Post date: March 4, 2024 | Adventure
Everything You Need To Know About Aftershave
To those avid shavers out there, aftershave is an absolute must. Not only does it help treat your skin after a shaving session but it also sanitizes, hydrates, and heals the skin as well. Kind of a magical liquid, if you ask me. But how does aftershave do all these things? Let’s talk about it.
Today, we want to talk about what aftershave does, what it’s made of, and how you can find the best one for you. Here is a short breakdown of the sections in order.
- What Does Aftershave Do?
- What Is Aftershave Made Of?
- How To Use Aftershave?
- Other Uses For Aftershave
Why Was Aftershave Made?
Believe it or not, aftershave has been around for centuries, just not in the way that we know it now.
Typical modern aftershaves are generally very liquid. However, lotions and creams have been in use since the times of ancient Rome! They were used to help preserve and heal skin after shaving.
Nowadays, aftershave has been refined and formulated to accomplish many other things that it hadn’t been used for before. For example, sanitizing the skin, hydrating the skin, soothing razor burn, and of course, healing cuts.
Put simply, aftershaves were developed to aid the overall health and cleanliness of your skin after shaving in an effort to reduce irritation, razor bumps, razor burns, and potential infections.
What Is Aftershave Made Of?
Nowadays, aftershave employs a wide variety of ingredients in order to accomplish all of the things it does. Let’s talk about the ingredients you can find in Volt’s aftershave as an example.
Once we dive into these ingredients, you’ll understand more about what gives you that satisfying burn when you apply it, how it hydrates the skin, and how it soothes irritation.
Common Ingredients In Aftershave
- Alcohol
Alcohol is typically the “carrier” ingredient in which the other ingredients are blended. Alcohol is what helps kill bacteria and sanitize the skin, as well as provide that classic “burn” feeling that we all know and love.
- Witch Hazel
Witch hazel is a natural disinfectant and astringent, meaning that it helps shrink or constrict body tissues. When used on cut or damaged skin, astringents help reduce bleeding, tighten the skin, and help reduce pores.
- Cucumber Extract
Cucumber extract helps moisturize, cool, and tighten the skin. This combination of properties helps the aftershave soothe skin from irritation and redness.
- Aloe
Aloe naturally helps reduce inflammation and soothe burns such as razor burns. It also helps heal cuts more rapidly.
- Menthol
Menthol is a cooling agent that gives your skin a tingly ice-cold sensation. This is purely sensational but pairs satisfyingly well with the classic burn that alcohol gives, making Volt’s Aftershave a treat to use.
- Hyaluronic Acid
Hyaluronic acid sounds scary, but really isn’t. It’s a naturally occurring compound in your own body, and acts as a lubricant and supplement for joint and skin health. It helps your skin hydrate and retain moisture.
How To Use Aftershave
Using aftershave is a pretty simple ad straightforward process that you probably already know about. Here are some tips anyways:
- Apply to FRESHLY shaved skin.
Aftershave works best when the skin is fresh and raw from a razor blade. You can use it afterwards, but it won’t be nearly as effective.
- Let it sit for 30 seconds.
You may not have known this one. The alcohol will noticeably do its job right away, hence the burn that comes along with using it.
However, for the other ingredients to do their job the best they can, the alcohol should be given close to 30 seconds to evaporate and leave behind the other effective ingredients like the cucumber extract and aloe.
- Dry off the excess.
That’s it!
Other Uses For Aftershave
- Acne Treatment
Aftershaves make an excellent acne treatment. This is because the alcohol can help kill the bacteria that causes breakouts while the skin tightening and hydrating benefits help keep the skin healthy from future bacteria or debris build-up.
- Small Cut Treatments
If you have any small cuts (like really small, ie. papercuts), then aftershaves work well to sanitize and help reduce bleeding/and tighten the skin, reducing scarring as well.
Takeaway
Overall modern aftershaves are typically an alcohol-based liquid that contain skin moisturizing, sanitizing, and tightening ingredients to soothe freshly shaved skin. Aftershave is used to clean and hydrate the skin, reduce inflammation, fight razor burns and bumps, heal cuts, and overall keep your skin in tip top shave after trauma caused by the razor.
If you’re curious about the ice-cold cooling “burn” sensation we talked about earlier, grab some of your own Volt Aftershave HERE!
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