By DeeDee
Although we all have to shave our beards to get that smooth femme look, a lot of us still don't know how to get that "really" close shave. All of us know how to "Take it off...Take it all off" but how about when you want that totally smooth shave? Well here's some very good suggestions that may help save your face from major razor burns the next day.
The really close shave starts a couple of days before you actually need the closest of the close. You should always, as part of a good facial regimen, use a moisturizer on your face on a daily basis. The two days before you want the best shave you should increase your moisturizer use to twice a day. The increase in moisturizer usage will keep your coarse beard more soft at the base ( a good moisturizer will penetrate below the skin line). As the hair grows out the hair will be moisturized and more apt to be shaved easier.
When you are at the point of shaving (no more than an hour before dressing) here is the routine. Apply another coat of moisturizer. Heat a towel in close to steaming hot water and when it is cool enough to apply to your face keep it there for at least ten minutes (if you've just showered) with twenty minutes preferrable. You will have to "reheat" the towel a couple of times. After you have "steamed" your beard apply and massage in a thin layer of shaving cream (try and purchase brands with moisturizers). Use a brand new twin blade and for this pass "go with" the growth of the beard. DO NOT shave against the growth on the first pass. You are going to do it again in a moment so there is no need to irritate your skin by shaving against the growth. For your second pass you are going to use a layer of moisturizer instead of shaving cream. NOW you will shave against the growth. Try and use very gentle strokes as the sharp NEW blades will do a very good job without much pressure. Take extra care to remove ALL stubble directly around your lips so that the lipliner and lipstick will go on evenly and smoothly. If you must (OUCH) pluck a whisker or two that is extra heavy at your lip line do it. (Use ice on your lip prior to plucking for some degree of numbing).
A good close shave should last a minimum of four to five hours for even the most brisk growth of beard one may have. A couple of final points will be to make sure you have examined your neck for that one wild hair that you may have overlooked and to make sure and use moisturizer after you have dried your face. There are a couple of "tacky" points about shaving I must bring up. Don't forget your ears, top, side, bottom, and inner. Nothing looks worse on a hoochie than hairy ears. Oh yeah, lest not forget the nose...how many fine looking women have visible nose hairs? Well if you know a lady like that, do us all a favor and recommend a good nose hair trimmer to her...Okay?
Even after all of our hard work shaving our stubbly faces there will still be some degree of "darkness" that shows from under our skin. Since our first couple of layers of skin are for the most part transparent there's not much we can do about it. Bleaching will not penetrate deep enough and will only serve to irritate your face so I don't recommend trying it. In order to not have to look at the "shadow" one should camoflage it as best as possible. Here are the recommended colors to use for your skin type:
These are all known as blemish covers and can be found at most major beauty and make-up supply stores. They are used under your foundation so don't freak out by looking at the ungodly colors. You probably won't find them at Wal-Mart or Mervyns. If you have a pink to red complexion than consider using the green cover to camoflage your shadow very nicely. For those of you with yellowish to tan complexion the yellow camoflage will do the job and for those with medium to dark skin tones use the red under your foundation for shadow camoflage.
This page is meant only for those who have to have the fuzzies growing from their chin. The procedure of electrolysis will be covered in another section.