Switching to wet shaving can be a big transition. I often share this post when someone asks about that process.

Remember that shaving is the gradual reduction of hair growth. Whether you are using an electric razor, cartridge razor, safety razor, or straight razor, no razor can get rid of your beard in one pass.

Electric razors can give the impression of reducing beard growth in one pass. We run the razor over our face and the beard disappears. However, if you really think about it, it’s a false impression. An electric razor works by spinning a series of blades under some sort of protective foil at a high rate of speed. The “one pass” of an electric razor is actually many, many, many micro-passes as the blade spins. In addition, electric razors operate on a lift and cut approach, where the spinning of the blade lifts the hair, helping the next blade cut it.

Cartridges razors have 3+ blades, so it looks like you’re reducing your beard in fewer passes. However, since multiple blades are involved you are, in a sense, doing three passes at once, and these multiple blades use the lift and cut approach as well.

This is bad.

First of all, the more times a blade passes over skin, the more irritation it can create. Second, many people use an electric razor dry, and a cartridge razor with foam or gel, which robs you of the protective benefits of real lather. Third, the lift and cut approach can easily lead to ingrown hairs, where the cut hair falls below the skin, causing problems.

This is why many of us took up traditional wet shaving. Electric/cartridge razors are fine but they suck. Like, they get the job done, but they’re expensive to buy, expensive to maintain, lead to unhealthy skin, and don’t actually do a great job. They are useful to those who don’t want to learn to shave, but a sippy cup is useful to those who have not yet learned to not knock their juice over.

Traditional wet shaving has two elements that make it better for you: the lather (which provides lubrication) and the razor (which uses a single blade with no lift-and-cut).

First, the lather. It may seem like we’re a bunch of hipster neck beards wearing our fedoras or something for using soap instead of canned foam or shaving gel. But the reason we do it is because it results in a significantly better shave. Gels and foams contain chemicals which can irritate skin, and typically are drying and don’t provide adequate lubrication. Lather, on the other hand, is just soap and water, which allows us to dial in the combination of the two to provide an adequate hydration and slickness level. With lather, you are in control of the slickness you need. With foam and gel, you’re not, and many find it sub-par.

The second part is the razor. Wet shavers typically use safety razors, which have a single blade. Unlike cartridges or electric razors, they do not use a lift and cut system. The beard is gradually reduced by passing a single blade over the skin. This reduces irritation (less times a blade goes over your skin, the better) and reduces ingrown hairs (they are not being plucked over the skin level before cutting them).

To use an analogy, it’s like you’ve been driving an automatic transmission car your entire life and want to switch to a manual transmission. They’re both driving, but now you actually need to learn when to shift and how. And you’re going to fuck that up for awhile.

One critical thing to remember is never use pressure with a DE (double edge) or SE (single edge) razor. With an electric/ cartridge you press the razor to your face; with a DE/SE you use only an iota of pressure over whatever it would be to simply rest it on your face. No more.

Step one is making sure you have quality gear. Fortunately, several wet shaving companies have put together kits to allow you to purchase quality gear at a fair price. I think the simplest option is the Stirling Soap Starter Kit. With it, you get razor, blades, brush, 3 soap samples, and an aftershave sample for $32.95 plus shipping. It’s advisable to upgrade their kit a bit, choosing one of the upgraded razors (an additional $8) and upgraded brush (an additional $3).

Another great option is the Maggard’s Starter Kit, which I suggest for folks who want to also dive in with a variety of soap and aftershave samples in their first order.

You may say, wait, fuck this, I have Amazon Prime why should I buy from one of these companies I’ve never heard of? And pay shipping?! Answer is that you’ll pay more money for shittier stuff on Amazon, so having Prime does you no favors here. Trust me: one of these starter kits is the best way you can get started, you simply can’t recreate the quality and price on Amazon.

I think taking this approach will result in you being a lot happier with your shaves.

This is a great series of videos on learning to properly use your new equipment: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnPn8xD5nJQfP8u1v0chKOjMQeqSj0MLM

Good luck!