This past Friday, The Art of Shaving threw an Oscars Weekend kickoff party at their flagship location in Beverly Hills, where Diana Schmidtke, personal groomer to Seth McFarlene along with Master Barber David, spoke about the rise of personal grooming in male facial hair.

Let’s face it, as guys, most of us were never formally trained in how to shave. We were thrown in the lion’s pit and found a way to fend for ourselves. Most of us eventually figured out a way to run a razor over our facial hair and achieve a successful shave. It seems simple enough, but sometimes, we run into classic problems like razor burn, skin irritation or ingrown hairs and we don’t really know what’s going on.

That’s where the master groomer comes in. They actually know what they’re doing.

One of the main points that they try to teach is that there is an art to shaving, hence the name of the store. The elements of the perfect shave are fourfold: prepare, lather, shave, moisturize. From here, we must discover which products are most effective and learn how to shave for the grain of our hair.

They were kind enough to prepare a perfect shave kit, complete with razor and badger brush. Additionally, one of the master barbers at the Art of Shaving named Alex demonstrated a Royal Shave on me and it was the closest shaves I have ever experienced. The process took quite a while between the shaving and the hot and cold towel treatments, but it was a soothing and relaxing experience.

I would assume it’s the guy’s equivalent to a spa day and now I can almost understand how women can spend so much time at the spa. Well, almost.