Why Hairy Men Need A Pre-Shave Formula
Don’t forget — pre-shave formula or not, always go with the grain for the first pass, then against it for the second.
Image: Unsplash
If you’re Arab, Armenian or Turkish, then you know the hell that is shaving.
What’s worth a compliment to your crush (and what beard isn’t?) is the bane of your grooming regimen behind the scenes.
Why?
You guys are a hairy lot, as are Israelis, all manner of Africans, Italians and a few more hirsute peoples.
This means when those men shave, making it clean and cut-free’s even tougher than it is for guys of a fairer follicular mould.
And even with the best shaving products and the right technique applied each time, not resembling a Wes Craven third act can still be hard for hairy men.
Understandable, but it’s also fixable.
Here’s how: Invest in a pre-shave formula so smooth it’ll teleport friction itself to a temporary dimension, one where it’ll have to wait until you’re good and done. Then, and only then, can it return to serve your wood-sanding and back-scratching efforts.
But first, why are some ethnicities hairier than others?
We asked science (and a doctor).
A Little G And H
“Hair growth — how thick it grows, how often, etc. — is genetic and hormonal,” assures our resident dermatologist, Dr. Anatoli Freiman of the Toronto Dermatology Centre. “For example, Mediterranean men tend to be hairier because of the ’gene pool’ effect.” If you passed on anthropology in college, a gene pool is simply the entire, unique genetic makeup of one group of people on earth at, like that Britannica page reads, “any given time.” The genetic traits that make up the sum of group of people’s genetic makeup exist due to a few factors, like climate. i.e. The Irish are some of the palest folks on earth due to Ireland and Northern Ireland’s positions on the map; Both countries are up there — latitudinally aligned with Siberia — so winter days are short as the sun sets early. Yet unlike her northern European neighbours, Ireland’s winters are mild and her summers are cool thanks to the warm North Atlantic Drift (which, in turn, flows nonstop courtesy of the Caribbean’s existence). If the Green Isle’s seen one constant for ages, it’s rain and overcast, which means the Irish of years past needed little-to-no melanin to guard against their absentee’s sun’s otherwise brutal UV rays.
Don’t forget that part, the UV rays.
Skip the (Aloe-infused) pre-shave part if you dare, hairy ones, just don’t ask us why your face looks like a meat apron later.
“This is also why Southern Italian and Turkish men are hairy; Over epochs of time, people in that part of the world — and the unique concentration of genetics within them — evolved to grow a lot of hair,” reaffirms Dr. Anatoli. Evolution still hasn’t guaranteed why, but some theories posit body hair evolved to shield us from… you nailed it, the sun’s brutal UV rays.
But like Dr. Freiman said, hormones play a part here, too; In general, the more testosterone a man pumps, the likelier he’ll be hairy, hence the importance of the next point.
5-Alpha Reductase
That technical term you just read is an enzyme we all carry, and it’s a big one; 5-alpha reductase helps make something called dihydrotestosterone (or “DHT”), a hormone that not only regulates a guy’s sexual development, it regulates his hair growth, too. When 5-alpha reductase drops in quantity, so does hair growth. But when the enzyme’s abundant, so is hair.
Or, look at it this way: In a clinical trial done in 1994 that involved 17 women with idiopathic hirsutism (or the misfortune of being hairy), the subjects took the drug finasteride — which stops 5-alpha reductase from doing its thing.
Within six months, all the women saw a “remarkable reduction” in hair growth.
The Unmatched, Close Shave-Facilitating Mojo Of Our Supreme-Glide Pre-Shave Formula
Unlike pre-shave oils “that tend to gum up razors, ours is Aloe-based and leaves none of that sticky residue endemic to oils,” as our founder Dino puts it.
We don’t hate oils or anything, they work just fine for some fellas. It’s just not our thing.
We want as close to perfect as possible, and we think “Supreme Glide” guarantees that.
Our pre-shave formula makes shaving coarse hair a cinch next to going it with shave cream alone. The trick is in applying it before the shave cream to soften that beard hair… but not before opening up some pores with a hot towel (or some shower steam), which makes for an even smoother shave.
Remember: Heat first, then the pre-shave, then shave cream, then go.
Most importantly, for guys with sensitive skin, a round (or three) of pre-shave gives glide like nothing else. That’s why our bearded fans line up their manes with the stuff; it’s clear and effective, making that beard line visible and easy to navigate.
Will all you Chia pets from the neck up die if you don’t have a pre-shaver? No, absolutely not.
Will you all stop constructing mini squares out of toilet paper and patching them to your face with a pre-shave around? Yes.
Your call.