I love them, when I was a child I wanted a beard, I wanted one till I turned 19 when I realized that they were better on men…for women ahem*.
Beards, in many African folk lore are the measure of men. Looking into history; Moshoeshoe the first king of the Kingdom of Lesotho was named thus having slain the beard of his enemy by stealing his wealth in cattle. Beards have grown in and out of fashion as statements of stature and signs of well kept or unkempt men.
Grown on the face of men around the world, beards are the single defining factor of men; they wear their manliness on their faces and are the literal crown jewel of the man’s jaw. If you don’t have a beard please men, just get one. In that light and still moving with my ‘Get as many men to get tested’ #Movember campaign, I seek to advise all men out there, on how best to care for their beards, wear them proud and as the men in Australia say ‘change the face of men’s health’.
Following is some advice on how to shave a beard, you know for all you ‘Clean faced’ men but also because generally you have to shave the beard regularly to keep yourself fresh, clean and ‘healthy’
There are 7. basic steps guys,
1. Prep all your shaving gear, towels, clippers, blades, creams, after shaves, brushes. The works, keep them ready; to get the best out of your face your pores have to be open, your face has to be moist and your hairs have to be soft AND moist
2. Start with a trim. If your beard is long, and you want to shorten it or just get rid of it, you can’t just take a razor to your face. You will make it blunt or just slide over those smooth long locks. So you have to trim the hair to a level just above your skin, kinda like an unkempt evening shadow.
3. Wash your face. Remove the loose hairs, scrub your face clean and open your pores. So you use very warm water. Opening your pores makes hair removal easier and allows the soap to get the dirt out of your pores better and softens the facial hairs.
NB: post shower shaves won’t work because by the time you reach the sink… your face will have cooled somewhat and your pores will have closed leading to ingrown hairs and skin irritation.
4. Shaving cream and oil. Now shaving oil is a new product for me so please get more info on it here [insert link]. From what I gather, it helps the blade run over the beard.
Rub the shaving cream over your face with a shaving brush
Shaving brush source: http://www.thebodyshop.ca
which softens the hairs, exfoliates the skin and lifts the whiskers up while shaving.
AVOID using bar soap fellas, avoid it for irritation, dryness and plain old residues on your blades [image of blades]
TIP: they say that the type of blade you use depends on your beard AND skin type. If its sensitive… use a multi blade razors (not the electric shaver that probably adds to the irritation ahem*)
5. Shaving is a 2 hand motion, one hand to hold the blade firmly against the skin, the other to slightly tug the skin, keeping it tight for the blade. Use short strokes moving along the grain and NOT against it. Rinse after every stroke in warm water to avoid clogging
6. Rinse your face…again, with WARM water! Don’t close those pores or harden those hairs you are not done yet. Smooth your skin over your face to check for spots you may have missed, rub in some shaving cream and shave again, in another direction if you will but NEVER against the grain especially in those troubled areas like… the neck and jaw line.
7. NOW rinse with cold water, close your pores and event stop (any potential) bleeding. Like I said, your skin is sensitive too. Put kitchen paper on the (still bleeding) spots to help absorb the blood.
- The rest is to care for your shaving gear, rinse thoroughly, dispose of disposable bladed etc. find out all the information about shaving from WikiHow here
- And get some stylish tips on beards from here
For the ladies, get some HOT bearded boy pics here: Pin board
And please, please donate here
