A Professional Shaver?

Yes, hard to believe. But a number of years ago I was paid by Gillette to shave my face. True story. And in recent times, I've become something of a shaving enthusiast. It has gotten to the point where I get a shave from a barber as often as once a week when I have time(on Saturday).  A strange tale how it got to this point. But I really do have some advice for my male friends who scrape their faces with razor blades on a regular basis.

Getting the "job"

It was around 20 years ago that I read a local weekly paper when Jeanne and I were living in Gaithersburg.  There was an ad calling out in the classifieds "male shavers wanted".  Signifying that it was legitimate was the note saying it came from the "Gillette Research Institute", which was right across the major road from where we lived at the time.  I decided to check it out. 
Turns out, they used to test on animals, but the protestors put a stop to that. Ironically, it was okay to test on humans.

What resulted was that I was paid $75 a week for about a year or so to shave in their lab.  They were trying all kinds of products, from razors, to creams and aftershaves, some of which eventually came to market.  They'd have us rate the products and observe whether we had irritation or a good outcome.  We could do it any time of day, which good because I was working all kinds of shifts back then.
But I learned that how you treat your face makes a big difference on the quality of the shave.

Back to the days of the Old West

I thought getting razor shaves was a thing of the past. But a while back, in the course of doing some research about new businesses, I found out about a place close to where we live now, where one can get haircuts and shaves at a reasonable price, from my point of view. I'd never had a straight edge razor shave before. So, I decided to take what I learned at work about the business and try it out as a consumer.
Between the steam applied to the face to soften it up, the hot towel, pre-shave oil, the straight edge effect and the great after-shave treatment, I learned that a 20-minute long shave on a Saturday is a wonderful way to relax. 

Making cheap pre-shave oil

If there's one key ingredient that sets the "professional" shave experience apart from what most guys have seen all of our lives, it is the pre-shave oil applied to the face. That comes before shaving cream.  It is amazing how it prevents the burning sensation that most of us have come to expect. The best thing of all, you can make it at home at low cost.
I combine about 35 percent grapeseed oil, a little bit of lemon oil (obtained from a spice store), about 30 percent lemon olive oil and the remainder is castor oil.  It is mixed and placed in a small plastic spray bottle. The castor oil makes the liquid a bit more substantial.  Yes, it is historically regarded as a laxative and you might feel funny about buying it from the drug store, but who cares.  It might cost about $20 to get all of the ingredients together at first, but you have the basics to provide a refill to the small plastic bottle several times later.

Once you've applied the oil to all of the face and neck that you will be shaving, you'll easily notice the difference after the blade has done its work. Fancy stores sell this stuff for more than $20 per bottle. By making it, you'll save a lot and really improve the shaving experience.

So there you have it, from a one-time shaving professional!