Important Steps To Consider When Choosing The Best Aftershave

Important Steps To Consider When Choosing The Best Aftershave

Selecting the best aftershave can be confusing. There is such a wide variety of products available for shaving that selecting this important component of a great, close shave is often made hastily without considering ingredients or attributes of quality aftershaves. To better understand how to find your own best aftershave, we will take a look at some finer points of aftershaves and how to make an informed choice.

What is aftershave?

BAUME.BE Aftershave BalmAftershave is a broad term describing the line of many products used immediately following shaving to relieve irritation, moisturize and protect skin from elements.

There are two primary categories of aftershaves. Those are:

  • Splashes: Splashes provide toners, astringents and hydrosols to cleanse the skin after the shave while also providing antiseptic and antibacterial protection. Best suited for people with oily skin or those living where the climate is hot and humid.
  • Balms: Balms are heavier on the skin and relieve irritation while also moisturizing. Best suited for people living in cold or dry climates. Aftershave lotions are also considered balms. A good example of a quality balm is BAUME.BE Aftershave Balm.

Ingredients in Aftershave

Edwin Jagger After Shave SandalwoodTo select your best aftershave, it is helpful to know what key ingredients are and what those ingredients do for your skin. Below are some of the most common aftershave ingredients:

Astringents and Toners
Astringents and toners cleanse skin while shrinking the look of pores. Toners provide minor skin irritation relief for small cuts, rashes, bug bites and fungal infections. Scars can also heal better through use of toners.

Astringents are the strongest variety of toners. They contain up to 60 percent alcohol and are best used on oily skin due to drying factors. However, drying the skin makes it produce even more oil, so using astringents can become a cycle of removing and producing oil. In essence, astringents harden, dry out and protect skin. So use them only where problem skin exists, such as the T-zone from the chin, up the bridge of the nose and across the forehead.

Ingredients with astringent qualities include:

  • Alum
  • Acacia
  • Oatmeal
  • Distilled vinegar
  • Witch hazel
  • Alcohol
  • Yarrow
  • Silver nitrate
  • Potassium permanganate
  • Zinc sulfate
  • Zinc oxide

Hydrosols
Steam distilled from aromatic plants, hydrosols are often referred to by names such as floral water, hydrolate, essential water, herbal water or herbal distillates. Hydrosols are produced like essential oils and were once thought of as byproducts of distilling. Now, hydrosols are considered worthwhile for inhibiting bacterial growth and helping the skin balance to a normal pH.

Col Conk Unscented After Shave LotionMoisturizers
Moisturizers are not single ingredients, instead being multiple ingredients combined to make the skin’s external layers softer and more pliable. This is achieved by increasing the amount of water held by the skin through reduction of evaporation, not by adding water. An example of a great moisturizer is Edwin Jagger Sandalwood After Shave.

Humectants
Used to increase skin penetration of the best aftershave ingredients, humectants decrease dehydration effects of other ingredients. Humectants commonly found in the best aftershave include:

  • Glycerol
  • Propylene glycol
  • Urea
  • Lactic acid
  • Sorbitol

Best Aftershave Ingredients to Look For

  • Calendula
  • Witch hazel
  • Lavender
  • Aloe vera
  • Chamomile
  • Tea tree oil
  • Rose oil distillate
  • Various vitamins
  • Jojoba oil
  • Grapefruit seed extract

Aftershave Ingredients to Avoid

  • Lemon oil or eucalyptus, if your skin is sensitive
  • High concentrations of alcohol or camphor
  • Grapefruit, if you tend to spend a lot of time outdoors

Looking for additional protection with a Pre-Shave solution? Check out the benefits of using a pre-shave oil on your skin.  You will also want to consider a shaving brush if you don’t already have a couple in your wet shaving tools.

How Using The Best Beard Oil Could Make All The Difference

Edwin Jagger Beard Oil Sandalwood BOSW

How Using The Best Beard Oil Could Make All The Difference

Growing a beard is a major undertaking. You start out thinking it will enable you to be a little more footloose and “fancy free” than the rigors of daily shaving. Soon after your bread sprouts, however, you realize that is not necessarily true. A beard does not absolve you of daily grooming routine. Instead, your routine just changes. Part of this routine lies in ensuring you have some of the best beard oil on hand.

The best beard oil for your needs will be more than just a nice scent to rub through facial hairs. The best oil is one that nourishes your beard, helping it to grow well and look great. Beard oil also nourishes the skin beneath your beard, so those follicles can continue doing the great job of making you a beardsman.

Best Beard Oil for New Growth Beards

best beard oilWhen your beard first starts to grow, you need to nourish your skin and hair to keep them healthy and growing strong. But you do not need the weight of a beard oil designed for keeping unruly hairs in place.

A good beard oil for this stage is also one that helps you get through the phase many men do not make it through without grabbing the nearest razor and going back to their old daily routine. That is, the itchy, uncomfortable emergence of facial hairs. For this, you need a beard oil that soothes.

Ingredients to look for in beard oil for this phase of growth are vitamins A, B, D and E. Proteins and fatty acids are also great for repairing damaged hairs and getting into the follicles to stimulate healthy growth.

Best Beard Oil for Medium Growth

When your beard has grown to one-half to 1.5 inches, you are in the most comfortable phase of beard growth. This is when living is easy and maintenance is almost as carefree as possible. This phase is so carefree that you can use just about any beard oil weight and quality. During this phase, scent and moisturizing are the most important factors. You still want to keep your skin hydrated, follicles stimulated and existing hair length nourished.

A great option for medium growth beards is Edwin Jagger Beard Oil in Sandalwood.

Best Beard Oil for Full Growth

Edwin Jagger Beard Oil Sandalwood BOSWWhen your beard reaches more than 1.5 to 3 inches, it starts taking on a life of its own. It decides which direction it wants to lie and how much the hairs behave. Much like a two year-old toddler, it may take some effort to keep your beard in line at this stage.

Heavier oil works best for full growth beards. This weighs the hairs down and keeps them from sticking out in all directions. It also continues to nourish and hydrate skin and the hairs for continuing good health. Edwin Jagger Beard Oil in Limes and Pomegranate is a great choice.

Best Beard Oil for Long Beards

When your beard is over three inches long, you start becoming as popular as a set of twins. Wherever you go, people remark about your beard. This is a time when heavy oils are important. You will also need to apply more of the oil to ensure these older, longer hairs do not start acting like rebellious teenagers.

How Edwin Jagger Made Their Footprint In The Art of Wet Shaving

Edwin Jagger

How Edwin Jagger Made Their Footprint In The Art of Wet Shaving

Born and operated in Sheffield, England, Edwin Jagger is a preeminent male grooming brand. Since 1988 this family owned business has held firmly to integrity, inspired design and quality as their cornerstones.

In the past 20 years, Edwin Jagger has grown from a small local company to a globally recognized brand. They produce products for delivery to every area of the world, including special commissions by luxury brands in the U.S. and Great Britain for design of exclusive wet shaving products.

Edwin Jagger Safety Razor Gold DE89BA11Gbl
Edwin Jagger Wet Shaving Razor

Edwin Jagger’s following has grown largely because of the amount of attention and care the founder, Neil Ernst Edwin Jagger, has invested in the product line. He designs each implement and product with the meticulousness also applied to the manufacturing process. Edwin Jagger has become a well-established example of traditional British style. Together with state-of-the-art design, modern production and renowned Sheffield craftsmanship heritage, the brand exemplifies Sheffield, England and the art of grooming.

Known for bringing high quality and style to the wet shaving experience, Jagger’s line includes shaving brushes, razors, soaps, creams, lotions and accessories. Beard products like beard oil and beard shampoo are also part of the collection, for those who prefer to not go 100 percent clean-shaven.

Razors

Edwin Jagger is widely known for razor quality with exquisite design. The brand’s home of Sheffield, England in South Yorkshire is regarded for its steel craftsmanship, as it has been since the 1800s. This craftsmanship is reflected in the traditional quality of the razor line.

The brand knows when to provide convenience to customers and likewise, when to not reinvent the wheel. So many of the line’s razors use Gillette® Fusion® ProGlideâ„¢ and Gillette® Mach 3® blades, such as the handsome Fusion Razor R35711F.

Brushes

Edwin Jagger Shaving Brush - Pure Badger 81P27
Edwin Jagger Wet Shaving Brush Made of Pure Badger

The brand’s shaving brushes are also very popular. Only the highest quality badger hair from the species Meles Meles will do, so the company has eight resident badgers that supply freshly cut hair after their own luxuriously pampering shampoo and conditioning. For over 200 years badger hair has been used for shaving brushes due to its water absorptive quality. This absorption provides rich, foamy lather when used with quality shaving soap or cream.

The brushes also lift and soften beard hair in preparation for shaving. Using a badger hair brush like the Pure Badger 81P26, shave quality is top notch, facial skin is improved and the shave just feels great.

Edwin Jagger Shaving Cream Cooling Menthol SCCMT
Edwin Jagger Wet Shaving Cream

Shaving Cream and Soap

Natural ingredients and organic plant derivatives are used to create the brand’s shaving creams and soaps. The line features a variety of cream and soap options, such as traditional hard soaps, premium creams and aftershave lotions. Each of the soaps and creams lather luxuriously with subtle fragrance of aloe vera and sandalwood. One such favorite is the Sandalwood Shaving Cream Bowl.

Shaving Accessories

Hand crafted soap bowls and wood, metal or porcelain shaving dishes are featured as part of the renowned English line. Shaving collections such as the safety blade set are extremely popular for men who want to add luxury and tradition to their shaving experience.

The History of Col Conk and His Shaving Empire

The History of Col Conk and His Shaving Empire

Colonel Ichabod Conk, or Col. Conk as he is simply known, is a legendary figure among those who love a quality shave. Today’s Col Conk is a line of namesake-inspired shaving products. Yesterday’s Col Conk was a dapper gentleman who found himself inspired by love, looking good and smelling great.

History of Colonel Ichabod Conk and His Shaving Empire

col conkColonel Ichabod Conk was said to have been dapper and velvety-voiced, a man with legendary status due to his comings and goings which eventually led him to Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Colonel Conk was made a pauper by the Civil War, like many men and women of that time. Rather than giving up to his lost comforts, he chose to travel to New Mexico and settle in Albuquerque, still very much the wild, wild west. He lived there for awhile before becoming acquainted with a lady who owned several barber shops in the growing but dusty town. If ever there was a place that men needed help with a shave, it would be out west.

Col Conk Badger Brush SetIt could be said that Colonel Conk married “up” in status, but marrying the shave shop owner was the best thing he ever did for himself and generations of men who love his products. Colonel Conk’s wife spent her days shaving men’s faces. One has to wonder whether Colonel Conk joined her to learn a new trade, earn his keep, or keep his eye on his new darling’s heart and status. Whatever his reason for picking up his first shaving mug and razor blade, this is when his real history began.

Colonel Conk became very good at a close shave, thanks to his wife’s introduction to the art. He helped his wife in both shaving of customers and accounting for the amassing fortune. Colonel Conk’s fiery spirit soon led to the idea of packaging the shaving products he and his wife used every day for sale to men all over the dusty, dirty west. Colonel Conk seems to have made it his personal mission to ensure the cowboys, pioneers, gunslingers, merchants, railroad men and gentlemen of the wide-open frontier looked as dapper as men from big cities of the east.

Col Conk started building his sales empire with shaving products and other toiletries. The business grew and expanded until he passed away in 1898. Sadly, Col Conk’s shaving empire died with him.

Col Conk Reincarnated

Colonel Conk lives on, however. His shaving name and likeness brand today’s Col Conk line of glycerine shave soap, lotions, beard care, mugs, brushes, aftershaves, balms and so much more.

To emulate the clean shaven, dapper style of Colonel Ichabod Conk, now all you have to do is visit the Original Shave Company. There, you will find a full array of Col Conk products, like the original proprietary glycerine shaving soap, pre-shave oil and handsome gift sets.