Weird, weird question about personal grooming, but hear me out first please

Like many men, I shave regularly.  Somehow, shaving is something that men are expected to do and we learn it from a fairly young age.  The older I get, the faster my facial hair grows in.  And to be clear, I LIKE the feeling of being freshly shaved--it feels clean and smooth.  And I really just don't like having facial hair--or even much hair on my head as I shave that too, but I do leave about 1/8 inch there for some sun protection.

But I HATE the actual action of shaving.  I get nicks, scrapes cuts and all sorts of razor burn.  And razor bladed are expensive!!  Sometimes I can get a blade that magically will stay sharp for almost a month, but usually, I will be lucky to get a week out of it.  And there are times that a blade will only last me a few shaves.  I like the LOOK of being freshly shaved, but I hate going to school with all sorts of dried blood on my face from nicks and cuts that just take forever to clot up.  And going 2-4 days without shaving leaves me looking like I have not showered in a few days-- not a good look for a teacher!

So all of this brings me to a YouTube series I was watching--it involved a young, newly married couple living in Hawaii who loved to scuba dive.  Their videos had all sorts of beautiful views of fish, rocks, coral and all sorts of underwater adventures.  Being a strong swimmer (in college I swam 3 miles a day), these were fascinating.  Then suddenly, one video was just of the wife who was talking about--of all things--laser hair removal!!  But in her case, her motives were not at all for aesthetics.  She practically lived in a swimsuit and had all sorts of different ones, each with a different cut, specifically around the leg.  She had a long-term problem where she had to shave to look presentable (as defined by modern female beauty standards), but she had pretty much every issue with shaving that I have shaving my face.  And she had to shave differently based on the specific swimsuit she was wearing.  This even partly dictated which days she could go swimming and which days she couldn't based on hair growth and razor burn.  Her eventual solution--laser hair removal.

As mentioned, her motive was not aesthetics--certainly not for any sort of public viewing to be clear!--but for the pragmatic effect of making swimsuits easier to fit & wear without rubbing against razor burned skin.  She had completed her sequence and her only regret was waiting so long.  I found this intriguing as the only context that I had ever heard of this procedure for was basically for sexual purposes--which clearly was not her goal.  I had never thought of this as being straight-up pragmatic, but here was a perfect example.

So after I watched this, I was thinking about my own frustration with shaving my face and then I thought "was this such a terrible idea--laser hair removal for a man's facial hair?"  And on a lark I went online and sure enough, there were plenty of men who had done just that!  Now to be clear, I have not done this and I have no plans to do so.  However, it did prompt a thought in my head--would laser hair removal of men's facial hair be a more "Permie" option than daily shaving?  I was thinking about the damage done to skin by dragging a sharp blade with small nicks in it (which we then term a "dull" blade and discard"), the cost of blades adding up over a lifetime, the embodied cost of energy in making the blade itself, which is a high-strength steel and increasingly titanium!  Is it possible that just getting the hair lasered off is actually the more sustainable option?

I know that this sounds like an oddball question and again, this is not in my plans and I am certainly not looking to be convinced--I am too stuck on my razor blade which I don't like!  But I just wanted to hear what others think.

Fire away!


Eric

I did the hair removal on my legs way back in the 2000s.  I have never regretted not shaving any more.

Anne, in the past I might have thought that hair removal was an extravagance and the razor the simpler, cheaper, more Permie (even well before I even heard of Permies) option, but now I really question my earlier thoughts and I wonder how much time and money I have spent on razor blades, the ongoing assault done to my face, how much easier grooming would be and the happier I would be if beard stubble just didn’t grow in the first place.


Eric

From my readings, it is a pretty common issue.  And, it doesn’t seem to get better with age…certainly not for me.  On any given day, I would love to avoid shaving, yet like you, I would rather have a face without hair.

It sounds like a perfectly reasonable/permie solution as long as it doesn't require maintenance. (I've happily worn a beard for over thirty years, so I don't know anything about it.)

If it were me, I would look into old school strait razors. They have guides on them so you don’t cut yourself too deeply and they are meant to be re sharpened for years of use. Laser hair removal uses electricity that is most likely powered by a coal plant. I don’t know which one has the best math at the end of the day though. Another thing to consider is you might change your mind in the future and want facial hair, can’t go back on the laser.

My dad has always had a beard. He would get terrible ingrowth of hairs if he shaved. Just keeps it clipped with an electric clipper and that has been fine.
If the laser option had been around when he was a young man then I think it would have been on the table. It might have even been medically suggested.

I agree that laser removal is up there with no shaving and regular cutting of longer growth as the cheaper/more permies options.

Shaving is one of my least favorite (female) tasks ever.  Shaving wins sometimes (rarely) but I've chosen waxing most often. It's not permie (the wax and garbage, but it's not toxic or plastics) but a heck of a lot cheaper than laser and I find it relaxing. It's self care, which is all about Zone 0. For many people, waxing thins hair and hair pulls easier over time, unlike shaving which is just like mowing grass- when it grows in thicker and quicker.  Waxed hair grows in softer and more unevenly so it's not as coarse and pokey, which is better for me.

Reddit says facial skin is too delicate and hair too strong and course for waxing. I would absolutely consider laser if it would make your life better. 100% !! You've outlined pros and cons and I see pros winning...even though you weren't asking to be convinced.

I should preface this by noting that I pretty well always wear a beard.  Fairly "bush" looking as the winter wears on, shorter now that spring has come.  Sometime in the fall, I'll go back to only trimming the edges and - occasionally - my soup strainer.

I still have a safety razor, which uses the double edge blades, but as noted, really don't use it.  Part of it is that I have a "baby face" - I look somewhat younger than my calendar years would indicate.  That's not necessarily a bad thing, but my wife is very sensitive about any public perception of our age difference (11 years), which is accentuated when I am clean shaven.  A beard, now graying a bit, makes her less self conscious about this, and is a small concession to make.

The other thing is that I tend to get split ends in my beard hairs when using clippers.  It doesn't matter what clippers I use - official Andis-brand barber's clippers, or some new-fangled battery powered ceramic coated blade wonder machine, or whatever.  The result is largely the same - split hairs which will eventually become infected as "stuff" wicks down into the hair follicle via capillary action.  Tetra- or quinta-pyloctomy is pretty common, only rarely split into two or three strands.  The only "fix" is to extract the offending hair with tweezers.  Every time I trim, I can expect a couple of dozen such split beard hairs.  Using beard oil may help (the base seems to mostly be almond oil), but only a little bit.  I'm sure it's something with me and my genetics.  Some people have poker straight round hair.  Some people have curly hair with a flatter sectional profile.  I have "splintery" hair.  Lucky me.

If I shave with  a blade, I do not have problems with split ends, though I may get a few ingrown hairs.  My hair is also quite soft/fine, which may contribute to the ingrown hairs.  So, a beard it is, and the less often it's clipped, the better, as far as I am concerned.

If you do want to shave, what about a straight razor?  I've used one, in my younger days.  It does require a modicum of sharpening skill (which will likely serve you well in other endeavors requiring use of edge tools), and you'll definitely want a strop and some buffing compound (I like the chromium oxide green buffing compound, available at any decent hardware store).  Straight razors seem to have a bad reputation in American popular culture - cowboy or mob movie barber shop scenes, "Bad, Bad, Leroy Brown" featuring "a razor in his shoe", etc.), but I bought a used one from a second hand store, sterilized it, and it served me well for many years.  You can buy new ones, as well.

At least in the US, you can buy shaving powder, which is a depilatory product sold to African American men, and others with curly facial hair.  I think it's probably not far from "Nair" hair removal product sold to women.  It is reputed to prevent ingrown hairs and "shaving bumps".  Can't vouch for - never used it - but it seems like a possibility.

Plucking, similar to waxing, is another possibility.  This has a long historical precedent, for both men and women, and across cultures.  Women in Roman society used to pluck their nether regions.  This was associated with fertility, as referenced by no less a light than Hippocrates, and which is probably the cultural basis for St. Paul's admonition against women having short hair on their heads, and contra for men.  Some American Indian men also plucked hair to achieve particular hair styles (top knots or scalp locks).  While semi-permanent, plucking is not as irreversible as laser removal (at least, I don't think so).  There are "gizmos" to facilitate plucking, or you could just use tweezers.  I guess this sounds like a "tough guy" approach to me - kind of like getting a tattoo sleeve, but lower key, and much less of the moment.

If shaving is your thing, a straight razor should at least be considered, in my opinion.

I get you. Here's the experienced advice of my dear hubby: he says "after shaving, clean your razor with water (like you always would) then put it in a glass of water (blades submerged well) until the next shaving session. By doing this your razor will stay sharp for about a month - but then it'll go blunt quite suddenly." He says that by doing this with his razor blades he could sometimes go two months with the same razorblade.

I think this is a very reasonable question, I don't think its weird.  Other than using those old school straight razors, I think lazer is a pretty good idea .  Because the use of the lazer compared to the trash pileup of disposible blades, or even longer lasting options, which will still ultimately pile up, is less output in the end.  And regarding cost it might also be more cost effective too.

It is a fair question.

I think a straight razor and some shaving soap would probably create less garbage and fewer skin problems. I don't think laser removal is very natural.

Still, it is a one time input in order to save time and frustration later. And I advocate for that sort of situation in gardening... so why not personal care?