And now, a few indispensible tricks from The Gentleman’s Guide to Life – a highly useful and totally hilarious book by Steve Friedman, a former GQ senior editor, award-winning sportswriter and one of the most brilliant, charming and well-shaved guys we know.

• “If you’re a blade man (about 70 percent of you are), shave after you shower. The hot water and steam soften your beard. (A new generation of fog-proof mirrors makes shaving while you shower a viable alternative.)
• When you’re lathered and ready, start at the sideburns and make short strokes in the direction of your beard’s growth. The neck follows the cheeks, and the upper lip and chin come last. That’s because whiskers there are the thickest and you want to give them the most time to soften up under all the foam.
• Once you’re done, don’t forget to wash… You’ve just removed an entire layer of dead skin… and spread a bunch of bacteria around your kisser. So wash up. And slap on some aftershave. No, no, not the stuff that feels like battery acid and smells like eau de Adman. That’s the old-fashioned, alcohol-based stuff that tightens your pores and dries out your skin. These days, aftershave is all about moisturizing and healing, rather than “stings like hell.” Even the products that contain alcohol also usually have moisturizer.
• If you’re one of the 10 percent of American men who suffer from razor burn, and you can’t face the prospect of a beard, be gentle. Easy does it. If the shave isn’t close enough for your taste, try shaving twice, but gently. On days when burn is really bad, buy an over-the-counter ointment with 1 percent hydrogen peroxide.”

Steve adds that if you have money to burn, you should go to The Art of the Shave barber shop in New York. “There’s no closer shave,” he says. “Also, use one of the new, quadruple-head, vibrating razors from Gillette [available at Wal-Mart, Kmart and Drugstore.com]. You’ll never want to use a regular blade again.”

MP3 & iPod Shower Radio with Fog Free Mirror, $59.95 at Shaving Direct

Maca Root Shave Cream – a light, skin-softening cream with soothing aloe, Peruvian maca root and Community Trade sesame seed oil to protect and condition the skin, $16 at The Body Shop

Love,
Loren