Traditional Shaving

Traditional Shaving is a form of shaving that eschews the newer cartridge-based razors and aerosol-based creams and gels, and instead used older forms of blades such as the 'Straight' (cutthroat) and 'Double Edge' (DE) razors which when combined with quality soap or cream gives a much closer, irritation free shave. It is also known as Wet Shaving.

With the moves by multinational corporations to force western-world shavers into the expensive cartridge based products, many men have found that they spend up to $4 per cartridge, yet get all sorts of problems such as bumps, ingrown hairs, razor burn and other skin irritations. In most cases, the cartridges are do not last any length of time, and are used more times than they should because of their expense and that causes more issues.

Traditional Shaving instead uses sharp, inexpensive blades which in most cases last longer than cartridges and range from 8 to 15 times cheaper, giving much better value. While the cost of entry into Traditional Shaving is often much higher than a cartridge based razor, the ongoing running costs are much lower, and shaving is seen more as an enjoyable task than a daily chore.

For the most part, OCAU members use Double Edge (DE) Safety Razors for their tradtional wet shaving, mainly as the effort required to keep a Straight Razor in good condition is high. Thus, the scope of the Traditional Shaving page in this Wiki is limited to DE shaving. A Straight Razor Shaving page has been created for those that prefer that method.

The current main thread used by OCAU members for traditional shaving discussion is called DE Wet Shaving Victory

Requirements

You can Fold on pretty much any PC and every bit helps however for those who wish to enhance their Folding performance or build dedicated Folding machines we have a guide with a example machine and stats on most CPU and GPU performance.

Folding PC System Recommendations and Stats

Shaving Products

The shaving products that are marketed nowadays can be broken into three categories, pre, during and after-shave. For the sake of the skin, it is recommended that shaving is always accompanied by the pre-shaving and after-shaving processes.

Pre-shaving mainly consists of getting the skin and hairs ready for the blade. The shaving products that one can find for this particular action are oils, creams and soaps. These products come in various designs and are designed accordingly for the specific type of skin or beard or they may be also chosen according to the instrument that is going to be used for shaving. The market provides different pre-shaving products intended to be used by individuals who shave with razors or for those who prefer using an electric razor. Although pre-shave oils bring a great benefit to the skin by opening the pores which results in a smoother shave, these products are not so popular. Most individuals tend to skip this step because the cream or soap used while shaving has quite the same purpose.

Shaving requires the instrument which is used to cut off the hairs and a foam, cream or soap. Generally, shaving creams and foams are used with razors, straight or disposable, and soap is more commonly used with straight razors. These shaving products are intended to smooth the face by lubricating the skin which allows a gentler shave. It seems that individuals who use these products are less likely to cut their skin and the shaved area is smoother by comparison with people who use only water before shaving. Moreover, the shaving products also help in preventing and reducing skin irritation. When shaving with a straight razor, the soap is applied onto the face with the help of a mug and a brush. The use of soap with a brush is thought to result in a superior quality shave as the brush may unclog the hairs that are stuck together.

Shaving with an electric razor is usually done without applying any creams before starting shaving. Most of these razors come with features that help raising the hairs, allowing the machine to cut them. They prevent the skin getting irritated as well. However, many individuals apply pre-shaving oils onto their skin prior to shaving with such an instrument as these oils lubricate the skin and hairs, make them easy to cut off leaving a smoother skin.

Aftershaves and colognes are the main products used after shaving, to smoothen the shaved area and for preventing skin irritation.