Ask Aaron Q/A: How to prevent razor bumps for men who are African-Caribbean
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Aaron is asked a question from an African-Caribbean man on the best ways to combat razor bumps
Osa Omo, from the UK, asks:
“As an African-Caribbean man who suffers from painful razor bumps caused by ingrowing hairs how often should I shave? Every day, every other day, once a week or perhaps once a month?”
Razor bumps are very painful
AARON SAYS
“Mr Omo,
I would have you shave as often you feel that your beard needs it. There is not hard and fast rule saying you have to shave every day or every other day. It is up to your face and your judgement on how it feels and when you should shave. I will say that for Afro-Caribbean men especially it helps to shave with a double edge or single edge razor. Shaving at the surface of the skin, as opposed to pulling the hair and releasing it under the skin as cartridge razors do, goes a very long way in preventing ingrown hair. So in final answer it is not how often that matters most, but what tools you use that will help you the most.
Smooth Shaving!
Aaron”
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The Bluebeards Revenge straight razor project - The Naming
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The Bluebeards Revenge is now six weeks into its quest to create the ‘Ultimate Straight Razor for Real Men’, and the progress has been very steady. We’ve been documenting the progress of the project on The Shaving Shack blog. So far, we’ve taken you through the welding of the billet and the crafting of the tang, shank and the blade itself.
The Bluebeards Revenge is on a mission to create the world’s best straight razor
Keen to honour the Bluebeard’s promise to take you along every step of the way, the time has come to invite you to play a very special and exciting part in the eagerly anticipated Straight Razor Project.
Hand-crafted from Damascus steel and refined to within an inch of its life, The Bluebeards Straight Razor is to be the finest of shaving instruments, designed for the manliest of men, and the search has begun for the perfect name – a name that will do it all of the justice it deserves.
This is your razor just as much as The Bluebeards Revenge’s, and they want you to get involved with the process. So they are inviting you to submit your suggestions, and will narrow them down to the five most fitting before offering them up for scrutiny.
The person who suggests the winning name will be rewarded handsomely with a very special Bluebeards prize, as well as the satisfaction of seeing the bespoke masterpiece of a straight razor bearing their creative name.
So get suggesting, give them your input, and be a part of this exciting journey.
Ways to enter:
- Tweet @thebluebeards using the #straightrazorproject hashtag.
- Leave a comment on their Facebook page - The Bluebeards Revenge
Check back next soon for the latest update on how the razor is progressing.
How to shave properly with a double edge safety razor - Simple shaving techniques & tips
Shaving with a double edge safety razor should be an enjoyable experience
So often the questions that come to us here at The Shaving Shack are from gents, and sometimes ladies, new to the wet shaving experience. They ask for information regarding a more luxurious way to take care of themselves, information on how to start wet shaving, however most often the questions revolve around improving their current shaving regimen. Bits and pieces of information have been shared in our Question and Answer section but we thought a more comprehensive review of technique was in order.
Grain direction
First we address the topic of shaving “with the grain”. Shaving “with the grain” means following the direction of hair growth with your razor. For instance, if the hair on your upper lip grows straight down towards your mouth you would shave towards your mouth from your nose to shave with the grain. The importance of following the direction of hair growth lies in the ease of cutting the hair. It causes less distress to the hair, hair follicle, and skin underneath while also offering the path of least resistance. Following this technique if your skin in prone to breaking out with spots or ingrown hairs is especially helpful.
Passes
Discussion of grain direction leads us into the next technique of reducing the beard by separate “passes”. Often you will see these passes referred to as “with the grain, across the grain, and against the grain.” Following the order of passes serves to reduce the hair in steps to get as close to the surface of the skin as possible. Going with the grain we discussed above. Shaving at a 90 degree angle, or perpendicular to the direction of growth will follow a path across the grain. Shaving in the reverse direction of growth goes against the grain. Often you see debate as to whether this last step is necessary, however most folks will find that shaving against the grain will top off their shave with the smoothest finish. If you find that your skin is sensitive, or you are new to wet shaving, leaving off this last pass until you are comfortable with the technique and blade angle is advisable.
A safety razor will give you a much close shave than a multi bladed cartridge razor
Blade angle
Speaking of blade angle, what is a good angle to hold one’s razor? The first caveat being if you are using a disposable cartridge razor, the angle of the blades is pre-set and you need not worry about it. However to those shaving with double edge razors such as The Bluebeards Revenge Scimitar, Merkur 37c, or other fine razors this matters a great deal. Too shallow an angle and you are not taking off as much beard as you can, too much and you end up scraping skin instead of cutting hair! Neither outcome is advisable! If measured out properly the angle comes out to somewhere close to 30 degrees. However different razors can have differently shaped heads and this angle can differ. The best way we have found is to hold the razor with the handle sticking out perpendicular to your face, and as you slide the razor gently down your face I sharpen the angle so the blade edge nears the hair. When you feel the blade edge begin to catch and cut the hair you have found the correct angle.
Pressure
Hand in hand with this is pressure. No one likes pressure at work, home, and especially when a razor sharp blade is against your face. Unless perhaps you’re 007! Using as little pressure as possible no matter your choice in the style of razor is best practice. Because of the hinge on most cartridge razors more pressure will be needed than for a double edge razor, however a light hand will still go a long ways. “What kind of pressure is too much or too little?” We hear you ask? Allow the razor to just set on your face with its natural weight and letting gravity draw it in the direction of your pass is the easiest gauge.
These basic techniques will help set your shaving for smooth success!
Another small piece of technical advice that will help you on your journey is to keep you arm straight, locking your wrist, and use the movement of your whole arm to control the razor. This will help you control angle, pressure, and prevent painful gouges. (Ouch!) These basic techniques will help set your shaving for smooth success! And smooth is what we are after, right? Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more in depth looks at wet shaving technique in articles to come.
The Bluebeards Revenge straight razor project - Crafting the blade
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Last month The Bluebeards Revenge announced to the world they would be embarking on an exciting new straight razor project. Not wanting to do anything by halves, the leading British male grooming brand have searched high and low for someone that possesses the quality of craftsmanship they feel a project like this fully deserves.
We first looked at the creation of the 192 layer razor billet – a mixture of both Shirogami (White Paper Steel) and 1.2842 (US 02) steel, which is an Hypereutectic Industrial Tool Steel. We then sat down with the company to discuss the development of the tang and shank.
This week we talked to The Bluebeards Revenge about the crafting of the blade. In this week’s post you can begin to see the shape of the blade, and although a long way from finishing, it’s great to see a bit of life and character being added.
With the tang formed, the bar is now cut into a suitable size. This could be done earlier in the process, but the Bladesmith finds forging easier with a longer piece of metal to hammer.
Here we see the creation of the ‘Point’ of the razor. There are many different ways the Bladesmith can fashion the toe, point and nose in the creation of this straight razor - Some familiar ones might be the French or Spanish point. As yet, the brand are still undecided on which one to use.
The blade is now heated to around 1100 celsius. For those following the posts on this project, you might have noticed that The Bluebeards Revenge started with a whopping 1400 degrees but they are slowly getting cooler as they go. Basically, the Bladesmith has pointed out, that when he is creating the razor, and it gets to the more intricate parts, he needs it cooler, as this is better to refine the steels grain structure.
The raw hide mallet moves steel without putting any dents or hammer marks into the flat surface . In this video we see the straightening of the spine and tang. This is the final touch before special heat treatment in the heat treat oven.
The razor is placed in a heat treat oven, the temperature is raised to 660 Celsius. Held at this temp for 30 minutes then allowed to cool slowly inside the heat treatment oven to room temp. This slow cooling anneals the steel and creates a spherical grain structure, important for machining the steel before hardening and stopping the blade warping.
“We’ve just received the next installment of videos and images from the Bladesmith, which have really excited us as they show the grinding of the blade (making it all shiny!). A lengthy and time consuming process, but ultimately the end results look stunning,” the brand told us.
Exciting stuff, and we will be reporting more on the development of the razor next week.
The Bluebeards Revenge straight razor project - Tang & Shank
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Last month The Bluebeards Revenge announced to the world they would be embarking on an exciting new straight razor project. Not wanting to do anything by halves, the leading British male grooming brand have searched high and low for someone that possesses the quality of craftsmanship they feel a project like this fully deserves.
A few weeks ago we looked at the creation of the 192 layer razor billet - a mixture of both Shirogami (White Paper Steel) and 1.2842 (US 02) steel, which is an Hypereutectic Industrial Tool Steel. With the razor billet ready, The Bluebeards Revenge is now developing the razor’s tank and shank.
We recently sat down with the company to discuss this process in more detail.
In this video, we see the Bladesmith set out a groove for the razor. Basically, this is where the yellow blob is in the image below. This is also where the shoulder of the blade will go (if we go with a shoulder, we might look at shoulderless).
Here is a diagram The Bluebeards Revenge has produced of the different parts of a straight razor. If you search the web you’ll find these sorts of diagrams everywhere, but you might see different areas of the razor labelled differently.
Once the groove is made, it is then time to start on the tang and shank. Damascus is notoriously difficult to forge and can split easily, so a great deal of attention to detail is needed.
Here, we see the tang actually take shape. The hammer and anvil work is purely exquisite, and shows the attention to detail and craft needed to create something like a custom straight razor.
Further refinement of the tang is needed, and the process of using hammer on anvil is a long one. As it gets closer to finishing the shank and tang, the Bladesmith uses lighter blows to add the finishing touches.
Next week, we will hopefully have more on the forging of the blade.
“Please remember that everything at this point in time is in the development stage - so shape of the tang and shank could change in its final stage. We are merely trying to create the best possible razor, and we’re looking at every option as we go along,” The Bluebeards Revenge told us.
The Bluebeards Revenge straight razor project - The Billet
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Last week The Bluebeards Revenge announced to the world they would be embarking on an exciting new straight razor project. Not wanting to do anything by halves, the leading British male grooming brand have searched high and low for someone that possesses the quality of craftsmanship they feel a project like this fully deserves.
They told The Shaving Shack: “Obviously, we’re rather excited at Bluebeards HQ about the prospect of this razor; a razor fully deserving of our branding. The process is a long but enjoyable one, and we hope you enjoy coming along for the ride with us.”
We sat down with the brand to look at the development of the razor billet and the different stages behind it.
1. Initial billet of 12 plates , 6 of white paper steel , 6 of 1:2842
White paper steel is also known as Shirogami, and descends from Japan. The steel itself is made from sand iron, and is the same sand iron that makes the legendary steel Tama-hagane. The steel is very pure, with hardly any alloys, and is very popular in Japan in the making of high-end kitchen knives. When hardened, it has a very fine grain structure.
1:2842 steel is the equivalent to the U2 02, a tool steel that has been around for years in the industry, and is known for it’s durability and good forging potential.
Over his many years in the industry, our master bladesmith has combined these two steels many times before. The plan with this damast is to then coat the blade with TiAIN (Titanium Aluminium Nitrate), which brings up a particularly nice pattern.
The overall feedback is that ‘Shirogami’ white paper steel and 1:2842 combined has a tough and aggressive cutting edge.
2. Heating in gas forge of initial block of 12 layers of steel
The gas forge is heated to around 1400 degrees.
3. 12 Layer forge welded together
4. 12 layers drawn out to make second welded billet
The forge welding process is conducted either on a hydraulic press or an air striking hammer - Check our Facebook/Instagram page for the videos.
5. Second forge weld 4 x 12 = 48 layers
The billet is then once again separated into 4, and the parts are stacked on top of each other. The process of stages 1 to 4 is repeated to create a 48 layered billet.
6. Heating in the gas forge for second forge weld
7. Second forge weld completed
If you look closely, you can even see where the two different steels are parallel to each other.
8. Drawing out of second weld
9. Third forge weld billet stacked ready for welding in forge
The billet now consists of 192 layers (12, 48, 192). Again, if you look closely, you can see the layers of the different steel.
10. Third forge weld heating up in gas forge
11. Length of 192 layers
To think, this will eventually be a straight razor.
12. 192 layer being drawn out for razor billet
13. Razor billet ready
14. 25mm wide 6mm thick 192 layers finished ready for next stage
Finally, the 192-layer razor billet is ready for the next stage. The craftsmanship that has gone in to just creating the billet at this point is 6 hours - Blood, sweat and tears have gone into getting it ready for the next stage of creating the blade.
Hopefully next week we’ll be able to bring you more details on the creation of the blade itself.
The Ultimate Straight Razor For Real Men?
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Starting with just a shaving cream three years ago, The Bluebeards Revenge has always been on the quest to deliver the finest shaving equipment and products. From their love and industry background, they have always wanted to develop their our own straight razor. A premium razor which didn’t compromise on quality and a keen eye to detail. A razor which finally meets the needs of the under supplied and overly demanded straight razor market.
We recently spoke to David Hildrew, Bluebeard-in-Chief, about his hopes, aims and expectations for the project.
Heating in the gas forge to around 1200 degrees
And this is what he said:
“When I laid the foundations for The Bluebeards Revenge brand I was absolutely determined to ensure that we stood out from the crowd. Up to now our packaging, approach to market and products have succeeded in achieving just that and I am really very proud of what we have achieved so far. Our brand is innovative, market leading and totally fearless and now is the time to embark on another challenge and to create The Ultimate Straight Razor For Real Men!
Join us on our quest to create the finest of all shaving instruments – I have convinced a personal friend and one of the world’s finest bladesmiths to work with us on this project. A man whose blades are renowned throughout the international Special Forces fraternity and upon whose work I once relied upon to produce a combat knife tough enough to tackle any challenge – one that literally could mean the difference between life and death! Between us we are fully committed to producing a thing of awesome beauty and infinite functionality.
The prototype phase is well under way and over the next few weeks we will be bringing you constant updates, technical briefings and a visual insight into how the razor is developing. Suffice to say that we are using the finest of materials – the blade is being crafted by hand in Damascus steel – but also skills that have been developed over millennia and now reside in the hands of a very few men.
You are most welcome to join us on this grand adventure. Here is your opportunity to become involved in the development of what we hope will be an amazing shaving instrument, one that any man will be proud to own and to pass onto his son or grandchild. Feel free to ask questions, offer input and guidance. In due course we will be running a competition to name the finished article with a handsome prize to the successful entry. Please be prepared to be patient and indulge us with some forbearance – this is an honest attempt to take the straight razor into uncharted territory and it is bound to face challenges and obstacles along the way.”
We will be publishing regular articles on the progress of this project, so please bookmark us and follow the journey.
Time to shave guys: Clean-shaven men now more attractive to women as “Peak Beard” is reached
Thinking of going au naturel and cultivating a facial forest? Hold it right there. You might be more attractive to the opposite sex than you think – and relaxing your grooming routine could have a detrimental effect on your pulling power.
According to new research, the more men who grow beards, the less attractive facial hair becomes to women, proving that it doesn’t always pay to follow the pack.
After being shown a succession of pictures of bearded blokes, women consistently rated clean-shaven men more attractive, researchers at the University of New South Wales found.
Clean shaven men have found to have better job prospects and have more sex
The study of 1,453 women involved them being shown images of 36 men’s faces, with the first 24 being exclusively bearded. The final twelve included a mix of differing facial hair styles – some of them clean-shaven.
Women consistently rated the smooth-faced men higher on a scale of attractiveness than those with beards of moustaches – showing that daring to be different and standing out from the crowd sends popularity soaring.
Individuality often translates as confidence, which could explain the spike in desirability for the well-groomed .
While we at The Shaving Shack are all for the clean-shaven look, there’s no denying that stars such as Ryan Gosling, Justin Timberlake and Liam Hemsworth have sparked a flurry of facial-haired imitators in recent years, leaving only a select crowd, including a newly clean-shaven Brad Pitt, to fly the fresh-faced flag.
With a daily razor date conveying an air of self respect, men who do so have also been shown to enjoy greater career satisfaction than their bearded counterparts, with better promotions and bigger salaries coming as part and parcel. A study conducted by Behavioural Ecology proved that better-groomed men enjoyed greater overall success at work, and with just 8 out of the 86 men on the Forbes 100 Richest People in the World list sporting a beard, it’s all the evidence we need!
With facial hair having gone so “mainstream”, it appears that we may now well have reached “Peak beard” – and the best time yet for men on the lookout for ladies, luck and a lavish lifestyle to give up the ghost and shave it all off.
Other studies showing why it’s better to be clean shaven
Clean-shaven men have better job prospects, study shows
Well-groomed men get more bedroom action, study finds
Ask Aaron Q/A: The best double edge razor blades for sensitive skin
Aaron is asked a question about the best double edge razor blades for guys with sensitive skin
Blair Valentine-Purnell, from the UK, asks:
“I recently got a double edge safety razor to help with my ingrowing hair problems and have had quite a bit of success- as long as I don’t leave it too long between shaves- but do suffer from a little bit of skin irritation afterwards. Are there any particular double edge razor blades that are better for sensitive skin?”
AARON SAYS
“Mr. Valentine-Purnell,
While not specifically designed for sensitive skin, there are razor blades that would be more suited for a sensitive face. Firstly, I would not recommend Feathers because they are extremely sharp and unforgiving for mistakes.
However, look for blades that have a Teflon coating, this tends to make a smoother shave. (keeping things smooth and sticky-free was what Teflon was designed for after all!). Try the Gillette, Astra, black label Israeli, and Lord super chrome blades.
If you can find them Polsilver blades are very smooth, however they are rumored to be out of production. These have all given me good success and good shaves. It will take some trial and error to find the right one for you.
Happy shaving!
Aaron”
Do you have any burning questions you would like ask our wet shaving expert Aaron Wolfenbarger?
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Ask Aaron Q/A: The best sandalwood colognes
Aaron is asked a question about the best sandalwood colognes
Paul Johnson, from the UK, asks:
“Which sandalwood cologne is best - GF Trumper, DR Harris or Taylor of Old Bond Street? Also which brand does the best shaving cream and shaving soap? Thirdly, is skin food worth buying? Thank you.”
AARON SAYS
“Mr. Johnson,
I have to say, the following is my opinion but after trying products from these companies the Trumper Sandalwood is my favorite cologne. Taylor in my opinion has the best shaving cream, and D. R. Harris and GF Trumpers are tied for their soaps.
The Skin Food from Trumpers is top notch and a favorite aftershave of mine. The Sandalwood is excellent and many gents like the Coral as well. In all actuality I don’t think you could go wrong with any of these companies products, but this is how they rank for me.
Cheers and Smooth shaving! Aaron.”
Do you have any burning questions you would like ask our wet shaving expert Aaron Wolfenbarger?
CLICK HERE TO ASK AARON YOUR QUESTION
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