Thread: "Rubbery" skin on second pass

Originally Posted by sparq

CVS in New England has King of Shaves Alphaoil in stock. It costs ~$6 and works pretty well as a pre-shave oil for second passes for me.

We do have CVS around here but I work odd hours so Walgreens is where I get my stuff, but I'll try to get by the CVS on my days off and see what I can find. Thanks.

I would suggest either using a cream or a soap with more "cushion" although oil might help too.

Tabac would be my first choice for soap and Proraso for cream.

If you don't want to change your soap try adding a little cream to it when you make lather.

It would be a shame to miss out on using a brush and lather, but I have done one straight razor test shave using King of Shaves oil topped with aloe vera gel. It worked great and is fast, the oil stays on your face until you decide to wash it off. You can reapply the aloe vera gel with each pass, or just splash water on and massage it in.

You may be able to skip the aloe vera gel altogether. The only reason I started using it was that when I used cartridge razors shaving oil would clog them up. The gel completely fixed that problem.

But it's worth trying with gel. It is basically a sticky form of water! This is the type I use, but I'm sure you can get identical stuff outside the UK.

Originally Posted by Rajagra

It would be a shame to miss out on using a brush and lather, but I have done one straight razor test shave using King of Shaves oil topped with aloe vera gel. It worked great and is fast, the oil stays on your face until you decide to wash it off. You can reapply the aloe vera gel with each pass, or just splash water on and massage it in.

You may be able to skip the aloe vera gel altogether. The only reason I started using it was that when I used cartridge razors shaving oil would clog them up. The gel completely fixed that problem.

But it's worth trying with gel. It is basically a sticky form of water! This is the type I use, but I'm sure you can get identical stuff outside the UK.

Don't think I want to forgo the lather either. I was thinking more of an oil I could put on my face and still lather over. I realize I may have to put a little more work in keeping my brush clean, but I do love slathering the stuff on.

David I have been straight shaving for a very short time but I have already used about 10 different soaps. I had the problem of drag that you describe untill I switched to glycerine soaps. Last night I tried Tabac for the first time and the one thing I noticed was how slick it is, I could feel the razor just sliding through my beard even on the second and third shave. I would love to make this my soap but I cant stand the smell.

Well the oil didn't seem to help. Couldn't find glycerin close by. I guess I'll need a slicker soap or cream.

Edit-ordered a sampler pack from TGQ as they seem to get good reviews

It could be that your lather is too thin when you apply it
for your second pass. The slickness comes from the soap,
so if there is too much water in your lather it can prevent
the nice sort of glide that you're looking for.

- Scott