Shave and exfoliate in one step?

    I get a lot of mail from people asking for questions or tips on how to clear up acne and blemishes. We are always running low on time in the mornings so I thought I'd throw in a great tip I picked up a while ago.  You can shave and exfoliate your skin at the same time. It's pretty easy and doesn't require any special equipment.
    This tip comes in from a friend who works in a day spa.  They have a "master barber." When they hook you up with their $55 dollar shave service, this is pretty much what they do.

Step 1

Get your bowl, your brush, your cream and your favorite exfoliate.

 Step 2

Go ahead and put equal amounts in a hot bowl.

Step 3

Take your wet brush and start mixing it up.

 Step 4

Add water accordingly. You might find it's a little bit too thick at times. You've got a great lather now.

As you typically would, massage and spread the lather all over the parts of your face you intend to shave. It really is that simple.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween! Thanks to everyone who has been a loyal reader of my blog.  Now that you're sitting on ten pounds of candy lets have a post about what that candy is going to do to your complexion. It could very easily cause a breakout so now is probably a good time to consider the consequences of eating a pound of chocolate. I've got some good reviews for acne medications on this page, so it might be beneficial to go check them out!
Also, what else are people interested in learning about acne/shaving/complexion? Leave your suggestions in the comments area!

Acne Treatments

So friends and family have been dumping off all kinds of cleansers, exfolients, creams and gels with little notes attached to them, "Please review this on your blog so more people don't waste their money on this garbage" Yet again, we are reviewing a product that sucks. At ten dollars a bottle, you'll get yourself HALF AN OUNCE of product. Talk about EXPENSIVE. It smells terrible and is comparable to a liquid bottle of dial soap. As far as Acne Treatments go, this is probably one of the most expensive over the counter available items. You're paying for the name. Save yourself time and money and pick up products I've reviewed and save these products for the suckers.

Acne treatment, some serious stuff.

It's not too often you'll see a positive review for a product on this blog. That's because 99% of the market is saturated with crummy products that make claims that are never true. If you're looking for a serious acne treatment product I'd like to introduce you to this. This stuff is a nuclear weapon against blackheads, and will heal up the most digusting acne. It's available in most drug stores, and runs pretty cheap. Almost 3 dollars for this big tube. It's active ingredient is sulfur. Like I said previously, this stuff is quite potent, and not to be used multiple times a week. It's a masque, so you wet your face, put it on, and let it harden. This is potentially one of the best acne treatments I've seen on the market over the counter. It's also considered by many to be the best deal on the market for a fast acne treatment. Its got a faint mint smell when you wash it off too. Your pores will be clear and clean with this stuff undoubtly.

Acne treatment, clean pores and soft skin

I've had this product sitting in my medicine cabinet for about a year.  There's a reason its been sitting there for a year. It boasts "Deep cleans for smoother skin & less razor irritation." What it should really read "Overpowering scent, over priced and might make your face greasy." This is a friendly post to help people not make the poor choice of purchasing this acne treatment product/shaving product. Your face will feel greasy no matter how much you rinse, and the fact that it contains a large percentage of alcohol just makes me hate it even more. Not to mention, just because it has Neutrogena stamped on it, you're likely to pay four or five dollars more. I give this product two thumbs down, it went straight from my medicine cabinate, to my desk for a photo, and now its residing in my trash can.

Why you have Acne, What do you need to know about Acne, and what are the treatments for Acne?

I've been gettig a large quantity of questions regarding acne. What causes acne? What can you do to prevent acne? How can you treat acne?  Here we go.

What causes Acne?
Acne is a disorder of a specialized unit the skin posseses called the "pilosebaceous unit."  This unit consists of a hair follicle, a sebaceous gland, the erector pili and the hair. We know that the hair basically grows from the follicle and the erector pili make the hair stand up but what is this sebaceous gland? It makes sebum. This sebum is responsible for keeping the skin moisturized.
Propionibacterium acnes is a bacteria that is present all over your skin all the time. It loves sebum and uses it to grow. You have white blood cells in your body. These white blood cells are attracted to the Propionibacterium acnes. The more P. acnes  you got the more activity these white blood cells will be havin'. When you see inflammation and papules its a result of an enzyme released by the white blood cells. Obstructed follicles is a major reason behind acne. Ever notice how a small razor cut on your skin ends up all bumpy?

How can you prevent Acne?
Sometimes some people really can't prevent it. Whether it be genetic or environmental there are thousands of reasons for unclear skin. If you suffer from some serious acne consult a physician. If you're like many of us and just have blemished skin here and there these tips will drastically improve your appearance.

• If your a guy and still shave with typical store bought cartridge razors, switch over to a safety razor.
• Women too, consider a safety razor. Also, quit waxing. Consider laser hair removal.
• Don't be a dirt bag. Wash your bed sheets and your pillow covers weekly.
• Sleep with a clean cotton towel on your pillow. Rotate it around so you're sleeping on a "fresh" surface every night.
• Keep your hair clean.
• Stop touching your face. It's disgusting and you're just smothering filth all over it with your hands.
• Don't use aftershaves with alcohol bases, they dry your skin out and hyperactivate your sebaceous glands.
• Don't over due it on face cleansers. Everyone is unique. I naturally have oily skin, I use an exfolient twice a week.
• If your skin is shiny and tight you're washing it too much.

How can you treat acne?
If you've got some serious acne, you need to consult a physcian. If you're like most of us check out these acne treatments below.

• A good exfolient works wonders. Use it.
• Disposible wipes are cheap and effective at getting dirt and filth off your face thoughout the day.
• Switch over to a DE razor.
• I didn't know people actually do this, but use hot water when you wash your face. I got a message from someone who though hot water caused acne. Weird I know.
• Keep your face happy, don't let it get to dryed out. How? Though?

A great recipe for a homemade oil is below. I've been using it for a while now with great results. There are a lot of preshave oils out there on the market, and they are all ridiculously expensive. I take some olive oil, some baby oil, and a bottle. 5 parts olive oil, 2 parts baby oil, mix them in a container and youre set. Check the picture out below.

Before you shave, wet your face with some nice hot water. Get your bottle, and drip about 5 drops into the palm of your hand. Rub your hands together, then smear your face up. Hit it all. Don't add more than 5 drops, its unecessary. Continue shaving like you normally would. Give it a few days and you'll start to notice how insanely soft and smooth your skin is. The oil helps as a preshave, and as a post shave because it'll keep your skin happy. Olive oil? Yeah, its been around for five THOUSAND years and the egyptians used it, so it has to be good.  I'll put this conconction up against ANY preshave oil on the market and win hands down. Its actually got a great smell and probably costs less than 25 cents a bottle. What are your questions?

BEST Acne Treatment

If you've ever turned on a radio, watched TV or walked down the aisle in a drug store or super market you know that Acne is BIG business. Why? It sucks. It sucks to have zits all over your face. It kills your self-confidence and just SUCKS! If you've had acne in the past or have it now you can totally relate to this. You've probably paid a ton for products too. Rx medication for acne treatments is crazy expensive and often has some insane side effects. By now you probably know that DE shaving will help clear up blemishes. Check out this facial scrub. It doesn't smell like perfume. It's got salicyclic acid in it, and some serious scrubbing power. I use it a few times a week before I shave and my skin is virtually flawless. It gets rid of black heads and scrubs whatever dirt and crap you have in your pores out. It's 2 bucks a bottle too.

Acne Treatment and Laser Hair Removal?

I've gotten three messages in the past week from viewers One about laser hair removal, one about acne treatments and one about keeping pores clean and clear.

Laser hair removal. This one guy is all about the laser hair removal. He makes his living with his face and is afraid that shaving will damage his pores and screw up his complexition. I don't know much about laser hair removal except it's expensive. He said he's going to give it a try and wants to know a good place to purchase an "executive shaving kit."

Acne treatments. This individual wrote in to express thanks about stopping his acne treatments. He wasn't really up to par on how to shave but with this website he learned. He actually sent a picture of his acne medications in the trash and a new executive style shaving set sitting on his desk.

Keeping pores clean and clear. One reader wrote in with an article about keeping your pores clean and clear. Apparently, this is key to preventing acne. We are working on an article all about keeping that complexion clean and clear and will post it ASAP.

Shark Razor Blade Review

I've gotten a lot of comments about the type of razor blade in your D.E. razor. Look at it this way. The blade is like the engine in your car. They vary in performance and quality. If you put a racecar engine in the hands of somebody who has never driven a racecar, chances are disaster will strike. If you've ever seen a salon or a barbar that offers shaves, chances are they will have Shark Razor blades in their equipment. Why? Because of the price, quality and quantity that can attain.

You can purchase packs of ONE-HUNDRED blades, or 200 cutting edges, for less than 20 dollars. If you keep the blades in a dry area, they are likely to last. I'm not even sure how long 100 razor blades would last for. Well over a year. This is a great option for the person that wants a "fresh out of the box" shave every day. Or perhaps the person who is really destined to save money.

Like I said, these are the blades most commonly used in a barber shop. They are stainless steel, have a polymer coat which delivers a great smooth cut. They are a great deal . There's a link at the bottom of the page for an amazon site that sells them, they're 50% off.

Feather Blade Review

            These are the sharpest production blades in the world.  I'm not just making that statistic up.  Ask anybody and everybody who has used a DE razor before and they will tell you "Feather."  You get 10 blades for about 6 bucks, it depends where you shop. Once you test them out and if you like them, you can buy bulk lots where you get 50 blades for about 25 dollars. Keep in mind that these are "Double Edged" blades. So essentially you are getting 2x the blade. I usually keep a blade for 10 to 15 shaves.The first 5 or 6 shaves it cuts extremely well. After 10 shaves you start to get a little pull. This "pull" is comparable to the store bought high end cartridge razors straight out of the box too.

C.O. BIGELOW. Established 1838

So if a product has been around since 1838 it's doing something right. I picked up 4 tubes of this stuff for 20 dollars at a local mall a little while ago. It's basically Proraso marketed here in America. It's the same all around. Though I did notice it's a little bit easier to foam up with the brush. That's a plus. I got over three months of shaves out of my last tube. This stuff is awesome. It's got Eucalyptus oil in it, so its has a strong smell and is very cooling to the face. It doesn't smell fruity and leaves a fresh scent post shave. There aren't any crazy chemicals or artificial colorings added, so rest assure it won't make your face break out. I haven't heard of any accounts at least. There's a link to an Amazon site at the bottom which sells it.

Phase 2: Shave

Well now that we covered how to make an awesome lather; lets get the ball rolling! Our bowl of lather is sitting in a sink of a few inches of hot water wrapped up in a hot wash cloth. We want to keep the lather nice and hot. Get an extra large wash cloth and heat it up with some hot water. Wring it out a bit and wrap it around the parts of your face you expect to shave.

This does a few things.

Hydrates the skin

Softens the hairs

Remove the washcloth and apply a few drops of you favorite preshave oil. Work it into the skin and assure a solid coverage. This stuff is awesome. It lubricates the skin and softens up the hair a bit too.

Begin to apply the lather with the brush. Work it into the skin and really pant it on. You want to assure all the hairs get covered.

Now that your face is hot, covered in oil and lather its time for the razor! We are going to conduct 3 shaves. With the grain, accross the grain and against the grain. These are to only be done in this order! THIS ORDER ONLY!

Grip the razor, place it again your skin. Don't pull the skin with the other hand, that is a misconception about shaving. Try it if you want to know why you dont do it.

Bring the razor down SLOWLY without applying ANY pressure. Listen for the "pops"

Conduct another stroke downward on an unshaved piece of skin.

The razor will glide smoothly. Adjust the angle until you get a solid "pop." This is the hair cutting. DO NOT APPLY PRESSURE AND DO NOT SHAVE OVER UNLATHERED SKIN

One stroke means one stoke. Because after the stroke THERE IS NO LATHER LEFT.

Working around the top of the mouth can be tricky. GO SLOW. WITHOUT APPLYING PRESSURE.

Rinse the blade between strokes. One stroke, rinse. You've got two blades. Alternate.

The chin is a bit tricky. Feel for the pop of the hair.

The neck is usually the easiest. Just feel for the "pop" DO NOT APPLY PRESSURE.

Next. We completed 1 with the grain shave. You could stop here and not look like a street urchin. But you'll still get a 5:00 shadow.

Across the grain time! You should be lathered up and ready to roll. Start anywhere. I start on the check. Place the razor against the skin.

One slow stroke WITHOUT APPLYING PRESSURE.

Keep working along.

One side of the face complete.

Here's where it gets tricky. Against the grain time!. You should be lathered up and realy to roll. Place the razor on the skin.

Slowly run the razor up the skin. Don't apply pressure. One stroke per area. Listen for the pop. Adjust the blade angle as necessary to attain the perfect "pop."

Working the cheek.

One stroke, one area. Complete the entire face.

Why don't I apply pressure like I do with my normal piece of shit razor?

The blades you are shaving with are sharp. I'm not talking sharp like your grandpas hunting knife, or that knife in your kitchen drawer. These blades are sharper than ANYTHING you can buy commercially. In fact, many places that produce them have two production lines. One lines goes to the surgical world, the other for shaving. These things are so sharp I can't give justice to them in words, you'll just have to see.

So why do I only do one pass per area?

Becasue you don't have any lather on the area after one pass. It'd be like shaving without any lather numb nuts!

Do I need to conduct an against the grain shave?

Nope! In fact just a with the grain and across the grain shave is MORE than enough for most people. If you're like me and don't feel like shaving every day, against the grain buys you this time.

What about all those fancy after shaves?

Repeat after me. After shaves are SHIT. They are SHIT. They are also a MAJOR contributer to shaving bumps and acne. Imagine if you would for a second a wet sponge. Now throw a handful of sand on it. The sand sticks. Now take a sry sponge. Throw a handful of sand on it. Doesn't stick right? Well If you keep your face wet all day with some lotion type shit, all kinds of things are going to stick to it. Dirt, bacteria and spores of all kinds. These are the things that lead to infections redness and bumps.

If you must use aftershave, put that shit on at night before you go to bed.

Are there any post shave concoctions I can use?

Get a good post shave tonic. Save that expensive aftershave shit for the metrosexuals and pansy men.

Introduction

        Shaving. Most of us hate it. It's expensive. It's time consuming. It makes our skin burn and hurt. Most of us who work in an environment where it's required dread it.

        You've come to the right place. Times are changing. You don't need to drop $18.99 on a pack of cartridges at the local drug store anymore. You don't need to have that feeling of burn all about your face anymore. Most importantly, if your skin isn't that clear and you follow the advice on this page, that'll be a thing of the past.

         Let me explain a few things here. Dragging three, four, or five blades of cheap steal produced in a Orient country accross your face is going to have a few results. First, you're going to remove any hair. Second, you're going to irritate your skin. Third, you're probably going to strip so much, when the hair does grow back its going to become ingrown and digusting.

         That six dollar a can shaving cream isn't going to help much here either. I'm not a big fan of covering my face in all sorts of crazy chemicals.

          I had clear skin growing up.  When I started shaving, my face started breaking out in all sorts of red bumps that resembed acne.  I thought it was acne, and so did the dermatologist. Expensive cleansers, medications, face scrubs, and masks- you name it, I tried it. I even went as far to call up a major razor manufacture and explained the situation. They said it was due to me over using razors and I should start each week with a fresh blade.

          So there I was. Expensive razors, expensive face cleansers. It became a part of my life. My skin wasn't getting clearer. I was told it was just something I'd have to live with.

           Fast forward about five years. I was in a small town in West Virginia. Picture the backwoods barber shop with the old guy thats like 90 years old. Old people have a ton of knowledge and I asked him after getting my hair cut for some miracle soap to clean my blemished skin. He gave me the best advice. Better than any dermatologist or family doctor I'd seen in the past few years for my skin. "Throw out those shit razors all you young guys are using get yourself a safety."

             What the hell was this old man talking about? He explained a few things and it started making sense. Those expensive cartridge razors I had been using were causing this fucked up skin!

1. It's simply NOT natural to be dragging four or five blades accross your skin.
2. They become dull basically after the first shave regardless if you can feel it.

3. The kicker. Those things are filthy! No matter how much you rinse those son of a bitches, there is all sorts of grime and bacteria between those blades. So not only are you shaving with a filthy razor, your "injecting" bacteria into your skin when you slice off the first few layers.

              Lets get to the point. I threw out those shit razors and got myself a decent safety razor and some nice blades. My skin is as clear as it was when I was eleven years old and I spend 1/10th of what I did on razors.

      Let me illustrate a few things here. Check out the diagram below. Figure 1.0 is an illustration of your skin. It's not too scientific. I don't have the layers or anything labeled. Basically, it's your hair follicle and the skin. It's happy. The hair is growing and theres no irritation. Here comes a job interview and we want to look spiffy! Fige. 2.0 is a zoomed in version. Heres where the trouble comes! Fige 3.0 you just shaved! Looking good! Feel that irritation? You just shaved off more than you bargained for! Lets put some aftershave on, that'll help. BURN.

What's happening? You shaved and caused a load of microabrasions on your skin. Sure it looks great now, but wait a few days and you'll be looking like a 16 year old highschool kid covered in what appear as zits!

G! I wonder whats going to happen now! Well, in about a day that microcut is going to be healed up with a nice bump over top of it. If you're lucky, you're not going to get a minor infection and it'll be gone in about a week. Though, considering you just made a few hundred of these incisions accross your entire face, by the odds of probability one will. It's going to be a shaving bump and is going to look awesome. It's going to spew puss and look like total shit.

Walk into any room where there is a gathering of men. Most of them are going to have some scruff because this is all they know about shaving. It fucking sucks!

Lets get down to learning. Enough bullshittin'

SOAP/CREAM

Shaving soap or shaving cream. This shit will knock your socks off. Squeeze, literally, about five months of shaving outta this bad boy. This is the foundation to a great shave and is worth the eight bucks.

BRUSH

Gotta whip that cream into a smooth lather. There aint no better thing than a true boar bristle brush. You can find them cheap. 25 dollars and up. They do sell synthetic ones for like 7 bucks too.

                                                             RAZOR

The last razor you'll ever buy. This baby will be your new best friend. They range in price from 15 dollars and up. I picked up this one for $20.

                                                          BOWL

Gotta mix that soap up in something don't you? Cheap asses use their hands, I just stole this bitch outta the kitchen.

BLADES

These are the engines of your razor. These blades are top of the line in sharpness. They put a whole new meaning to the word razor sharp. I was told they are the sharpest in the world. I didn't believe it till I got em. At about 7 dollars for a 10 pack they are cheap. I squeeze about 15 or 20 shaves outta each blade. Considering  I don't have to shave everyday when I use it, each blade runs me about 5 weeks. FIVE WEEKS

What next?

How to prep for the shave?

How to shave?

How to post shave?

What next?