I remember when I first started shaving, some time in my fourteenth year. My step-father bought a single-blade razor for me and showed me the basics. It was months before I cut myself, so it must have been an effective lesson. When I was 15, my father mentioned that I should probably learn how to shave, and I told him that I already have been. He seemed dissapointed, like someone had stolen his birthright. But honestly, this shows that he wasn't exactly in touch with those kind of things. He was distracted. He did get the first crack at teaching me how to tie a necktie, but it was only once, and I was about 9 or 10. It didn't stick, and my step-father had to work with me on that. Too bad, because my father ties some of the best neckties that I have ever seen. I'm talking "JCPenny catalog" good.
Over the years, my shaving has gone from single blade, to double, to triple, and I refuse to use those quad-blade shavers. I went from shaving creme to soap to gel. I even tried an electric shaver, but that wasn't cutting it.
I have an absolutely horrid beard. It grows in brown, blonde, red (!), and gray/white. My hair is straight (well, my father once told me it is "kinky") and so is my beard hair. However, it grows very close to the skin, like a wheat field full of grain, but blown over by a strong storm. Also, it grows in all directions. If you wanted to say that my beard has a "grain," then the wood that most resembles it would be that curly maple that guitar makers seek out for high-end Les Pauls. To shave with the grain, I have to memorize the direction depending on which part of the beard I am shaving.
The only thing that would make this worse would be patchiness. My beard looks fairly consistent (except for color and grain). So, I think growing a beard is not in my future. (And as my father says: "the men in our family do not grow beards.")
Because of the closeness of the beard, a real close shave would end up with ingrown hairs, also known as Pseudofolliculitis Barbae (PFB). My neck would always have little bumps of these ingrown hairs which is uncomfortable as well as unsightly. It was a conversation about this that caused my father to say I had kinky hair. Hair that curls back in toward the skin is a problem that many African-Americans have with their beards.
Last week I started to get desparate over this issue. I debated buying another electric shaver, one that won't cut so close. But this would be a $150 purchase with no guarantee of results. I decided to heed my father's mis-guided assertion and look into how an African-American might solve this problem. This meant going to the Wal-Mart on the south side of St. Joseph. You cannot purchase these items in Maryville, or in the north Wal-Mart of St. Joe. (Wal-Mart "south" is also where I can find my Mexican music CDs, not seen elsewhere.)
For a week now, I have been "shaving like an African-American" using the Bump Fighter line of shaving products. Yes, this means I have shaving creme with a picture of an attractive, well-shaven, black man on my bathroom counter. This may confuse some house guests, but so far it has been working out well. I do have to ask why the special shaving gel has to smell like coconuts, though. What's up with that?
The biggest change is probably the razor. It is a single-blade, which keeps me from shaving too close. Also, it has a special blade that keeps the cutting edge slightly above the skin. Shaving too close is definitely part of the problem with me, which is counter to all those commercials that brag about closeness being comfortable.
I also learned not to shave when I first get out of bed. After laying down for several hours, the face is puffier and this is harder to shave. If I wait about 1/2 hour or more, the skin tightens up again, providing a better shaving canvas.
--gh
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