For those of you who find wet-shaving painful and irritating.

It is a little known fact that dry whiskers in a beard or stubble have a similar strength to copper wire. Not surprising then, that shaving can quite literally be a pain.

Here are our tips to having a close, and comfortable wet shave.

1. Don’t shave as the first thing that you do when you’ve got out of bed. It is better if you shave after having a shower, as this softens the whiskers. If you don’t shower first, consider wrapping a hot towel round your face to achieve this initial softening.
2. Use a quality razor. Our favourites are currently the Gillette Mach 3 Turbo and Gillette Fusion Power.
3. Use shaving oil first on wet face. We like King of Shaves shaving oils.
4. Put a shaving foam over the oil – we’re particularly fond of Original Source Mint shaving foam, for the very refreshing minty zing.
5. Wait – give the oil and shaving foam time to further soften your beard.
6. If you haven’t showered or used a hot towel first, wait some more.
7. Shave in front of a mirror - you are much less likely to cut yourself if you can see what you are doing.
8. Shave in the direction your beard grows, rinsing the razor after each stroke.
9. After shaving, use a good post-shave balm – preferably odourless, if you like to use cologne too.

Hopefully your razor rash will now be a thing of the past. Unfortunately, that expensive cologne is still going to sting when you put it on…