How to Shave Your Face With a Step-by-Step Wet Shave

Warm water, clean skin and cream before the razor

Find the direction your hair grows

The AAD’s razor bump prevention tips make this the first job, because shaving “against the grain” causes irritation.

The check is visual and you only do it once. Look in a mirror, pull tightly on the skin in the beard area, look closely, then lift your head to see how the hair grows under the chin, and ask whether you see one direction or several.

Coarse, curly hair usually grows in various directions, so check the whole beard area rather than assuming that one direction covers the face.

Where several directions meet, train the hair by brushing the hairs gently in one direction every day with a clean, unused, soft-bristle toothbrush, then shaving in the direction you are training the hairs to grow.

Pulling the skin tight belongs to the looking, not to the shaving; during the shave, keep the skin slack, as step five sets out.

The razor

How many blades, and which razor

The AAD’s skin care tips for men put the blade-count advice inside a condition. “For some men, multi-blade razors can work too well or shave too closely to your skin. If you often experience razor bumps, razor burns, or ingrown hairs, use a single- or double-blade razor instead and do not stretch your skin taut while shaving.”

That sentence is addressed to men whose skin keeps reacting, so a man who shaves with a cartridge and has no trouble is not being told to change razors.

The razor bump routine names the same two alternatives, a single-blade razor or an electric razor, and adds the condition that matters more than the blade count, which is that whichever razor you use, the razor must be sharp.

The NHS lists “try using an electric razor rather than wet shaving” among its self-care measures for ingrown hairs.

The wet shave, step by step

These seven steps describe a manual wet shave with a cartridge, safety or disposable razor. An electric shaver is a different procedure with its own section below.

If you use an electric shaver

The wet shave above does not transfer to an electric shaver, because the movement, the water and the cleaning are set by the machine rather than by general shaving technique.

Your model’s manual is the authority. Philips, taken as one maker with published guidance, tells owners of its own shavers to “use gentle circular movements and avoid pressing the shaver too firmly against your skin”, which is not the short straight stroke a manual razor asks for.

Whether water is allowed at all is a model question before it is a technique question. Philips says most of its current shavers are designed for Wet and Dry use and that its 3-head shavers made after 2010 are waterproof, while “some basic models may not be designed for wet or shower use”, and it asks owners of an older or 2-head shaver to check the product specifications or user manual to confirm whether the shaver is suitable for use with water. For safe use, Philips tells all owners to shave cordless whenever water, foam or gel is involved.

Philips also tells owners that shower compatibility varies by model.

Read those instructions as one maker’s rules for its own range rather than as a description of every shaver, since a foil shaver from another maker may set different limits.

On shaving cream, the AAD’s instruction to “Apply a moisturizing shaving cream, even when using an electric razor” sits inside its razor bump routine for men with darker skin tones who get razor bumps, so apply cream only where your own shaver is approved for use with foam or gel, and follow the model’s instruction wherever the two differ.

For upkeep, the AAD says to clean an electric razor every 5 to 7 shaves and to replace the foils and blades as often as the instructions that came with the razor recommend, and Philips likewise asks owners to rinse the shaver after use and to follow the cleaning and charging instructions for the specific model.

The neck

Check the grain of the neck on its own

The AAD’s grain check already asks you to lift your head and see how the hair grows under the chin, so treat the neck as its own area in that check and shave the neck in whichever direction you found there.

One habit is offered as craft rather than dermatology. Shave the neck last, so the cream has had the longest time to work there.

For the neck, as everywhere, the NHS says “do not shave too close”, noting that leaving at least 1mm of stubble can help reduce ingrown hairs.

If the neck is already bumpy, a different razor is not the first answer. The AAD’s first razor bump instruction is to stop shaving and grow the hair out, which removes the cause, and the AAD says you should see fewer razor bumps within one month.

Growing a beard is not automatically a cure either, since the AAD notes that the same itchy, pimple-like bumps can appear during the stubble phase or when trimming.

If you decide to let the hair grow, our guide to popular beard styles for men covers what to do with the growth.

After the shave

How often to shave? The two sources disagree

The AAD’s razor bump prevention page says, “Shaving daily, or at least every 2-3 days, gives hair less time to grow and curve.”

The NHS’s ingrown hair page says “do not shave every day, if possible”.

Both pages address the same problem, hairs that grow back into the skin, and neither page explains the difference, so this guide reports the disagreement rather than choosing a schedule for you or judging which advice fits your skin.

What the AAD and the NHS agree on is longer than what divides the two pages. Both say warm water first, shave in the direction of growth, as few strokes as possible, rinse the blade after each stroke, keep the blade sharp, do not shave too close, cool the skin afterwards, and treat not shaving as a real option, since the NHS calls not shaving the best way to prevent ingrown hairs and the AAD’s first prevention tip is to grow your hair.

If your skin keeps reacting, or you cannot tell which advice fits you, take the question to a clinician rather than testing schedules on your own face. The AAD’s own instruction is to see a board-certified dermatologist when razor bumps continue after you have changed your shaving habits, partly because untreated razor bumps can leave permanent deep grooves and raised scars.

Questions

Common questions