One of the most frequent complaints I hear from guys about why the dislike shaving is that they just don't have the time to slow down and do everything it takes to get a great shave. And I completely understand -- it takes a lot of time to properly prep your beard, apply your lather and shave. But most of us are always in such a rush to get out the door in the morning because we are late to work that the main objective with shaving becomes finishing as quick as possible instead of focusing on taking the time to actually get a great shave.
And this “as quick as possible” mentality doesn’t just apply to the actual shave -- it also extends into our post-shave routines as well. During the first 10 years that I shaved, I had no idea how important a good post-shave routine was and the impact it could have. In fact, here's what my routine was after shaving back in my cartridge razor days.
- Rinse my face off with hot water
- Apply tissue paper to any nicks or cuts
- Rub some hand lotion on my face
- Sprint out the door because I was late for class or work
I look back now and think to myself, “No wonder you were so disappointed with how your face felt after a shave!” Even I knew it was important to treat any nicks or cuts and I also knew it was important to moisturize, but was there anything else I was supposed to be doing? Was I even treating my nicks and cuts the right way? Was I moisturizing correctly?
And I have heard lots of you have the same questions. So today I am going to cover everything you need to know to develop a great post-shave routine. Let's do this.
What Is Your Current Post-Shave Routine?
Alright, before you read any further go grab a pen and a piece of paper. Got it?
Ok. Write down every step of your post-shave routine in as much detail as possible. Do you rinse your face off with hot water or cold water? Do you dry your face off with a towel? How do you treat nicks and cuts? What kind of moisturizer do you use? Do you even use a moisturizer?
Why am I having you write this down? Because most guys don't realize how limited their post-shave routine is until they explicitly think it through step by step. Most people into a routine and just keep doing it for years without really thinking twice about it. But I want to help you change that today.
Shaving is incredibly abrasive on your face and neck, regardless of whether you're using a safety razor, a straight razor, a cartridge razor or an electric razor. But the right post-shave routine will do things like moisturize your skin and beard, treat any nicks or cuts, reduce inflammation and kill any bacteria helping prevent infections and ingrown hairs.
So yeah, a good post-shave routine is pretty important. And the good news is that the routine I’m about to teach you is done in 8 easy steps and should take you less than a maximum of 5 minutes to finish. We don’t want to sacrifice results, but we still want to complete it as quick as possible.
Alright, let’s get started.
An Incredible Post-Shave Routine In 8 Easy Steps
Step 1: Rinse Your Face Off With Warm Water
Alright, so you just finished your shave and don’t need to make any additional passes. The first thing you want to do is clean your face up and get all the remaining lather rinsed off.
The best way to wash away the remaining lather is to rinse your face and neck off with warm water. It shouldn’t take too long, but don’t be in a rush. Spend a good 30 seconds splashing water on your face and neck to make sure you get everything off, you don’t want any lather residue left behind and drying up.
And why use warm water? Well first of all it feels refreshing, but mainly because it’s just a little more effective at rinsing off any remaining lather. It’s similar to when you are washing dishes: it’s a lot easier to knock gunk off your plates when you use warm water over cold water.
Step 2: Rinse Your Face Off With Cold Water
Alright, after all the remaining lather is rinsed off the next step is to rinse your face off again. But this time with cold water.
It may seem redundant, but the cold water rinse serves a couple different purposes. First, the cold water helps close and constrict your pores. Your face has had a lot of hot water and warm lather on it for several minutes, and this in turn has really opened your pores up. This is great while you’re shaving, but not so great once you’re done with the razor. You want to close the pores up afterwards to prevent dirt, grime or bacteria from getting in them. Cold water will also hopefully close up any weepers too.
Secondly, cold water helps reduce your skin's inflammation. Your skin just had a razor dragged over it and no matter how talented a wet shaver your are, your skin is going to be inflamed. Cold water does an excellent of helping reduce any swelling and inflammation.
Have you ever been to a hydrotherapy spa treatment? They usually have some type of hot then cold circuit where you go from a steam room or sauna and the do a quick cold water plunge. The 2-step warm water rinse then cold water rinse is achieving the same thing.
Step 3: Apply An Antiseptic
At this point, your face and neck may look nice and clean to the naked eye, but now you need to take care of some stuff you can’t see -- bacteria. Think about it: you just took a razor to your face and there’s a good chance you have a few nicks or cuts. If there’s any bacteria on your skin it could lead to an infection. Bacteria can also cause irritation, pimples or lead to ingrown hairs. So it’s pretty important to make sure and neutralize any bacteria after a shave.
So what do we do to take care of bacteria on the skin? We disinfect it by using an antiseptic. And what is an antiseptic? Antiseptics are simply antimicrobial products that are applied to skin to reduce the chances of an infection. Not all antiseptics are created equally though.
First of all, I want to recommend not using any alcohol-based aftershaves as your antiseptic. Yes, alcohol is a good antiseptic, but alcohol also has the side effect of drying out your skin. Rubbing alcohol makes a great antiseptic for things like cuts on the knee, but it doesn’t make for a great antiseptic on your face after a shave.
Instead, I highly recommend using something that has been used for thousands of years dating back to the ancient Egyptians: an alum block. Alum blocks are made from alum, which is a naturally occurring double sulfate salt.
Alum blocks do a tremendous job as an antiseptic and cleaning out any pores that might be irritated. But that’s not the only benefit from using an alum block. They also do a great job of treating small nicks or cuts, decreasing razor burn, preventing ingrown hairs and last but not least, giving great feedback on how well you shaved.
So how do you use an alum block? It’s simple. Just leave your face damp following your cold water rinse, don’t dry it off. Then, grab your alum block and run it under cold water. Once it’s nice and wet, just glide the alum block all over your face. Make sure and cover every inch of skin you just shaved. It should only take you around 30 seconds to complete.
As you’re rubbing the alum block on your face, you may feel a stinging sensation on some spots. This is your alum block talking to you and saying that you either just went over a small nick or cut or any area where there was some razor irritation. Take note of these spots where it stings, you may need to focus on your technique the next time you shave.
Alum blocks are affordable, easy to use, provide a multitude of benefits and last a long time if you take care of them. An alum block should be a staple in every wet shaver's post-shave routine.
Step 4: Rinse Off The Antiseptic With Cold Water
You don’t need to leave the antiseptic on your face long for it to work. In fact, as soon as you are done applying it, just go ahead and rinse it all off with cold water.
If you follow our recommendation and use alum as your antiseptic, you’ll probably notice a salty taste if any of it gets in your mouth. Why is this important to note? Because although that salty composition in the alum is great at working as an antiseptic, that same saltiness can dry your skin out if left on. We’ve never had a problem with alum drying our skin out, but just make sure and rinse it all off right after applying.
Step 5: Treat Any Remaining Nicks & Cuts
Do you have any weepers or nicks/cuts still bleeding? Hopefully your antiseptic closed treated them all, but if they are still bleeding you should take care of them before moving on.
If they look really minor, you might just want to try one more round of the alum block to see if that will finish them off. However, if that doesn’t work or they look like they need something stronger, then it’s probably time to bring out something for a more “specialized” spot treatment.
Checkout my guide on how to treat shaving nicks and cuts for information on what products we recommend. But our quick guide recommendation would be to use a styptic pencil or styptic gel. Styptic pencils are incredibly effective at closing up any small nicks or cuts up. It’s going to burn pretty good when you apply it though so be prepared.
Step 6: Dry Your Face
Alright, now your face is looking pretty sharp. It’s clean, smooth, you’ve got all your nicks and cuts treated. And it should still be a little damp because up until now you have not dried it off. Well now is time to get it dry -- kind of.
I recommend more of a passive drying than grabbing a towel and patting your face dry. I like to let my face just air dry instead of grabbing a towel and patting it dry. Using a towel just seems to dry my skin out whereas air drying it lets the water hydrate my face.
So instead of actively drying it with a towel, just let your face air dry so it won’t dry out quite as much. If your face is still really wet, you can wipe away the excess water with your bare hands, but don’t use any towels. Instead, just keep getting ready while your face dries. Brush your teeth. Fix your hair. And soon enough your face will be dry.
Step 7: Moisturize
Once your face and neck are dry, go ahead and apply a moisturizer. Your face goes through a lot while shaving, and applying a moisturizer will help keep the skin. Your face is going to be extremely dry and you can’t wait until right before your next shave to get it moisturized again. Proper skincare for shaving is always an ongoing process and it starts right after a shave.
There are lots of good post-shave lotions, creams and moisturizers available on the market and I am working on a guide to help you find the right one for your face. But overall, I really just recommend using some type of moisturizer that is made specifically for your face, from all natural ingredients and does not contain alcohol.
Optional: Apply Your Traditional Aftershave
If you follow my post-shave routine, there’s no need to use a traditional (aka alcohol-based) aftershave because other products we recommended will work as the antiseptic and astringent. However, if you just really love using a traditional aftershave because of the smell -- now is the time to use it.
Please just use it in very small amounts though. Don’t douse your entire face in a traditional alcohol-based aftershave. In fact, we recommend just putting a little dab behind your ears. This way you still get the benefit of the smell you want, but it’s not drying out your face.
If you’re looking for an aftershave product that won't dry out your face -- I highly recommend checking out witch hazel. Witch hazel is an alcohol-free astringent that cleans and moisturizes your skin. There are many benefits that come from using witch hazel.
Step 8: Keep Moisturizing Between Shaves As Needed
Technically, my post-shave routine ends after step 7. But I added step 8 just to reiterate how important it is to keep your face moisturized between shaves. Don’t wait until the last minute to try and get your face and beard moisturized before a shave -- it is an ongoing process.
I don’t have a guideline on how often you should moisturize your face for a reason -- because every wet shaver will have different needs. Unfortunately, it’s going to take some trial and error to figure out which product(s) agree with your face and how often to apply them.
Some men have extremely dry skin, live in dry climates and will need to moisturize a few times a day. Some guys have naturally oily skin and may only need to do it every other day or after a shave.
Personally, I only have to moisturize in the morning and evening during the spring and summer. But when the colder weather hits, my face and neck really dry out in the winter. That’s when I really start using a facial moisturizer much more frequently.
Like I said earlier, it’s probably going to take some experimentation to figure out which products work best for your skin. But we want to make 1 recommendation of what to look for in your daily facial moisturizer -- SPF. It is extremely important to protect your skin from sun damage not only to prevent wrinkles and keep you looking young, but also to protect yourself from the harmful UV rays. Lots of great facial moisturizers already have some SPF protection in them so you don’t have any excuses.
Don’t Ruin A Great Shave With A Bad Post-Shave Routine
It takes quite a bit of planning and effort to get a great shave. You have to prep your beard and face. You have to use a good lather, and then actually apply it correctly. You need to select a razor and razor blade that fit your features. And all of this is before you have even made one stroke with your razor. And then you need to actually shave with good technique.
Is all of this work worth it just to get a good shave? I think so. And I’m guessing you feel that way too or you wouldn't be reading this article.
Why am I bringing all of this up? Because I don't want you to undo all of that hard work and planning just because you get lazy with your post-shave routine. That’s like studying incredibly hard for a test and knowing the material, but then you fail the test because you only actually finish half of it.
Don't undo all of your hard work by being lazy with your post-shave routine. I know, you're usually in a hurry after shaving and tell yourself you'll take care of it later. Don't. Just take 5 minutes and complete this 8 step process and you will thank yourself later.
Tell me though, what does your typical post-shave routine include? How's it working out for you? Have you ever considered changing it up or have you just tried different “aftershave” products?
