Style Theory: You’re Shaving Your Face WRONG!

This is MatPat’s most sane video this month

We need more BeardPat! He is ROCKING that facial hair.

I may have missed if you mentioned this, but if you shave often, another huge plus of the safety razor is it causes fewer ingrown hairs because it’s not trying to cut the hair below the skin.

Pro tip: If you dry off the blades after you use them they last about 20 times as long as if you put them away wet. Most of the deterioration of razor blades is from microrust along the cutting edge from water being left on them.

I think a lot of it does come down to hair types overall. Facial hair seems to be even more varied than the hair on top of ones' head.
For example, I always shave against the grain because it's the only way to actually get a close shave. No difference in comfort, just a matter of the hairs not being easy to cut if I try to cut with the hair direction. Or also, that pivoting heads are super useless on multi-blade razors for me. I literally just hold the head in place to get a proper grip against my stout facial hairs.

I went form normal razor to electric to safety. All in all I prefer safety, but there’s a learning curve. In the end it’s a much smoother and closer shave

As a professional hairdresser, I can testify of the anxiety surrounding the straight razor😳😂Also, you guys should totally do a theory about how facial hair/hairlines can accentuate the shape of your face🧔‍♂️

As a follow-up to this episode, you should do shaving cream vs shaving gel vs shaving foam vs dry shave. Also aftershave vs aftershave lotion vs nothing.

As a barber, it's extremely strange and sad to me that the face shave would be that hard unless they were new or actively avoid doing them cuz they're scared. They're typically very relaxing to me to do, with the hot towels and tea tree smell wafting with the hot lather. I've even done several head shaves, and I've only been a barber for about 5 months

I've been using a straight razor to shave recently once you get thru the how to load a new razor and shave. You can get super accurate in touching up your edge of your beard and triming the neck part. Also been using a wash cloth to warm up the skin and then put shaving cream haven't had any razor burn since. I also recommend getting a ice face roller closes your pores after so you shave so you won't get acne also feels nice.

I hope you guys eventually do a follow up focusing on different types of shaving cream and after shave. I swear after shave doesn't actually do anything at all

DE shaver here (Safety Razor).
It looked like you used the Personna blades (based on the paper). They are higher end on the sharp scale, and will give you more weepers/nicks. Better to use a more forgiving blade like the Astra Green.
The actual razor also contributes to the aggressiveness (gap/angle etc), so you need to find a beginners razor.
From the very short sequences, I can see a lot of pressure being applied to your skin. This is a bad thing. You only want to use the weight of the razor to lean against your skin. It's better to have 2x super light passes, than a single pass with a little extra pressure.
And the last thing is the soap. Don't use the canned/aerosolised foam. The propellants/chemicals do react to some peoples skin.
Try find an old fashioned soap stick and use a brush. It also makes a better lather.

Hey Matpat, speaking of shaving, there’s an idea that shaving your armpits makes them less smelly, but is that actually true and does it even matter if you use deodorant?

As a transwoman with unfortunately really dark, and really thick hair, it’s important to me to get the cleanest shave that I can. I shave every day, starting with the electric razor. I say “starting” because I often combine methods. If I skip days, or if I’m just not happy with certain areas (usually my extremely sensitive neck), I’ll use some hot water, a bit of shaving creme, and a disposable razor. As for why I use a disposable, it’s mostly because I only need to use it once or twice a week, so I can make a single disposable last around a month, on average.
I’ve also found that certain tools or techniques work better on different places of my face. The electric razor’s ability to cup the chin curvature makes for a better shave than the others because it better matches the contours. Meanwhile, perpendicular to the grain works really well for the neck, since it helps to flatten out the concave (and less firm) surface area.

This is the best undercover commercial ever!

I've always had an issue with multibladed razors as when my shave is too close I'll get a ton of in-grown hairs because they shave to the point that it's under the skin.

It’s wild that the barber you went to didn’t know how to use a straight razor. My barber and quite a few barbers I know easily use them for facial hair and fades during most haircuts/shaves. They use them very well too. Great video!

As someone who is transitioning, this video was extremely helpful. I’ve been using electric for sometime. But preferred razors, but I would go through so many cartridges.

I don’t want any hair.

I knew the cost already because I compared cartridges vs safety blades and knew that blades are probably better.

I also like shave cream/butter.

Thanks

With the beard, matpat looks like he evolved into his third form.

I've tested out my fair share of razors over the years, including all these mentioned, but the Philips Norelco OneBlade is hands down the top pick. It's a bummer they didn't feature it in this episode for a proper comparison.