cup a palms of warm/hot water in your hands, place your chin/face it in, and let it sit there a few seconds. Do that several times.

Best of all, especially for very sensitive shavers, take a warm/hot (wet) towel and place it over your face until it starts to cool down. In most of the movies showing someone getting a shave at their barbers, they will show the barber swirling a hot towel on the person’s face before shaving them. There’s a reason why. The warmer/hotter you can make your face (without burning yourself) the easier your shave will be. Warm/Hot temperature unstiffens your hair strands and opens your face pores.

If I’m having a hard time shaving this is where I’m spending most of my time.

Massage in the Shaving Cream/Foam/Gel

When you’re starting out, put more cream/foam/gel on than not if you are not sure. You don’t want to put too much on…that just makes cleaning your razor/razor blades during shave happen more often. When in doubt, don’t put on too little. Error on the side of too much.

But either way, massage the cream/foam/gel into your face and beard. Just a little bit. But don’t just spread it on in one direction. Take an extra second and massage it in.

Note: Some people heat their cream/foam/gel before applying. I haven’t tried that, but I bet it works wonders.

Go With the Grain

This is something no one ever told me. But your beard has a direction that the follicles stick out (i.e., “the grain”). Your beard is like a piece of wooden lumber. Lumber has a grain. Every carpenter and painter knows to go with the grain. If you don’t, the results will be less than optimal.

Your face has a grain. Different areas of your face and beard have different grains. When you shave against the grain the result can be pain (even though it often results in a closer shave). When you have a sensitive face, shave with the grain.

My face has 5 different grains, depending on what part of my face I’m shaving. Learn your grains. Go with the grain…at least until it doesn’t become painful. ?

Clean the razor/razor blade frequently between strokes. I do a couple of stokes, clean, do more strokes, and repeat. But doctors often recommend one stroke, clean, one stroke, clean, and repeat. It cuts down on infections apparently, although I’ve never infected my face shaving (that I know of).

Do A Good Job

Make sure you hit all the needed areas. Don’t be that guy with a little Hitler moustache because they didn’t get right up to the nose. Run your hands over your face when you’re finished shaving to see if you missed any areas.

Trim All Your Hair

Although you won’t be using a razor/razor blade, make sure to trim your eyebrows, noise hair, and ear hair (if you’re an old man like me). Cutting your beard and missing the other areas will make you look like a tramp.

What About Nicks and Cuts

You’re cutting with a sharp blade…you’re going to nick and cut yourself every now and then. Buy and use a “styptic pencil”. They are cheap. You wet the styptic pencil and dab on your occasional nicks. It will sting, but make the bleeding stop quicker than other treatments.

If you don’t have a styptic pencil handy, dowse your face in the coldest water you can find…a few times. That often helps. If that isn’t working perfectly, hold a cold compress on the bleeding area. Don’t dab. Hold it on the nick for at least 60 seconds. Usually that does the trick. Band-Aids if you’ve really done a great job at cutting yourself. If you find yourself nicking yourself one or two days in a row, time to change the razor/razor blades.

Expert Note: Try not to forget that you have toilet paper on your face if that’s what you used as your compress before you go out in public…not that that has ever happened to me before.

Clean Up Work Area Afterwards

Put everything back where you got it. Clean up the work area. No one wants to see all your cut whisker hairs in the sink. Be a good human citizen of this planet and clean up your own work area…especially if you’re at a friend’s house or hotel. Don’t be the man that doesn’t. You’ll get extra credit for drying around the facets and wiping down the facet handles and cleaning up any mirror smudges. ?Make it look like you didn’t shave there.

If you’ve made it to here, you’ve basically become the shaving man every woman wants (picture the Mennen guy in the commercials). Time to celebrate by getting the one you love to smell and touch your perfectly shaven face.