RE-BIRTH of close shave

By Damien Le-Hoste

So, I’ve been surfing through numerous websites trying to find the best way to achieve my lifelong ambition: the oh so illusive (for me anyway) close shave without razor bumps and infamous in-grown hairs.

The in-grown hairs thing has dogged my enthusiasm for a close shave - I seem to have grown a crazy aversion to shaving as a consequence resulting in me looking somewhat homeless when all I want is to be able to see my jaw-line looking sleek. It’s annoying - and what makes it worse is the OVERWHELMING amount of subjective opinions out there telling you how to do it right, what not to do - to exfoliate or not to exfoliate?!? - I’m a mess as a result! Fact of the matter is black men are more susceptible to the in-grown nasties because of the way our hair naturally and tightly curls causing the beard to grow back into the open skin and get infected. Many of the products that I have used are toxic Molotov cocktails and, whilst they generally do the trick in keeping the nasties at bay, they can’t be good for your skin in the long run, right?!? Plus I’m becoming more cautious about the chems that are used in post shave products geared at the black market – conversely, I’m that guy who likes a good burning feeling after my shave. On a subconscious level, the burn is linked to not getting in-grown hairs but, real talk, generally speaking, if your skin is burning this is not a sense of security you wanna be in - I digress…

The gauntlet is well and truly down - I’m trying to put a positive spin on my search for the perfect shave without having to rely on chemicals and potions and a razor that doesn’t tear your face into quivering bands of flesh - metaphorically speaking. Call me the conduit of saving advice: and so the journey begins.

In order for me to bring some sanity to my already crazy search for the perfect shave I want to lay down a few step’s that I want to take:

Step 1) Get over Razor fear! I am a razor Virgin - that is to say I haven’t yet found a razor that I like and, furthermore, the experiences that I have had were so bad that I’ve been pretty much sworn off them. For life. I did read a write-up about a razor that quote “Black men need to know about” on Ebony’s website : Iconic Gillette’s new all singing all dancing Flexball with Proglide.

The game changer with the Proglide is the handle adjusts and pivots to meet a man’s face, allowing the blade to navigate laterally and hug tightly to the contours of your jawline with tight precision and fewer missed hairs *Sold!*

Step 2) Find a brand new natural shaving product that is made predominantly from botanicals. I also want to research into the less so natural stuff and see if this is all that bad or whether I’m just paranoid…?

So, I’m gonna buy all of this and I will update you on my progress.

Wish me luck.

Damien Le-Hoste

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