Thread: Preshave oil bottle for cheapos

Great looking bottle and I really like the idea of a one-way valve. I have mixed emotions about shaving oils. When I do use them, I always use them as a pre-shave oil and put shaving cream on top of them.

I started with Pacific Shaving oil and loved the scent and the lightness. Next I tried two different bottles of King of Shaves oil that I grew to hate. The scent made me feel like I was putting 10W-30 Quaker State Motor oil on my face. I gave these as a PIF to a friend. My third attempt was filling my empty Pacific bottle with Astroglide, which worked quite well as a pre-shave oil.

This past week, I tried the AOS unscented and Sandalwood pre-shave oils. While they seemed a bit heavy in texture, they did provide a smooth shave and the Sandalwood smelled great. The two negatives were (1) the oil made my shaving cream stick to the blade of my straight razor and (2) the oil seemed to gum up my Silvertip brush. I wound up washing my brush with shampoo to get the stickiness and clumping out of the brush. I did find the AOS cream and balm to be outstanding, albeit a little pricy.

There are times I feel like oil really add smoothness to my shave and other times I feel that I get just as fine a shave without oil. I guess I am going to have to do some controlled experiments. I think I will apply oil only to one side of my face, lather up the whole face with cream, and see which side shaves better. Using the same mixture of shaving cream should eliminate the shaving cream as a variable factor. I do believe it is worth further exploration.

Thanks for your post. I am not sure why anyone should care whether someone else uses pre-shave oil nor not. If it works for you, use it. If it doesn't work for you, don't use it. Certainly the world of shaving is big enough to include all our preferences.

Happy Shaving,

Yeah, Knife, I agree about the feeling of dissipation, I got that thought before too. TODAY, however, I did one side of my face with oil (Oscar; it's really nice) and one without.

Actually, to tell you the truth, I didn't notice any difference.

There are SO many variables, it's got to just come down to what works on the day, and learning from each interaction we have with each cream, soap, oil, brush, razor, bowl, strop, hone, mood, light, person, thing that enters our sphere of perception...

Isn't it?

"I am not sure why anyone should care whether someone else uses pre-shave oil nor not."

The reason to care is that anyone reading these posts is looking for information, so caring about what other
shavers do and why they do it is part of the learning experience. It's not just personal preference. It's about
learning what works for others, why they do what they do and learning from experimentation.

I've tried three pre-shave oils. One was the Shave Secret found at Walmart. I've also tried one called Lab Series,
and I even tried Astroglide. The Lab Series immediately destroyed the lather, and it dropped off my face onto my
chest. The Astroglide seemed to work best, was water soluble and washed off the hands easily.

I saw little shaving difference in any of them, and just use them for the fun of it sometimes. My pre-shave prep has
dropped off to 30 seconds of lathering then applied to a dry face. I've seen no difference in the shaves at all. When
I do any extended prep these days, it's just to play around, not because of any difference in the shaves.

Originally Posted by ace

"I am not sure why anyone should care whether someone else uses pre-shave oil nor not."

The reason to care is that anyone reading these posts is looking for information, so caring about what other shavers do and why they do it is part of the learning experience. It's not just personal preference. It's about learning what works for others, why they what they do and learning from experimentation...

Ace,

I totally agree. My sentence did not express what I was trying to say. On many of these posts, I get the feeling that some people feel a lack of validation if others don't agree with what they do. I should have said, "I am not sure that anyone should feel a lack of validation if someone else uses pre-shave oil or not." I apologize for the lack of clarity in my post.

I strongly agree about caring about all aspects of shaving. That is why SRP is so useful. We can learn a lot from each other. That is why I posted my experiences with shaving oil.

Thanks for your post. It made me realize that what I wrote totally miscommunicated what I was trying to express.

Happy Shaving.

Proraso pre shave worked for me pretty well.
Use it now and sometimes, love the chilling effect they leave behind after each stroke.
try it, cheap and good

Originally Posted by DLB

Ace,

I totally agree. My sentence did not express what I was trying to say. On many of these posts, I get the feeling that some people feel a lack of validation if others don't agree with what they do. I should have said, "I am not sure that anyone should feel a lack of validation if someone else uses pre-shave oil or not." I apologize for the lack of clarity in my post.

I strongly agree about caring about all aspects of shaving. That is why SRP is so useful. We can learn a lot from each other. That is why I posted my experiences with shaving oil.

Thanks for your post. It made me realize that what I wrote totally miscommunicated what I was trying to express.

Happy Shaving.

And happy shaving to you as well. Maybe I need to switch to decaf, eh?

Well, I stated this thread to talk about a bottle and it turned into a discussion about preshave oil, which is just one of the many things that can be put into this. Next I'm going to try my aftershave conditioner, it has a twist off cap which is annoying.

Anyways the bottle was an afterthought from trying out the preshave oil recipe. I've wet shaved like eight times now so I don't really know what I'm doing. There are so many variables its hard to pinpoint what is what made the shave good or bad. I originally gave preshave oils a shot because it was part of a starter kit I bought in AOS, where I really wanted to try out there cream and figured lets try everything. After using the preshave oil I found I didn't get as much of a sting feeling after shaving and putting on my old spice. I wouldn't call it razor burn because it stung for like an hour and then went away and was not red or anything. Or maybe I did get razor burn. But again theres the variables did the preshave oil work or did I just shave more gingerly?

Right now I don't know and I have a love hate relationship with preshave oils. On the one hand I feel it protects my face but on the other I do find it tugs at my skin more than if I just shaved without it. Also I almost feel as though the extra "film" of oil isn't allowing me to cut as deep (theoretically what its supposed to do to protect the skin), but I don't feel I'm getting as close a shave with the preshave oil.

My theory now is to get as good a lather that provides for me the best glide, so I can gingerly shave without resistance and just get a really close shave with multiple passes.

Originally Posted by kalerolf

Proraso pre shave worked for me pretty well.
Use it now and sometimes, love the chilling effect they leave behind after each stroke.
try it, cheap and good

kalerolf, how does that preshave cream work. Do you "clean" your face before you lather or do you lather on top of the cream? I like the chilling effect idea!

I dont clean my face after rubbing the creme into my beard. Wash your face,rub it in make lather and lather up and shave.

I'm digging the MIO bottle for preshave oil. I mix my own and use a small bottle of shampoo that I jacked while staying at a hotel. It has a twist top and holds maybe an ounce but lasts for about 2 months once I make it. I have to clean the bottle after I shave because no matter how much I try, some oil always covers the outside. haha

Does the MIO bottle make the oil shoot out too fast and splatter though?