I’ve been shaving my head for years. Now with quarantining it is becoming a necessity. So, we created this simple guide to help you at home.
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Congratulations! You’re well on your way towards bald acceptance, but there’s one major thing you still need to tackle: owning the bald lifestyle by shaving your head.
Shaving your head goes beyond eliminating extra steps in your daily routine. It allows you to take control of your appearance, personally define what it means for you to be confident, and show to the world that you’ve arrived.
As you might already know, there are quite a few ways to remove the hair on your head, and each come with their own benefits. We’ll be talking about the most obvious method — shaving at home — in addition to sharing key tips for getting the smoothest, cleanest, most pain-free result possible.
Step One: How do you want to look?
What sort of look are you going for? This will determine the things you’ll need for the next step. Do you want a short cropped look, the closest shave possible, or something in-between? Know what you want before you start. If you don’t quite know, we recommend a conservative approach before taking it all off. You can get closer to the scalp over time.
Step Two: Pre-Shave
Once you have determined the look you want, you need to select your tools.
- Clean Shaven – think The Rock, or Flaviana Matata
- Scissors
- Electric Clipper with no guard or “zero”
- T-blade electric trimmer
- Single blade razor for people that struggle with razor bumps
- Multi-blade razor for people that don’t struggle with razor bumps
You will benefit from a warm shower prior, or a hot towel applied around the head — this helps to soften the follicles, and reduce the amount of pressure needed to achieve a close shave.
Step Three: Start Shaving
It’s quite an easy process to follow. You always start from longest to shortest — or, from scissors to a razor blade if needed. Start to trim down the longer, thicker hair with your scissors, guarded electric clipper, or T-blade trimmer. The goal is to remove the tangling and pulling by a razor blade along the scalp, and reducing discomfort in the process.
Keeping your desired look in mind, continue to shave the hair down by layers. If you are going for a clean-shaven look, work to get the hair on your scalp as short as possible — then, use a razor blade to finish it off with short, smooth strokes. You can use your hand to feel if you have any patches of hair left.
Step Four: Post-Shave
Once you’re satisfied with the amount of your hair on your scalp, rinse and dry your scalp with a fresh towel. Follow up with a non-irritating, hydrating moisturizer, like our Face + Scalp Age Defense Moisturizer. Key ingredients aloe and squalane come together to add and retain moisture on your scalp, while willowherb extract keeps your skin balanced, and manages excess oil. We also recommend following up with an adequate amount of SPF during the day, such as our Invisible Daily SPF 30. The scalp is quite sensitive — so, we recommend following this routine for the best results, and to protect the skin moving forward.
And that’s all there is to it! We hope you’re already digging your new look, and we encourage you to share it with us on our social channels — tag us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter at @MANTLmen, and use the hashtag #BareYourGreatness. To learn more visit: http://my.mantl.co/goodmen
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This content is brought to you by Peter Ricci.
Photo: Shutterstock