The allure of shaving starts around eighth grade, when some guys begin to sprout whiskers. The thickness of a guy’s beard is a hereditary roll of the dice, so it’s fascinating on the first day of high school when the pencil-thin bookworm shows up with a burly face of bristles, while the star athlete struggles to make the most of his patchy wisps. At that age, shaving is a sign of growing up, and the strange spouting whiskers of adulthood signal us to an adventure in our lives. We are beckoned to a new world by the sounds of hot water, the scent of lather and the sting of aftershave, and as men, we boldly follow them into our future.
But with time and routine, the excitement fades. By adulthood, we’ve all learned to execute a reasonable shave in under two minutes, and lathering up becomes just another chore to knock out each morning before work. With our hipster experiments with soul patches, mustaches and lamb chops in the past, many of us would even consider some kind of pill that would make our faces stop growing whiskers forever. The love of shaving is gone. Or at least it is, until we become fathers.
I think every man remembers the moment his toddler first notices him shaving. “Daddy, what are you doing?”
“Oh. I have to put this cream on my face because everyday hair grows out of my cheeks and I have to shave it off.”
Just saying it out loud makes it sound ludicrous, and to the ears of a two-year-old, it sound downright insane: Hair grows out of my dad’s face?! What other crazy things exist in the world? Do dogs talk? Can cars fly?
With the kid’s mind racing, every dad has then had that moment when he asks his child, “Want to see how I shave?” And with the kid sitting next to the sink, the father falls in love with shaving all over again. He shows his child how he puts the shaving cream on and then carefully takes it off with the razor. He relives the joy of slapping aftershave as the slain whiskers of the day slowly circle the water on their way down the drain. At that moment, a father is a strange and powerful creature to his child. He’s the beholder of the world’s secrets and the guide who will bestow them in the future.
Last week, I had that very experience with my two-year-old daughter, Delia. I was putting on a new kind of shaving cream from Aveeno called Active Natural’s shave gel, when Delia wanted to know what I was doing. Actually, my daughter has a somewhat forceful personality, so she didn’t really ask. She demanded answers: What on Earth was I doing with that stuff on my face? I smiled and lifted her on the counter next to the sink and showed her how I shave each morning. And just like when I shaved for the first time, the sounds and scents and textures of the ritual worked their magic on me. The Aveeno shave gel smelled incredible, like almond, and the aftershave left my face feeling cool and refreshed. Aside from the usual razors and shaving cream, you can also utilize other tools such as a back shaver in order to shave the other parts of your body especially your back.
When I was done, Delia ordered me to put some shave gel in her hand. I laughed as she carefully rubbed it on her cheeks and then raked it off with her fingers like she was shaving. The entire experience was hilarious and amazing, and I can now safely say I will never consider any type of pill that would take shaving away from me. Like shaving, fatherhood can sometimes feel like a thankless routine, but through the fresh eyes of our children, all moments can become new and beautiful.
Disclosure: This was a sponsored post. Life of Dad received compensation for this article, but has done so believing in the merits of the product.