Shaving soap and preshave oil question after my first shave.

This morning was my first shave with my shavette, and it went pretty well. No nicks or cuts, and I got as close as I usually get with a Bic razor. I did develop a couple of questions regarding prep though.

1. My shaving soap didn't lather like I expected it to. I'm using Van Der Hagen soap. It had the consistancy of a regular bar of bath soap. Is this normal?

2. After I would put the shave soap on my face, it would dry, which would cause the razor to not glide like it would when it was wet. I read that pre-shave oil helps with the dryness/gliding. Would a regular vitamin E skin oil work, or does it need to be a Art of Shaving style "pre-shave oil?"

Thank you,
Ben

Vitamin E oil will work if you choose to use a pre shave oil.
Shave secret is a commercially available inexpensive alternative, it is sold at Wal-Mart, CVS, Walgreen's and so forth.

I would check out several of the making lather videos and practice,
it does not sound like you got a good lather worked up (sounds like it was dry and not worked up all the way into a lather)
This can be more difficult if you have hard water.
Glycerin can be a crutch in building lather, it helps many soaps produce lather easier and in more volume.
It is also a nice thing to have on hand as a wet shaver (think Über-Lather).
Van Der Hagen is a serviceable soap that I have found to be average for getting a lather out of.
You may want to put a table spoon of water on top of the puck for a few minutes to soften it a bit and help you in loading your brush,
this is especially helpful with harder soaps.

I hope some of this helps.

Pat

I assume that you used a brush, and didn't just rub the soap on your face :).
A few pre shaves you could try are:
A bit of glycerin, just a little on your hand and rub it in,
Vitamin e based creams, I used a vit e moisturiser.
See what your wife has kicking around.

A pre shave not to try:
Vaseline.

Once you get the lather sorted pre shaves probably will become an extra rather than a necessity.
Try putting the left over lather from your brush back into your soap bowl, it works well for me.

I tried vitamin E oil this morning. I didn't seem to help much (but didn't really hinder either). I've watched a couple of videos and determined that my problem is a combination of: 1. I'm not "working" the lather enough, and 2. I haven't got the soap/water mixture down yet. I'll just need to continue to practice with that. Where is a good place to get glycerin? I haven't seen it before, so I didn't know where to get it.

I appreciate the help,
Ben

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bturrell

I tried vitamin E oil this morning. I didn't seem to help much (but didn't really hinder either). I've watched a couple of videos and determined that my problem is a combination of: 1. I'm not "working" the lather enough, and 2. I haven't got the soap/water mixture down yet. I'll just need to continue to practice with that. Where is a good place to get glycerin? I haven't seen it before, so I didn't know where to get it.

I appreciate the help,
Ben

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Chemists/ pharmacies or whatever you call them where you are from will sell it in smallish bottles, it lasts a long time so a little bottle will be ample. Larger quantities can be bought on line which does work out cheaper but the cost saving isn't really worth worrying about. I bought a big bottle, and had to pack it in a suitcase (dont ask), it leaked about 2/3 of a litre of the stuff through the case, it was a bit of a nightmare.

Many pre shave options. I was using Proraso pre shave till I found out that it agrivated my old age Rosacea. Switched to olive oil (a lot of Italian shavers attest its the best) and that does a serviceable job with no irritations. Another is to lather your face, then massage the lather in to your beard for a minute and let sit while you strop your razor then clean off face, re lather and shave. As there are many shavers there are as many methods and I'm sure you will find the one that suits you.

As a pre-shave I like to use sweet almond oil when I have it on hand. But I have found that using more water helps with the drying issue better than any pre-shave. Water as in a few drops more...

I saturate my brush well and load the brush and count to 30 slowly dipping my loaded brush a couple times in the sink with a little water and continue to load it in the bowl.

When applying I brush it in good while making all kinds of faces trying to stretch the skin out and helping the lather get under the whiskers. Then a light swiping motion all over helps fluff up the lather to help gain som body.

If one side dries up a bit, just dampen the brush and swipe again as needed.

Have never used a pre shave oil,cannot imagine why anyone would.

After watching more videos, I figured out that I wasn't getting enough soap in my brush. So getting more soap, and adding glycerine, have worked wonders. I'm getting the thick lather now. Thank you for the input.

Ben