There are two kinds of men in a Midtown locker room: the ones who shave at the sink before the shower because that is the order their father did it in, and the ones who shave after because they read once that it was better. The second group is right, and the first group gets more razor burn. Here is why.
Shave after the shower. Three to five minutes of warm water softens the whiskers, loosens the surface of the skin, and rinses away the oil and dead skin that clog a blade. The razor cuts cleaner with less pressure and less irritation. Shaving before the shower is fine if you have a specific reason, and shaving in the shower works if you can see what you are doing. A barber’s hot towel shave is the same principle made deliberate: heat first, then the blade.
The short answer: after, because warm water does half the work
Whiskers absorb water and get softer, and soft hair cuts with less force. That is the whole case for shaving after the shower. A dry whisker is tough and the blade has to be pushed through it; a wet one gives way. Less pressure means fewer abrasions, fewer nicks and less redness by the time you get to the office.
Warm water does two other things. It rinses away the day’s oil and dead skin, so the blade is cutting hair instead of skidding over a film. And it relaxes the skin surface so the blade sits flat against it instead of catching on a tight, dry face. Shaving creams and gels are designed to keep that softness going; they work much better on hair that was already soaked.
Barbers knew this long before anyone measured it. The hot towel shave exists because heat and moisture before the razor make a closer, kinder shave, and the only reason a barbershop uses towels instead of a shower is that the chair does not have one.
Shaving before the shower: when it makes sense
It makes sense if you want the shower to rinse the shave away, if your skin reacts to lather left on it, or if you are shaving a beard outline rather than a whole face. It does not make sense as a default, and the men who do it usually do it out of habit.
The case for before
- The shower rinses off every trace of lather, loose hair and aftershave, which some men prefer to a sink rinse.
- Dry hair stands up straighter, which some men find easier to see and cut, especially on a beard line.
- If you tend to nick, the warm water afterwards is a gentle rinse rather than a cold splash.
The case against
- Dry, unsoftened whiskers need more pressure, and pressure is what causes razor burn.
- The oil and dead skin from overnight are still on the face and dull the blade faster.
- Hot water on freshly shaved skin can increase redness, which is the opposite of what you want before work.
If you do shave before, at least wash the face with warm water for a minute first and use a proper lather. That recovers some of the softening you would have gotten from the shower.
Shaving after the shower: how to get the most from it
Shave within a few minutes of stepping out, while the hair is still soft and the skin is still warm. The window closes fast; a face left to dry for ten minutes while you make coffee is most of the way back to a dry shave.
- Shower for at least three to five minutes with the water warm, not scalding. Let it run over the face at the end.
- Step out, pat the face but do not dry it fully. The hair should stay damp.
- Lather immediately, brush or hands, and work it in for thirty seconds.
- Shave with the grain first, light pressure, rinsing the blade after every couple of strokes.
- Rinse with cool water, pat dry, and apply an alcohol free balm within two minutes.
Step five is the one most men skip, and it is the step that decides how the face looks at 10am. The shave was the injury; the balm is the repair. Our post on what aftershave does explains the difference between a balm and the splash that stings.
Shaving in the shower
It works, and for some men it is the best of both: the hair stays soaked the entire time, the lather never dries, and the rinse is built in. The problem is the mirror, and the second problem is the blade.
Get a fog free shower mirror, or you will shave by feel and miss the jaw corners every day. Shave at the end of the shower, not the start, so the hair has had its three to five minutes. Use a gel or a cream that does not wash off the second the water hits it, and turn the spray away from your face while you work. And take the razor out of the shower afterwards. A cartridge left in a steamy, wet stall rusts and grows things, and a dull, dirty blade is the number one cause of the razor bumps men blame on their skin. Our guide to preventing razor bumps starts with the blade for exactly that reason.
Before vs after vs in the shower, compared
Same razor, same face, three timings. The table is how they score on the things that actually matter at the sink on a weekday morning.
| Before the shower | After the shower | In the shower | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hair softness | Low, unless you wash first | High | Highest |
| Pressure needed | More | Less | Least |
| Razor burn risk | Highest | Low | Low |
| Visibility | Good, dry mirror | Good if you wipe the mirror | Poor without a fog free mirror |
| Time added to the morning | None | None | Two to three minutes of water |
| Rinse quality | Best, the shower does it | Sink rinse | Built in |
| Best for | Beard outlines, sensitive skin that hates leftover lather | Most men, most mornings | Men with a mirror and a cream that holds up |
After the shower wins on the two columns that matter most, pressure and razor burn, and costs nothing in time. In the shower edges it on softness and loses on visibility. Before the shower wins only on the rinse, which a sink can do well enough.
Should you trim a beard before or after the shower?
Before, and dry. The opposite answer from shaving, for a simple reason: wet hair is longer than dry hair. Trim a beard that is damp from the shower and it will spring up shorter than you cut it when it dries, sometimes by a quarter inch. Trim it dry and what you see is what you get.
The routine that works: trim and shape the beard dry before the shower, using the guard length you always use, then shower, then shave the cheek line and the neck outline after the shower while the skin is soft, then balm. The beard gets cut at its true length and the shaved edges get the softening they need. Where the neck line should sit is its own question, and the two finger rule above the Adam’s apple is the short version.
If you would rather not own two sets of tools, the $18 beard trim and grooming at Deja Vu does the shaping and the outline in one sitting, and the Classic Combo pairs it with a fade for $48.
What a hot towel does that a shower cannot
A shower warms the hair for a few minutes and then you leave it. A hot towel keeps the heat and moisture pressed against the face right up to the moment the blade arrives, and then another one comes after. That is the difference between a good shave at home and the one in the chair.
The hot towel shave at Deja Vu is about 30 minutes and $35: warm towels wrapped over the face, brushed lather worked into hair that is now as soft as it will ever be, a straight razor with the grain, a cool towel to close, and an aftershave balm. The Royal Shave is $50 and about 45 minutes with extended hot towel steps on both sides of the razor. Neither needs you to have showered first; the towels are the shower. Come straight from the 6 train if you like. The full service is on our hot towel shaves page.
Get the heat first shave at Deja Vu Barbershop
Deja Vu Barbershop is at 101 E 34th St between Park and Lexington in Murray Hill, two minutes from the 6 train at 33rd Street and about eight from Grand Central. Every barber is New York State licensed, every razor and workstation is sanitized between clients, and the hot towel shave is the heat before the blade principle done properly: $35, about 30 minutes, balm at the end.
Hours are Monday to Friday 8am to 7pm and Sunday 10am to 5pm, closed Saturday. Walk ins are always welcome, or book online. Call (212) 576-1062 if you have a question before you come in.
Questions readers ask
Is it bad to shave before showering?
Not bad, just harder on the skin. Dry whiskers need more pressure, which causes more razor burn. If you shave before, wash the face with warm water for a minute and lather properly first.
How long after a shower should I shave?
Within a few minutes, while the hair is still damp and soft. After ten minutes of drying the face is most of the way back to a dry shave.
Is shaving in the shower better?
It keeps the hair softest and rinses itself, but you need a fog free mirror and a cream that does not wash off. Take the razor out of the shower afterwards so the blade stays sharp and clean.
Do I need to shower before a hot towel shave?
No. The hot towels do what the shower does, and keep doing it until the blade arrives. Come as you are; the shave is about 30 minutes.