GROOMING

How To Shave Properly With An Electric Shaver

By Philip Yiga | December 23, 2014

It’s every guy’s dream to get a clean,non irritating close shave. Today we have all kinds of shaving tools and machines and everyone has a choice to choose what works better for them. On the other hand, electric shavers have proved to be the safest shaving tools for most men. If you have never used an electric shaver, I will take you through some simple steps to help you learn how to properly shave with an electric shaver. May be the other thing you have to know is the nature of your skin, if it’s a sensitive skin, you will opt for wet shaving but if it’s non-sensitive, you can use both dry & wet shaving options. With that in mind, not all shavers can perform in both conditions, so you have to use a multipurpose electric shaver like; Panasonic Es8103s Arc3 Electric / Braun 7-799cc / Philips Norelco 1150x/46 / Norelco 1250x/46 Sensotouch 3d Electric Shaver, these top brands can all do both wet & dry shaving, some might cost an arm and a leg but end results will be tremendous and in the long run you will save lots of cash.

STEPS:

Check the condition of your electric shaver:- Before proceeding with the shaving process, you need to examine the condition of your shaving machine, open its head and check its blades if they’re sharp enough, some electric shavers like Philips Norelco S9311/84, Shaver 9300 3d Electric Shaver require blade replacement after 18 months, so you need to know when to change your blades. On the other hand, when your blades lose their sharpness, you can use a shaver system to sharpen them, but this does not come with each model, its only models like Braun 7-7900 that come with a shaver system which cleans, lubricates and sharpens blades. If you own a Norelco electric shaver, you can buy shaver sharpening heads, they work on most Philips Norelco’s shavers.

Clean and prepare your face: – It does not matter whether the shaver you have is advanced or not; using a very expensive electric shaver does not guarantee you with a clean quality shave if you ignore some basics. With that in mind, you have to wash your face with Luke warm water, this will soften your beards / hair and make it very easy to shave, yet at the same time it will open your skin pores.
Dry your face with a clean soft towel:- Use a pure cotton soft towel to dry your face after shaving, this will absorb all water from your face easily, don’t rub the towel with your face, this can cause some little friction which might irritate your facial skin. However, the towel has to be pure clean, if you’re not sure if that, try to wash it with hot water to kill germs, because once after washing your face with warm water, all facial skin pores will be open, so once you use a dirty face towel, all germs will find their way into your skin which might be a bad thing.

Dust your beards with powder: – This option only works for men who prefer dry shaving to wet shaving. Use a very good shaving power like ”Magic Shave Shaving Powder Gold”, this should be spread all over your beards and whiskers. The powder will soften the beards and at the same time make it easy to shave. However, for better results, you should use a shaving brush to apply this shaving powder effectively and in that case I will recommend ”Escali 100% Pure Badger Shaving Brush”, its bristles are very soft and it will gently exfoliate your facial skin or any other place to be shaved.
Leather Up: – This option will work for men who prefer wet shaving to dry shaving. In most cases, these men have very sensitive skins, so they do well with dry shaving. You have to use a friendly shaving cream or soap for example ”Taylor of Old Bond Street Sandalwood Shaving Cream’’; this cream will make your beards much softer and very easy to shave. If you use a silent shaver like Philips Norelco S9311/84, Shaver 9300, you will enjoy the all shaving process, because everything will be cleared in minutes and no mess will be left on your skin.

Identify your grain: – I’m sure you want to use an electric shaver to remove beards or chest hair. So, take some time and look at the grain (direction to which your beards / hair grows too). You can use your fingers to spot that direction, simply move them around, wherever it feels rough, that is a wrong direction, but once all seems smooth, that will be the right grain. After identifying the actual direction to which your hair grows too, follow that grain and avoid shaving against it.
Start Shaving:- Switch on your electric shaver, set the blades and speed of the shaver if it has that option and start shaving your beards. There is no logic in this, simply follow your grain and make sure you shave while in-front of a mirror, this will help you see what exactly you’re doing and it will save you from making mistakes. If you’re using a rotary shaver likes PHILIPS NORELCO PT730/46, you might need to make more than one pass in certain areas, because rotary shavers move in a circular manner, so some areas like the neck might be difficult to shave. On the other hand, you can stretch your skin while shaving with an electric shaver; this will make the skin flat and easy to maneuver.

Use pop-up Trimmers on mustache & sideburns:- When it comes to grooming / shaping your side burns, you need to use a pop-up trimmer, this is a built-in feature which you will find behind the electric shaver. However, not all models have this feature, but check our 2015 best electric shaver listing it has some good examples, if you can’t afford an expensive brand / model, you can try to shop around for a cheaper electric shaver under $100, but make sure it has that feature, otherwise you might end up investing on a beard trimmer which is a bit costly.
Moisturize :- After getting that desirable close & clean shave, you can go ahead and moisturize your facial skin with an after shave splash / lotion. This will calm down the shaved area and also prevent razor bumps which might have occurred after shaving with an electric shaver.

Sources and Citations
– http://www.overstock.com/guides/how-to-shave-with-an-electric-razor
– http://www.wikihow.com/Shave-With-an-Electric-Shaver