My Very First Blog

Even Superheroes Need To Shave! That’s the tagline very cleverly created by Schick in collaboration with the release of Will Smith’s latest movie, Hancock.

Looking at the picture above, you can see that Will Smith clearly needs a good shaving!

Now I’m not here to talk about the new movie. But go ahead! Watch the trailer first then continue reading.

My topic today is, you guessed it, shaving!

As most men know only too well, shaving is one of the dreaded tasks we got to do every morning. Now if you are anything like me, you won’t shave everyday and you will let the hair on your chin grow into a beard if people around you don’t start giving uncomplimentary comments.

"Hey! You want to look like a beggar on the street? Go shave!" said my mom.

"Eh, new style ah? Not bad, very sexy looking lah" said one of my girlfriends. This sounded to me like a complement, I think.

"What happened to you? The stock market crashed is it?" said my good friend pretending to be shocked.

"What’s with the new look? You changed job is it? Hardly recognize you!" said an old friend I have not met since last year.

I even have a friend who had the cheek to say "Wa lau! How you can grow so much hair on your face? You stick it on one ah?"
I knew he’s jealous because he could not grow as much facial hair as me, so I just smiled and said, "Yes, I sticked it on. Bought from Petaling Street. Very cheap. Don’t it look like the real thing? You want?"

So shaving is a must-do. At least just to prevent people from giving comments, although really, it’s none of their business! The only respite I get from this is when I go holiday. No one there will say anything when I grow a beard. No one.

I don’t know about women (maybe they have their fair share of shaving problems) but many men just dislike shaving. One of the reasons is when you shave every single day, your skin tend to burn and develop rashes. So to help my fellow men, here’s some tips on how and when to shave.

1. Do not shave first thing in the morning. Let your skin “wake up” for a while first. The best time to shave is after a warm bath. This softens your stubble or hair and also open up the skin pores for a closer shave. If you don’t intend to take a bath before shaving, then wetting the areas you need to shave with warm water can do just as well.

2. Massage shaving cream onto the area needed to be shaved. The cream will help you get a smooth shave and prevent razor burns and rashes. Let the cream sits on the skin for a few minutes before shaving.

3. Shave in the direction of hair growth, not against. It’s more comfortable to shave this way. However, shaving against the direction of hair growth gives you a closer shave, but you risk getting redness, razor burns, rashes and even ingrown hairs which can be painful.

4. Rinse the blade often in water and use slow short strokes. Do not press the blade too hard on your skin or you’ll get cuts.

5. Use a sharp blade at all times. A dull blade is responsible for many shaving cuts as it drags over your face and catches your skin along with the hairs of your beard.

6. Always start with the side of the face, then move on to more tricky areas like the neck/throat area, bottom lip/chin area and the upper lip/moustache area. Try to stretch your skin a bit to make a flat surface for a closer shave.

7. After shaving, clean your face with cold water. Apply an oil-free moisturizer to soothe and protect the face. If you prefer an after-shave, make sure it does not contain alcohol because it will cause dryness and irritations to the skin.

8. You do not need to shave everyday. Depending on how fast your beard grow, you can actually shave every 2-3 days. Now is that good news or what?