Shaving

Yes, Virginia, swimmers shave their legs. Now that we have that titillation out of the way we can be more accurate. Not only do swimmers shave their legs, but they shave their arms, chest, back, neck, face, and sometimes their head. Anything not covered by underwear is fair game. So why do swimmers shave? When shaving was originally explained to me, I was told that my body hair created a significant amount of drag in the water and removing that hair would make me faster. Now the fact that I was prepubescent at the time and had less hair on my body than a peach was immaterial. I laid out the money for my first razor and can of shaving cream. We had a party in one of my teammate's hotel rooms and shaved on towels, using empty wastepaper baskets as buckets, while we watched music videos. The first thing I noticed when I was done with my first shave was how cold I was.

Meteorologists use the term wind-chill in order to describe when the human body's warm air pocket is assaulted by cold air, making the air seem colder than it actually is. When a person shaves, they remove the little bit of hair and dead skin that helps maintain that protective barrier of warm air around our bodies. When a swimmer shaves they take off as much skin and hair as possible because heat exchange, not drag reduction, is the swimmer's primary goal in this activity.

Somewhere near 80% of a muscle's fatigue is caused by the heat generated in the act of working. When a muscle overheats the body tries to cool it down by sweating, moving more blood through the muscle, and breathing harder. Swimmers, luckily, swim in their own radiator. They swim in pools. Competition pools are even kept two or three degrees colder than other pools in order to help swimmers stave off this heat-related fatigue. When a swimmer shaves, they enhance their rate of heat-exchange with the water immensely by removing as much of the body's insulation that they can get away with.

When it comes to shaving, swimmers have more in common with Sweeney Todd than Sandra Dee. They both go after their chore with a reckless abandon, cackling at their bloody work. Swimmers consider it a badge of honor to enter a meet with at least a few battle scars. Typical places for you to slice yourself up are at the ankles, the fronts and back of the knees, the elbows, the base of the sides of the neck, the inner groin, and around the nipples. The skin is not very smooth around these areas since it does a lot of stretching and contracting in normal movement. So if you want to be gentle, these are the places to be careful. Even nipples will grow back if sliced off, but it's not pleasant.

So now that we've established that this is no mere hair removal and exfoliation, let's get down to the business of telling you how the this ritual is done. You'll need a good set of electric clippers; Wahl makes the best I have seen in my opinion. You will also need a large package of razors and a can of moisturizing shaving cream, and lots and lots of warm water. First use the clippers to remove all hair on your body not covered by a swimming suit. Whether you decide to leave hair on your head is a personal choice, but if you are leaving hair there, get a short haircut before the race-day. This hair that the clippers removes helps the next stage of the operation since it?s coarse and quickly clogs any razor making it ineffective at exfoliation. You want to save the sharpness of your razors for slicing off as much dead skin as you can.

Next, you'll want to take a hot shower. If you're in a hotel room, as most of us are before a big event, leave the bathroom door open so that the steam fills the room. Skin and hair both become much more manageable once they've been in a moist environment. The shower will also wash off all the hair from your clipping that could get in the way of your blade. Once your shower is done, fill a bucket (most of us use an empty wastepaper basket or an ice bucket that most hotels provide) with very warm to almost hot water. Put a towel on the floor where you plan to do your work so as to not leave a big mess for the hotel maids and stand or sit on it. Wet down the area of skin you plan to shave with water from the bucket and ready your shaving cream.

Having shaved for races a number of times, I eventually settled on Edge Foaming Gel as my preferred shaving cream. Its moisturizers which are designed for the delicate skin of the face really help the thin skin that you leave yourself with after this ritual. Edge, unlike some less expensive shaving cream must be worked after squirting it, so once you have a quarter-sized dollop on your hand rub it into the area you plan to shave. You will find that it expands a lot and covers more than you thought it would. Once you have the shaving cream worked into your skin, ready your razor.

What razor is best for swimmers? Unfortunately the multi-blade razors that are all the rage these days are not ideal. The small spaces between the blades easily clog with skin and hair. The more spaces that can clog, the faster the whole razor becomes ineffectual. In my oppinion, the best razor for swimmers is a simple one-bladed razor. It can be cleared easily and once it?s dull, you can throw it away and start with the next one in the package (make sure you buy 10 or so to always have a sharp razor available). Now most people who shave for vanity do a very light pass of the razor over the skin with the grain of the hair. This just won't work for a swimmer. Start at the bottom of the grain, the direction in which all the hair is growing, and shave against the grain using as much force as comfortable. Once you've made a six to eight inch pass, push the razor against the skin in the opposite direction back to where you started. This back and forth action shaves off dead skin then clears it from the razor on the return path. You will need to perform this action several times in order to shave thoroughly enough to receive a benefit from the shaving ritual.

How many times should I do this back and forth with the razor? That's different for different people and will become necessarily more as you age and your body gets used to this ritual. Once you think an area of skin has been shaved enough, bring the skin next to a bare light bulb. If you see anything sticking up from your skin at all, it?s time to lather up and go again. If not, you've done well. You will know you've shaved an area of skin too much when you see mottled flecks of red well up on the skin. That means you've cut through all the dead skin on that part of the body and are down to new, living skin that still gets blood from your body.

Once you've finished to your satisfaction, you'll want to moisturize your remaining skin. Again, I find myself preferring another men's shaving aid. Nivea makes a quality moisturizing product which, through being designed for the face, works very well for a swimmer's razor-scoured skin. Once you've moisturized yourself, it will probably be time to administer first-aid.

Razor cuts bleed. There's no two ways around it. And swimmers cut themselves alot. Since the cuts are done with a very sharp instrument you won't clot anywhere near as fast as with a common abrasion. On the bright side, though, they tend to heal fast since the instrument that caused the injury is likely very sharp and quite clean. I've found that simple pressure with a clean towel or tissue paper, if necessary, works very well for cuts around the problem areas of your body. Just apply pressure for about a minute and you'll have the makings of a new battle scar story. The cut will probably sting a bit when you get in the water the first time but after that, you'll be used to it.

Now that you're fully shaved you will probably feel very cold. Get in your warmest sweats, climb into bed, and watch some TV.