Should You Shave Before or After the Shower?

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Every guy knows The Three S’s of Hygiene that are supposed to guide your morning prep: S#*t, Shower and Shave. The verbal construction doesn’t just flow off the tongue—the three words in any other order is a mouthful—there’s wisdom in it, too.

Let’s just say starting with that first S is a no-brainer. From there, though, there’s some debate. Should you indeed shower before you shave?

Well, we’re here to put to bed any lingering dispute on the matter. For the best shave possible, one that doesn’t leave your skin an irritated mess, you indeed want to shave after a nice, hot shower. 

Adhere to The Three S’s in sequential order. 

A pre-shower shave has some appeal. You can rinse the shaving cream and loose hairs. But you might be asking for issues if you don’t make a practice of saving that shave until after a warm shower. 

The American Academy of Dermatology extols showering before you shave, noting that “right after a shower…your skin will be warm and moist and free of excess oil and dead skin cells that can clog up your razor blade.”  

What’s good for the razor is good for the skin. 

Clean skin ensures smoother passage for your razor, which is designed for one job and one job only: to mow down hair. Your razor does that with greater efficiency when it isn’t confronting dead skin cells and the grime your face accumulates through the day. 

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A clean face is a boon. But your shower also serves to soften your hair, further benefiting your razor on its singular mission. Softer hair puts up less of a fight, more readily giving in to the blade. 

We’ll trust that we’ve persuaded you with a rock-solid case for showering before you shave, so let’s take that shave-prep to the next level. Merely washing your face in the shower with any ol’ soap will help, but if you use our charcoal face wash, your face will truly be ready for shave combat. It unclogs pores and gently exfoliates while bathing you in its subtle but glorious blue sage and citrus notes.

Check Out Our Charcoal Face Wash

We aren’t back-pedaling here if we take a moment to recognize the fact that there isn’t always time for a shower before you shave. And, of course, you don’t have to shower to prep your skin and soften your stubble before you shave. Washing your face beforehand and then holding a warm washcloth to your visage for a few minutes can get you prepped about as well as a shower. But if the time is there and you’re going to shower anyway, just shave afterward for crying out loud.

Another reality we can’t shirk from: Even if you take that hot shower and shave afterward with the smooth strokes of a master, some irritation is likely. Perhaps not every time, but irritation is inevitable, gentlemen. But we have you covered there, too. Our razor bump cream not only lessons the likelihood of getting burned by eliminating bump-causing bacteria, it soothes the pesky bumps that emerge despite your shave-routine diligence. 

Soothe Your Skin With Our Razor Bump Cream

Now that the S’s are in the rearview and your face is radiantly clean and freshly shorn, should you apply moisturizer? My god, man, yes! We stay moisturized around here. Whatever your skin type, we most certainly have the right moisturizer for you. For our friends out there who might be on the greasier side of things, call on our gel moisturizer for oily skin. 

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Those are the basics. Shave after you shower. Soft, clean skin sets the stage for a shave that doesn’t leave you irritated.