How To Shave With An Electric Razor
It’s all a matter of taste, isn’t it? Some people prefer to clean their teeth with a plain old-fashioned toothbrush, while others prefer a fancy digital contraption with an onboard computer that will count your brushes for you.
Some will only serve up a cake they’ve whisked by hand, while others are happy to let an electric gadget do all the hard work for them.
Some would rather kick back to a spot of classical guitar rather than listen to an ear-blasting Hendrix solo.
Here at Wilkinson Sword, we often like to keep things analogue, trusting our incredible range of razors and blades to put in a solid performance every time. After all, we’ve been perfecting them for well over a century.
But if you fancy trying out electric, you could do worse than follow our handy tips for shaving with an electric razor. After all, we know our way around a shave — whether it’s tech-powered or back-to-basics.
How to shave effectively with an electric razor
The important thing with electric shaving is to forget a lot of what you know. You’re in new territory here. Shaving foam? It’s gone. Hydrating gel pools? Forget about them.
But the golden shaving rules still apply — don’t press too hard, don’t go rushing and take good care of your skin before, during and after. Here’s our top tips on how to shave using an electric razor for smooth results every time.
1. Trim before shaving if necessary
If you haven’t shaved for a while and your facial hair is on the longer side, you should give it a trim with scissors before shaving with an electric razor. If the hair is too long, you may feel it pull when dry shaving, which can be uncomfortable and cause skin irritation. Electric razors are for stubble only!
2. Make sure your skin and stubble are dry
A good quality shaving brush is especially useful if you’re electric shaving — making sure your skin is free of dirt and oils will help the electric razor to glide more easily, and stubble is softened but dry so it can be removed more easily.
By all means have a warm shower before your shave and apply a little pre-shave balm, but make sure you’re completely dried off or rubbed in before getting started with the electric razor. Maybe go and make a cup of tea in between.
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3. Maintenance is key
Just like with a traditional razor, your electric shaver is always going to perform better if you take good care of it. At Wilkinson Sword we like to think that you’ll spend hours each day lovingly polishing and tending to your shaving equipment, but even we haven’t always got time for that. A quick bit of TLC now and then will still keep it shaving smoothly.
Some shavers come with their own cleaning instructions, so don’t ignore these. Make sure you regularly remove any stray hairs from the cutters and replace any parts if necessary. Don’t bash your shaver on the side of the sink to get hairs out though. You’ll mess up the inner mechanisms.
4. Don’t get too warm
Is it getting hot in here? The term “razor burn” can take on a whole new meaning with electric razors if you’re not careful - their inner motors mean they can get more than a bit warm while you’re using them. We’re not talking red hot, but warm enough to cause irritation - especially if you’ve got sensitive skin.
So start on the most sensitive areas while the razor hasn’t warmed up yet — and tread lightly. The slower and more carefully you shave, the less likely you are to have to go over the same areas again and risk inflaming them.
5. Approach from the right angle
And by the right angle, we mean literally a right angle. Holding the shaver at right angles to your face gives your free hand more space to pull the skin taut as you shave, meaning that the hairs will stand more upright and be easier to remove.
Snagging, pulling and nicks (not to mention the annoying side-effects like ingrown hairs that come with them) will be kept to a minimum. There’s no hard and fast rule around which way you should shave with an electric razor - but following the direction of hair growth is always a good start, and different products will carry different advice.
6. Don’t quit after the first shave!
We’ll level with you - electric shaving takes some getting used to. If you’ve always used foam and a razor it can be a disconcerting feeling to run an electric blade across your face. It might take your skin a few shaves to get used to your new methods, but don’t let a bit of mild irritation put you off your stride.
