This past year I have exuded a lot more energy thinking about the ways I shave my face. Since I first began shaving as a teenager, I have gone about the whole process without much curiosity. I probably started with disposable razors, then picked up cheap electric razors off amazon when I started to growing a beard, mustache, sideburns. The material and monetary waste of using disposable safety razors was quickly apparent to me in my adult years, so I tended to rely on an electric razor even for the times where I kept a clean shaven look (or as much of a clean shave you can get using an electric razor on your face). It took a while for me to realize I could be getting a better shave and wasting less plastic and paper without expending a ton of thought or spending much money.
So I got myself a Henson single-blade safety razor like ten months ago. There wasn’t much thought put into this decision. I figured a piece of metal that can fit replaceable razor blades was probably as simple a tool as you can imagine. And though I’m not immune to propaganda, I enjoyed that most of the advertisements I had seen for this product didn’t treat me like an insecure lumberjack man. there wasn’t much need, I felt, to think this through. And a year later I am happy to say I don’t regret the purchase.
My favorite thing about using a razor like this is that I don’t throw away a bunch of disposable plastic, either whole safety razors or the heads. I just collect the blades, and grieve the environment a little less throughout my life.
That was a factor that played into my decision of shaving cream. Having used an electric razor to shave for the longest time, I had to dabble in shaving creams and soaps to find which one worked for my skin and didn’t smell gross. I ended up going with a brand called Van Der Hagen cause it was one sold at my local Sally Mayes and it also wasn’t hyper masculine with its branding. I loved the shaving cream I got on the first try. It was really nice feeling and smelled delicious. But I went through it quickly and, yes, ended up throwing a lot of heavy plastic tubes into the trash/recycling.
This is when I went searching for alternatives and found out about shaving soaps.
I could get a bundle of these things super cheap and they end up lasting me months. It seemed like a great secret when I first got into these. You “need” to buy like a shaving mug (but also, just a mug from your kitchen in general would work fine) and a shaving brush, so it’s a slight investment. But I think the upfront cost (which isn’t a lot, in my experience) is offset by how much you’re not spending on tubes of shaving cream later on. Though, I think it would be hard to lather legs or arms or parts of your body larger than your face going about this method. Still, I think it’s worth considering.
My latest step in this whole experience has been in upgrading the boar brush that I got with my first shaving soap to a synthetic one from an English brand called Simpson. The relatively inexpensive boar brush I had just totally fell apart. I made the erroneous assumption that using a natural hair brush would somehow be sturdier or better, when I guess what I am trying to do with this whole shaving experience of mine is make things inexpensive, long lasting, and quality. I didn’t like having huge chunks of boar hair fall out of my brush or finding strands of it in my razor and around my face very much. This new brush just arrived today, so I can’t sing its praises quite yet.
Overall I’d say it’s been nice to make the switch to these kinds of products over the past year for a couple of clear reasons: I am spending less on materials and creating less plastic waste in the process. I feel like my experience shaving and the end result is way way way better than ever. But I also know that the experience I now have doing it, and the lack of care I put into this particular aspect of grooming in the past, probably play a big part into why I am so pleased with what I am seeing now.
Still, that can’t account for all of it. So I feel pretty confident in saying it’s been worthwhile putting a little thought into this part of my grooming routine!
I thought I would make a thread like this, sort of in the vein of the watch thread, in case anyone else had thoughts about grooming products or routines. I am curious to learn more about the old ways, and to hear your tips and tricks.
And of course, this thread isn’t just meant for products used to shave your face or to be particularly gendered, either.
You remind me that she actually used to work for a shaving company too.