Using a classy shaving tool to shave your beard stubble - like in your grandfather's day - is no longer hipster stuff. The classic wet shave has reclaimed the bathroom as a morning ritual and is a real wellness break for men who are looking for peace and quiet from the stress of everyday life. This body care ritual takes time - around 30 minutes. For this, men need: a shaving brush and shaving soap, a safety razor or razor, and a little tact. A wet shave is so thorough that two to three shaves a week are enough. On top of that, it saves money and protects the environment.
Do you know "The Simpsons"? In the American cartoon series, there is a scene in which Homer Simpson and his son Bart are standing in front of the mirror in their bathroom with foam at the mouth and sharp blades, trying to teach his son the art of wet shaving. The old man wildly runs the blades across his face and explains: "Afterwards, you tear off a small piece of toilet paper - and another and another. Then you stick it here and here and here and everywhere else that bleeds."
James Bond also voluntarily submits himself to the knife in “Skyfall”: In the 007 adventure from 2012, Daniel Craig lets his beautiful work colleague Eve shave him between two fight scenes – with a sharp blade, hot looks and plenty of lather.
Two film scenes, one conclusion: Real men shave wet! Not only Bart Simpson and James Bond think so, but also Stefan Peter Wolf. He is the brains behind the website “ www.nassrasur.com” . There, the entrepreneur not only offers a wide range of products – from razor blades and straight razors to brushes, shaving soap and bowls, blood stoppers and aftershave fragrances, but he also gives lots of useful tips and interesting information on the subject.
Stefan P. Wolf is considered a luminary in the field of wet shaving and he is an advocate of shaving with a razor or safety razor. Experts say that this is the most beautiful, most thorough and most pleasant way to shave - and probably the most economical too. "In the long term, it is definitely the cheapest way to shave with a razor," says Wolf. Once you have bought one together with the necessary accessories, there are practically no follow-up costs. In addition, a good razor lasts so long that it can even be passed down from father to son.
Even the ancient Egyptians used copper or gold knives to shave. As cave paintings show, people were already shaving their hair 25,000 years ago using sharpened stones and shells. In ancient Rome, the first shave was even celebrated as a religious ritual. A boy was then considered an adult. Originally, the blades of razors were fixed, but the first folding knives date back to 1550 BC. The folding razor really became popular in the 17th century, starting in Sheffield – the British steel city was long considered the knife metropolis among wet shaving enthusiasts.
According to Stefan P. Wolf , anyone who decides to shave with a classic razor should "be aware that you won't get very far without a hobby-like enthusiasm for this skill." Not only does the classic razor have to be mastered, it also has to be damn sharp. You also have to learn how to use the strop . Because unlike a blunt kitchen knife, which still does its job more or less poorly, even a razor that is only slightly blunt is completely useless and will only result in a bloody stubble massacre.
Anyone who is afraid of the sharp blade and has little confidence in their shaking hands still has a good and economical alternative to modern plastic safety razors - the safety razor, a classic razor blade razor. According to Stefan P. Wolf, the razor blade, which has been standardized for decades, lets the user decide for themselves how many blade contacts their skin can tolerate. With each stroke, there is exactly one - not 3, 4 or more, as with the "blade madness" of today's multiple blade heads. While the mountain of rubbish grows with each of these plastic system heads, hundreds of razor blades in an old piggy bank, for example, become so small that they only have to be thrown out as scrap metal after years. "People want to move away from modern disposable products for cost and environmental reasons ," says Stefan P. Wolf.
Andreas Müller from the Mühle shaving manufacturer in Stützengrün in the Ore Mountains also confirms that wet shaving has experienced a boom. "In recent years there has been a real movement that has established male facial and beard care products in the mainstream," says the family entrepreneur, who now runs the company founded by his grandfather in 1945 together with his brother Christian. For a long time, shaving brushes and razors were considered old men's products, but today they are the hallmark of a modern and well-groomed man. Mühle's customers are demanding. For shaving brushes alone, the price range at the manufacturer in the Ore Mountains ranges from 35 to 650 euros - for an exclusive edition consisting of a badger brush with a handle made of hand-painted Meissen porcelain.
The shaving brush did not become more widely known in Europe until the beginning of the 19th century . Before that, men lathered up the soap by hand. And as late as 1810, the British author Benjamin Kingsbury wrote in his treatise "A Treatise on Razors" that it was still a matter of controversy whether soap lather should be stirred up with a brush or "brought about by the activity of the hands alone". Despite shaving foam from a can and shaving gel from a tube, the shaving brush is still in no serious danger of becoming a rarity. After all, it is a pleasant feeling to feel the brush being moved in circles on the skin of your face.
But not only the skin, but also the brush needs care so that the bristles do not become brittle and break. It does not take much to treat it properly: rinse with warm water , then spin out any remaining water and then store it hanging or standing on a holder.
Even the ancient Romans rubbed themselves with a depilatory cream that contained pitch, bat blood and ground poisonous snakes . In the course of history, ingenious barbers came up with countless other methods of smoothing the chin without too much blood loss. The Wilkinson company, founded in 1772, found in a market research analysis that "wet shavers live happier lives. They are more vital, more active and also more faithful in marriage." Today, men do not have to rub bat blood or ground poisonous snakes on their faces. But shaving soap and styptic are still essential for a good shave .
Shaving foam is now even available in a spray can. But for real men, a homemade, warm, creamy foam made from a good shaving soap is the epitome of a classic wet shave and a very important part of the shaving ritual. No product from a can can compete with that. However, even with a classic shaving soap whipped up with a shaving brush, there are clear differences in terms of foaming properties and care, softening effect and skin protection from the blade. Tip from Stefan P. Wolf: "Hand-made natural soaps are convincing because they are well tolerated and contain little chemicals, but good factory-made soaps can also be very gentle and mild and usually have a more stable foam."
And this is how the classic wet shave works step by step: A hot shower is the best way to open the pores of the facial skin . This lifts the beard hairs slightly and allows them to be cut even deeper. Alternatively, a warm face wash or a warm compress will do the trick. If you have particularly sensitive skin, apply shaving oil afterwards. Since beard hairs are as hard as copper wire of the same thickness, the following applies: Lather the beard thoroughly with shaving foam to soften it . The shaving soap is whipped up with the shaving brush and massaged into the facial skin for several minutes.
Finally, let the safety razor glide over the beard hairs with a sharp blade without applying any pressure, ideally at an angle of 30 degrees. In between, rinse the stubble from the safety razor with hot water . Depending on the sensitivity of the skin, lather up again and shave once across the grain and once against the grain. After shaving, rinse the skin with ice-cold water , which closes the pores again. In the case of cuts, place a moistened alum stone over the affected skin ; the dissolved crystal salt has a strong astringent effect and stops the bleeding. Once the wound has closed, rinse thoroughly with cold water again, let the skin calm down for a few minutes – and apply an aftershave to round off your wellness break. A really fragrant thing!
By the way: During the oil price crisis in the 1970s, wet shaving was even promoted as an energy-saving tip: The then Austrian Chancellor Bruno Kreisky recommended that men in the Alpine republic shave wet and thus save electricity: "Anyone who shaves with an electric shaver should remember that there are other types of razors."
Author • René Haenig
Photo • Black Beards
Published in Heritage Post No. 48