How did men shave in the middle ages?

Answer 1

The answer is "not very often". Knives were used, or shears if the beard or hair were very long, and the knives were not always very sharp. Alexander Neckham implies that shaving was done only every few days or even once a week, so most men had an almost permanent stubble. Small knives might be used for shaving the face but it would have been a tricky and painful business.

Monks had their tonsures shaved even less often, at certain points in the religious calendar, so the popular image of monks with gleaming bald patches is completely wrong.

The link below takes you to an image of a monk about to have the central part of his head shaved with a large knife, and another of a bishop shearing the hair of a man about to become a priest:

Answer 2

With hot water, a straight razor, and a mirror. The quality of both the razor and the mirror were substandard to what we have in modern times, so the overall quality and closeness of the shave would be a bit rough. Soap would have been available.

Answer 3

The 12th century observer and writer Alexander Neckham recorded that in his time few men shaved regularly, meaning that even those who were "clean shaven" had obvious stubble. Many people preferred to grow a beard, since shaving was at best a difficult task. Neckham wrote that it was such a painful experience that it was generally done only once a week.

Long hair would first be cut with shears (there were no scissors until the late 13th/early 14th century). Then a small, sharp knife was used to scrape away the remaining hairs, possibly with the aid of lye soap or simply with hot water. Monks had their heads shaved in this way several times a year, meaning that on most occasions their heads were scruffy and stubbly.