Shaving is not fun. No one gets out of bed, hops in the shower, and thinks “yay, it’s shaving day!” Well, at least I think no one feels that way. I suppose someone out there thinks shaving is the most exciting part of their day, but I’ve yet to meet one. I’ll let you in on a little secret- until I got myself a life (and recently a new boyfriend, yay me!) I occasionally went weeks, if not months, without shaving my legs. Yes, that is probably way too much information, and more than you wanted to know about me, but really, unless you have someone to impress, what’s the point? Now that I’m in a relationship again, I suppose I should at least make an effort…for now. Just the other day, I hopped in the shower to rinse the hair dye out of my hair (it’s a lovely burgundy shade that my son picked out, for those who are curious) and thought “hey, I should shave my legs!” I managed to get one done before I had to rinse the conditioner out, and I completely forgot about the other one. In my defense, it was the holidays and my mind was on a million other things.
While shaving will never be fun, there are a few tips to make it go more smoothly (pun totally intended, my grandfather would be proud!).
- Shave while taking a warm (or hot) shower, the heat and moisture opens up your pores so you don’t get that painful razor drag. Dry shaving is only for the most experienced (or desperate) shavers.
- Slather on that shaving cream, shower gel, or anything else that provides a slick surface over which the razor can glide.
- Use a sharp razor, as dull blades will tear your skin apart. While you may not notice this right away, you will when you move on to the next step, because it will burn like the dickens (I always wanted to use that phrase).
- Moisturize after you’re done. Slather on a rich, preferably unscented (for now) lotion to lock in moisture and prevent gross razor burn bumps that totally defeat the purpose of shaving for aesthetic reasons. The unscented lotion is especially important if you neglected to follow my second piece of advice, because fragrance can hurt when you have little micro-tears in your skin.
If you have any great tips to make the art of shaving a little easier to master, or even just a little less annoying, I’d love to hear them!
