We all might have noticed that competitive swimmers are hairless. Reducing resistance and excessive drag is one of the important steps in competitive swimming. Whether you are a professional swimmer looking to win Olympics or a casual swimmer who swims on weekends, we will try to explain the benefits of shaving to improve your overall performance.
How Shaving Helps You to be a Better Swimmer?
As bizarre as it may sound, studies show that removing body hair helps you in improving the swimming speed and performance. For instance, competitive cyclists use specialized equipment like bike frames, shoes, wheels, clothing, and helmets to maximize velocity and minimize drag to finish line.
They have found that removing leg hair helps in reducing drag against the air molecules. Now, the difference might seem a little, but this can go a long way in a competition. Just by shaving leg hair, you are saving 1 minute over 25-mile race.
When these tests were repeated. It was consistently observed that clean-shaven skin improved performance by reducing drag. When it comes to international level competitions, every detail matters. The reason why swimmers should remove their body hair are:
Reduced Drag Forces
The primary goal of any swimming competition is to cut through water as quickly as possible. The drag is caused by the friction and water’s resistance against the body. The water molecules collide against swimmer and slows him down. Your technique, swimming skills and strength can only help you so far. Minor details separate winners from losers. Drag will slow you down eventually. Hence, it is important that you reduce it by removing body hair just like cyclists.
A good pre-shave oil will protect and hydrate the skin and soften the area to glide easily through the skin and avoid any burns. eShave offers many grooming products for men to make a comprehensive solution in men’s lives. The use of eShave products with correct shaving techniques will give you the smoothest shave possible that is free from shaving-related burns, razor burns and irritation.
Increased Sensory Perception
The skin surface has receptors that help in relaying the information to the brain via nervous system. Shaving helps in removing the dead skin cells and makes it more sensitive. The enhanced sensitivity helps in improved feedback signals to brain resulting in better motor coordination. Better motor skills coordination helps in higher propulsion and swimming techniques.
Some Tips to Help You in Successful Shave Down
Firstly, identify a good brand of razors and shaving cream. You should try using double-bland razors since they are inexpensive than single-blades and second blade picks up any stray hair that first blade missed.
A menthol shaving cream works best since they have a cooling effect and helps in avoiding any razor-burns. To clear up the brush, do your first run with a clipper. It trims down the hair and saves time. Otherwise, you will have to use at least four razors to shave full-grown hair.
Conclusion
As a post-shave skin care, use baby oil to avoid any burning sensation. Hope this article helped you understand why it is important for swimmers to shave.