My grandfather and father always used a splash while I was growing up, Old Spice and Mennen respectively. When I started shaving in 1962, I naturally did what I'd seen them do all those years. Somewhere along the way I added a balm after the splash. My routine is a cold water rinse, followed by a splash (I still like the burn of an alcohol splash), followed a little later with a balm. I do have lighter balms, really more of a milk, that I tend to use more often in the summer. Some of the newer splashes are not just alcohol, but contain many skin nourishing products, in which case I'll just stick with the splash. Men are finally starting to catch on to what women have known all along, that it's important to use skin nourishing products on a regular basis. Now that we're in our seventies, my wife complains that I look ten years younger than she, as I don't have wrinkles, because of all the "girly" products I put on my skin the past 55 years. I think it's more related to genetics, but I do try to use shaving soaps with shea butter and other ingredients good for the skin, as well as moisturizing after shave products.