You’ve probably heard that shaving cream helps with beard growth, and you are using more of it and frequently shaving in a bid to grow your beard longer and healthier. Perhaps you’ve heard people swear by a shaving cream product and wonder if shaving cream actually helps with beard growth.
I also had this belief while growing up. I had just started shaving my beard and was frequently shaving with shaving cream. I noticed my facial hair would grow so fast. Little did I know it was a mere coincidence.
So, does shaving cream really help with beard growth?
No, it doesn’t help with beard growth. Shaving cream doesn’t contain ingredients that will make your facial hair grow. It only contains properties that will hydrate the skin, make your facial hair soft, and help you to shave easily.
Find out all you need to know about shaving creams, and learn about why the belief that it helps with beard growth is a myth.
Do You Really Need Shaving Cream?
Perhaps, you are among the 67% of male Americans that use either a shaving gel, cream, or foam to lather up your face before using a razor blade or trimmer on it. But have you ever wondered why you really need shaving cream?
Yes, you can definitely dry-shave your beard without using shaving cream, but there are so many reasons why you shouldn’t do it! The most obvious reason is that shaving without shaving cream will hurt like hell!
Facial hairs are usually wiry and rough, while the skin on the face is supple and soft. If you don’t protect the skin while tackling your facial hairs, it means you are going to be battling with a host of issues.
Your shaving cream should be thought of as a lubricant for the razor that will be gliding over your face. If there isn’t any form of good lubrication, you will experience a lot of discomfort. The friction between your skin and the razor will cause redness, irritation, itchiness, and ingrown hairs. As a result, you won’t be getting a good shaving experience.
Why Use Shaving Cream?
If you want to know why you should use shaving cream whenever you shave, it is important to first understand what shaving cream does.
1. It Acts as a Moisturizer for Your Beard
Using shaving cream before shaving will help hydrate your facial hair, making those tough and unruly hairs soft and easy to cut. If you are using less force, you should have a comfortable shave and after-shave experience.
Skipping the application of shaving cream before shaving will make the process more difficult. It will make you experience tug and pull, and this might even make you shave off some skin, leading to irritation and more pain.
2. It Acts as a Lubricant
If you want to have a good shave, you should create a surface your razor can easily glide through without giving you razor burns and cuts.
Shaving creams are like an emollient that puts a thin layer of protection between your skin and razor, ensuring less friction. Applying it will reduce the risk of razor burns and ensure the razor doesn’t chop off little bits of your skin. You know how painful that can be, right?
3. It Helps Keep Track of Where You Shaved
If you apply shaving cream, you should be able to keep track of the part of your face you’ve shaved. For instance, if you shave off a line with shaving cream on it, the other parts that haven’t been shaved are more visible. So, you will see the shaved and unshaved parts and clearly differentiate them. This will help quickly identify any missed spots and avoid having those little lines of hair that you will only see when you are in public.
4. It Makes the Skin Feel Refreshed
Shaving creams with good quality should have ingredients that will soothe your skin. Since shaving is an irritating process, you should try calming it down any way you can during and after the process.
The Pacific Company Natural Shave Cream is a great shaving cream that will not only give you a nice shave but leave you with a soothing feeling after the process.
How Does Shaving Cream Work?
When your hair protrudes from the skin, it isn’t considered alive; it is dead and can be trimmed. Shaving doesn’t mean you are removing the hairs from the source. What you are really doing is simply trimming the hairs.
If you want to have a clean shave free from nicks and cuts, you would want to prepare your skin first by applying shaving cream to your facial hair. What many people already know is that shaving without shaving cream will really hurt your skin, but do you understand how the cream works?
Using shaving cream doesn’t stop the hair from growing out of its follicles. Neither does it help it to grow faster. I’ve explained the benefits of using shaving cream earlier, now let’s look at how it works.
Understanding how shaving cream works will require us to look into high school chemistry once again. If you’ve studied science, you would already know most of these.
Shaving products can take the form of oils, creams, gels, and foams, but they mostly have the same ingredients, which are:
- Humectants. This moisturizes the skin.
- Surfactants. This provides the skin with foam and cushion.
- Emollients. This conditioner lubricates the skin.
- Water. This acts as a solvent.
Surfactants are complex molecules with the ability to hold on to both water and oil. The molecules have two parts: hydrophobic, an oil-loving tail that makes lather last long, and hydrophilic, a water-loving head that generates the lather.
Ingredients of Shaving Creams
If you study the ingredient lists of many shaving creams, you will see recurring ingredients in many shaving creams. They are:
- Glycerin. This is a vegetable-derived natural humectant that acts like an emollient.
- Stearic acid. This is the most common hydroponic tail.
- Triethanolamine. This is the most common hydrophilic head.
When choosing a good shaving cream, there are some skin irritant ingredients you should avoid. They include:
- Mineral oil
- Fragrance
- Sulfates
- Parabens
If you know the ingredients to look out for and avoid, you will be better equipped to make the right choice. Look for shaving creams with aloe vera and witch hazel. These are soothing ingredients that are very helpful. Also, you should look for moisturizing ingredients like sorbitol. Wondering if shaving cream can go bad? Find out by reading my detailed article here.
Any Side Effects to Shaving?
Shaving comes with some side effects that are mostly linked to improper shaving techniques. The possible effects that may come with it are:
- Razor burn
- Cuts
- Ingrown hairs
- Skin irritation
- Blisters
- Itchy skin
- Pimples
Other Ways To Grow Longer Beards
Since you now know that shaving cream doesn’t help with beard growth, you may be looking for other ways to grow your beard faster. See below for some tips.
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Take Care of Your Beard
We all want to have a smooth and fluffy beard. Even the most well-maintained beard goes through a lot. It soaks in dirt, dust, sunlight, cold, heat, and other elements as you go about your daily activities. The last thing you should do is to ignore taking care of your beard. Why is the hair on your head getting so much attention and the one on your face isn’t? If you want to grow a healthy beard that will grow long and attractive, you can’t skip taking care of it.
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Use Beard Oil
Beard oil contains ingredients that will properly condition your beard, protect the skin underneath, and leave it looking shiny and healthy. Read 8 Reasons Beard Oil Is Totally Worth It to find out the amazing benefits of using beard oil.
Ensure your beard is kept clean to make the beard strong and healthy. Use a good beard wash for it, and use beard wipes to keep your whiskers clean if you are on the go.
If you live in a dry or cold environment, you should upgrade your grooming kit by adding beard balm. This contains beeswax that will give your beard extra protection and conditioning.
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Increase Your Protein Intake
This is one of the important things to do if you want to grow a long, healthy beard. Our hair’s outer layer is made up of keratin. Eating protein-rich foods such as meat, nuts, and eggs will encourage keratin production, which will boost your beard growth and make it stronger and shinier.
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Exercise and Rest
Engaging in regular exercise will help increase your blood flow, ensuring that your systems are strengthened to encourage hair growth. Resting will allow your body to take a break and be well recharged which allows all your body’s systems to grow well.
Conclusion
Regardless of what you have heard, shaving cream doesn’t help with beard growth. That being said, don’t allow this misconception to stop you from using it as part of your beard grooming routine. Shaving cream plays an important role in protecting your skin from razor burn, and it softens your hair so that the shaver you are using can work more effectively.
Shaving cream is an important tool in your grooming kit. Use it correctly for a quality shave. If you have questions on wet shaving and if it helps with beard growth, find out here.