We hear a lot of
persons talking about colognes and aftershaves as being the same thing. This is
not true and those products are different and have different purposes.
We wrote
an detailed article here about what is the difference between Eau de Cologne and Eau de Parfume and today we will present what is an aftershave.
As the name is saying,
the aftershave is a product which men are using after shaving their beards.
Among the most important reasons for which men are using aftershave we mention
: prevents and treats skin rash, you will not scratch anymore, you will
smell nice without using parfume.
But before getting into
more details, a little bit of history. First of all we should mention that the
technology inevitable evolved. If in the years of 1700 barbers were using
razors which were not extremely sharp or clean, today, we belive is not worth to
mention the modern razors with 2,3,4 blades or the electric razors, which are
diminishes the risk of cutting.
So, in the years 1700
the risk of cutting was pretty high, but the problem was not the cut itself,
but the infection which comes after the cut was made, infection which back then
could kill you. As a joke, we recommend the movie A Million Ways to Die in the
West where the main character, in the beginning of the movie, says that
everything can kill you, the action was in 1882.
So, the cuts were
representing a real danger for barbers but also for the person who was getting
cut. Jean-Jacques Perret (1730-1784) was
a french barber and in his book The Art of Learning to Shave Oneself he
presented a lot of techniques and also he stated that no shave is complete
untill the barber is using aftershave.
HINT:
The act of shaving has been designated as an art which is called Pogonotomia.
The word comes from greek language, pogon which means beared and temno which
means to cut.
Back
to the present, aftershave contains different elements which acts together as
an antiseptic and in this way the iritation is reduced. The rash comes
from the hair which is cut by the razors and the skin percive this act as
damage which causes to feel pain and the need to scratch.
In
general, there are two types of aftershave: lotion or balm. Those act
differently on contact with the skin.
Aftershave lotion
As
an example, the aftershaves which have alcohol, they have a powerful impact on
skin and the person feels that the skin is burning. The reason is that, indeed
there is burn and all the bacteria are being...killed. For those one who are
not understanding this or maybe did not use till now aftershave, it is like you
would have an open wound and you pour alcohol on it, just the effect is a
little bit reduced.
So
the men are using aftershave to stop the itching and rash, the alcohol
having the ability to do so.
Aftershave Balms
On
the other side, we can find aftershave balms which have the texture of a watery
cream. The difference is that those types of aftershaves don’t have that burn
effect and are recommended to men who have sensitive skin. Usually those type of
men get a bigger rash and is more visible and more painful. So, it is
quite necessary for those men to use this kinda of product. The lotion
aftershave with alcohol could cause even more rash for those.
One
difference between aftershave lotion and balms could be that balms are not
stopping right away the rash as the one with alcohol, but it is acting
softer to the skin.
Besides the calming
skin effect, the aftershave has the role to make the skin smelling good.
Although, the oil parfume concentration is really low, being below Eau de
Cologne (you can read more about Eau de Cologne here). But this should not
upset you because this is not the primary role of an aftershave because after
using aftershave you can easily spray your favorite parfume.
There is also another
type of aftershave, a cream one. It has the thicker texture just like a cream
but we do not recommend this type of aftershave because it is very oily. Also,
if you also have an oily skin then you will have so much oil on your face. We
recommend to chose from the two types.
In conclusion, we say
that using an aftershave is not mandatory. This type of product is helping men
which are having problems after they shave and they iritate visibily and there
is pain experienced. But, there are persons who are shaving and they don’t have
any kind of rashes and they do not feel any pain after. For those
types of persons there is no need to apply an afters shave.
We belive is important
to use a product only if you really need it, if you do not feel any bad effect
after shaving, then you should not buy this kind of product, except if you
really want to try and see how it feels.
