Shaving Ethnography: Observation 2

For my second observation I observed another male. This was so I had more than one male observation to make my comparisons with. It would give me a broader understanding of how males shave their faces.

Male

51

My participant tells me it is time to shave because he has to go to work. He likes a clean shaven face for his work environment as he views it as more professional. He also shaves after the shower, I ask why and he says because he is wearing a towel it does not matter if water drips onto it, but if he did it before the shower he would be cold if he was not wearing a shirt or he would get shaving stuff all over his clothes. My participant puts a plug in the sink and fills it up with hot water. Once this is done he opens up the top draw of the sink vanity and takes out a two blade razor with a static head and a brush. The brush has a small wooden handle which is ergonomically shaped to fit in a closed fist, it is fat and smooth. The bristles of the brush are all long and fine, they are as long as the handle and are cut on a gradients to that the top of the brush looks pointy. He says that this brush is for applying soap to his face and that he has used one of these ever since learning to shave. He has only had two in his life. He dips the brush in water and shakes it about. He then wipes it all over a bar of soap and then dabs it onto his face. It creates a layer of fluffed up soap on his face. He repeats  this process several times until his cheeks and chin are covered in soap. He does not shave above his top lip as there is a mustache. He makes faces to stretch the skin out and make it easier to shave, he is quick and decisive in his strokes. There is not much of a smell, he does not smell like the ‘man’ scent that my first participant did. He says that his chin is fine to shave, it is not painful. After each stroke he rinses the razor in water, it makes a splashing sound. After he is finishes shaving he pulls the plug on the sink and then runs the hot water again, he says he is rinsing the sink out. He does this by leaning over the sink cupping his hand collecting water in it and washing off excess soap from his face, after this he uses the same cupping motion to flick the water around the sink to make sure that it is clean. He then pats dry his face. He says that sometimes he puts on aftershave but only if he is going out, he says he doesn’t really put it on for work.