One BIG Problem With Electric Razors...and 3 Ways To Solve It!
[0:00:00] Quick confession, gentlemen, I love electric
razors for the convenience.
Guys, nothing beats an electric razor when you're driving, you're on the road, you're
in a hurry to an appointment you realize you didn't shave you pull this thing out of your
glove box you get a quick shave.
Guys, convenience, but there is a dark side to the electric razor and that is skin irritation.
In today's video, we're going to talk about what causes the skin irritation and then I'm
going to point out three things that you need to look for in an electric razor when you're
going out there to the buy one, so you can buy the right one for you.
[Music] Now, before we get into the content gentlemen
really quick I want to thank the guys over at the University of Berlin.
It was the article or the paper that I read it’s called, the innovative approaches to
avoid electric shaving induced skin irritation.
It was in the International Journal of cosmetic Science.
It came out I think it was in October of 2016.
Great research.
I use this to build this content off of.
In addition, stick around for the end of the video.
I'm actually going to tell you the story behind this electric razor right here.
I've had this thing for almost twenty years and I've got some interesting stories with
this thing, so stick around for the end.
So, what causes skin irritation with electric razors?
Well, first off you have to understand there are two general types of electric razors.
There are the kind like this that use a foil and underneath what you see is like a very
sharp little knives there.
And when they turn on what they do is they go back and forth and they rotate and they'll
cut the hair as it goes to the foil.
Then, we have the circular type right here.
And this is where you've got razors and little blades that go in circles.
Right in there you've got those little blades.
So, how does this cause irritation?
Because whenever you press this up against the skin a little bit – now, it's most hair
is supposed to go in there, but occasionally little bits of your skin go in there especially
on some of the older foil designs.
What this does is if you can imagine you got your little bits of skin going through there,
it will actually cut small abrasions into your skin, very small but what this does is
it leads to irritation it can lead to infection it leads to the redness.
And that guys is why most of us when we're using something like this especially a cheap
or a older design when it comes to electric razors, we start to get the irritation.
Now, that we understand the basics of electric razors and how they can cut the skin, let's
talk about the three things to look for in a quality electric razor so you can avoid
this.
The first thing to look for in a quality electric razor gentlemen is going to be a cooling system.
Different companies are going to call it different things, but this should be an active cooling
system so that when you put the electric razor up against the skin it actually cools down
the skin.
Now, this is not shown to actually reduce the redness, but it has been shown to reduce
the irritation the itchy and some of the other things.
The idea behind this is when your skin is cooled you're going to have less blood basically
flowing here and it's going to be less likely to actually go through the foil and be cut.
The second thing you're looking for in a quality electric razor gentlemen is actually an electric
razor that is going to change shape to the contours of your face.
Why is this important?
Because you don't want to go over the same spot multiple times that's what causes a lot
of irritation especially with the foil type whenever you can't get in and around the neck
and you just keep going up and down like 20, 40 times, that's what causes the irritation.
So, you want something that actually is going to change shape and be able to get in and
around and get the hairs on the first or second pass.
The third thing you want to look for in a quality electric razor is one that actually
can change out and in a sense bring on different devices so that you can take care of different
lengths of hair.
So, one of the areas that they found a lot of men have trouble is the neck.
I don't know about you guys, but the hairs on my neck are very hard to shave even with
the regular razor.
And it's something that if you're not able to get it with this type of device that you
want to be able to take this off put on a different type of trimmer that's made for
longer hair.
Not all of them especially the really cheap or inexpensive electric razors are going to
have anything like that.
You're usually going to see that in the higher-end electric razors.
But, if you use an electric razor quite a bit it may be worth spending the extra money.
All right, gentlemen so if you want more information on the research, I'm going to link you to
an article down in the description.
But, really quick I'm going to give you two more bonus tips on how to get a great shave
from an electric razor.
Tip number one.
Buy an electric razor that gives you both the option of a wet and a dry shave.
So, a wet shave obviously you're using a shaving cream.
You want to use a shaving cream that basically you can use just a little bit of the cream
and quite a bit of water.
So, you don't want something really heavy, you want something that's more water-based.
You don't want oil or anything.
The reason being is you've got to be able to clean that shaving cream in out of this.
What I like and this is by the way a Philips Norelco, they're not the sponsor, but it's
a great electric razor.
I use it.
What I like it's also got a cleaning device, so when I do a wet shave I actually I can
put it in the device it actually cleans it out I don’t have to do it myself.
But you can manually clean if you're all into that and you want to do it every single time.
[0:05:05] The point being is a wet shave in my opinion
gives a superior shave to a dry shave.
You just feel smoother, I think it does a better job of protecting the skin and I have
a lot less irritation.
The second thing that I would recommend gentlemen is use an aftershave.
I've talked about aftershaves before this one in particular Aqua Velva, they're not
the sponsor, but I’ve talked about them, before they have been a sponsor.
But, they do a great job because they've got an antiseptic in it.
So, when you get those cuts and those nicks and that irritation, this does a good job
of cleaning it up preventing infection and at the end they giving you a nice cleaner
smoother looking shave.
So, gentlemen this electric razor right here I've had for almost twenty years.
I know this because when I bought my truck almost twenty years ago, within the month
I bought this electric razor.
I was a young officer and I was going on to base.
I started off in the flight program, but even before that at TBS, I remember that it was
just my go-to electric razor.
I took it out to the field with me, I found that it was just nice very convenient I never
had to stop and shave, but it did lead to the irritation, but you know it got the job
done.
It worked for me, but guys remember if you can find something you're going to use a bit,
go for something I think with a -- with a wet shave.
And by the way, you know, just to throw in even more stuff onto this video, note this
pocket square here?
I'm giving away 500 on the 18th of July, so make sure that you click that bell which we’ll
show you right here and that way you get the email notifications.
These pocket squares I'm giving away free.
There's only 500 of them, they will be gone within 24 hours gents.
I want you to grab one.
Take care.
Guys, let me know what you think about these videos like this in the comments I love hearing
from you.
Bye.
[Music] [0:07:07] End of Audio