Just say NO to pre shave prep.

I am a Newbie even though I am 63 years old. When I decided to start this self torture, I went to Amazon and bought a book titled The Art of Shaving or Shaving Made Easy- What the Nam Who Shaves Ought To Know. This book was first published in 1905 by an unknown author. For an 80 page book it is pretty much loaded with information. In the chapter on Soap the author explains thusly "The popular impression is that the soap is used for the purpose of softening the beard, in which condition it is supposed to be most easily cut. This is a mistake. The soap is used,not to soften the beard, but to produce exactly the opposite effect-namely to make the hair stiff and brittle ,so the they will present of firm and resisting surface to the razor." Italics his. He goes on to explain that if the beard is oily and or soft the blade will slip over the hair or cut into it lengthwise all the while pulling and making for a miserable shave. The author even suggests avoiding the use of hot water for the same reason. According to the book a good shaving soap has alkali, potash or soda which when applied to the beard in the form of lather unites with the hair oil removing it and leaving the hair stiff and brittle. Like I said, I am a new comer at this so I haven't done a lot of trial an error. What this author says seems to make sense.

Personal opinion...you may have the right of it for some folks.
~Richard

My prep is simple. Hot brush, hot water, wet face , lather , shave. I would use cold water but I am one of those that take 15 minutes to get into a pool :<0) I hate the shock of cold water.

There are many opinions about how to shave. The trick is to find one way that works for you by experimenting.

Me, I started shaving well over 40 years ago using hot water, a brush (probably a boar), some cream and just splashing my face, face lather and shave. There was no prep involved.

Back a few years ago when I wanted to learn to shave with a straight razor I tried pre shaves and they did nothing for me. I tried using a scuttle to make warm lather and that did nothing for me. I did try cold water shaving and that seemed to help. Short story long, I am back to where I started except I now use cold water. Splash, lather and shave works for me.

That does not mean it will work for everyone. That is the funny thing about being individuals.

Bob

Barbers were throwing hot towels upon their customer's faces long before you were born, Frederick Lad.
It works, plain and simple. Esp over lather! :tu

Well this is one of the areas where we all have our own skin, whiskers and theories. There is an expression you see often here, your mileage may vary. Some are minimalist shaver, some cold water shavers, some run the whole gambit with tons of prep and hot lather, tons of towels. We all claim to get great shaves and we are all doing it right.

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Originally Posted by RezDog

Well this is one of the areas where we all have our own skin, whiskers and theories. There is an expression you see often here, your mileage may vary. Some are minimalist shaver, some cold water shavers, some run the whole gambit with tons of prep and hot lather, tons of towels. We all claim to get great shaves and we are all doing it right.

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Yeah! Especially ME with the hot-towel-over-lather prep! :roflmao

I'm with you Bob haven't had a hot shave this year since December (6 months) but winters coming & it may change again LOL

That's a great little book, many, if not most, have read it here.

Personally, for me, what the book says is pretty much my routine, but the great thing about this hobby is that you can change things up as you feel like.

That little gem was posted here on SRP February 2010 (it's free!), if not earlier, and with most things, it's a YMMV case:

http://straightrazorpalace.com/begin...made-easy.html

Welcome to the forum!

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Originally Posted by Substance

I'm with you Bob haven't had a hot shave this year since December (6 months) but winters coming & it may change again LOL

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Come on now, man up. Your winters are like our summers. :D:angel:

Bob

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Originally Posted by BobH

Come on now, man up. Your winters are like our summers. :D:angel:

Bob

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Good one, I saw what you did there...just like their lather goes down the sink the other way around.;)

I have tried hot towels, showers, pre-shave oil, and no prep at all. Showers or towels make my shave. Without some beard softening, my razor, no matter how well prepared, leaves my skin irritated.

If it works for you, great. Me, I am sticking to my relaxing hot towels every morning. After all, we are attempting to enjoy what we once endured.

Great read on that 1905 tome.
I too tried preshave oils and softeners in the early days of this wet shaving experience.
All I found was a messier sink and slippy fingers. No improvement to shave or skin post shave feel.
I do like my skuttle, but that's more because, like 10pups, I am a warm water lovin gent.
Cold water pre or post shave affects how quickly I wake up, but not my shave.
Best preshave routine I have found is still the hot water soaked facecloth over an initial pass of lather on a face freshly washed with musgo real soap. Followed by a good puck, or cream soap, warmed in the skuttle.
Skuttle and washcloth being the luxury components. The musgo soap, and whatever trace cleaners they use is the real deal starter for me. Wifey bought me the first one as a gift and I find it adds just the right lubricity, without softness to my routine.
Cheers.

Also got the book. It also recommends no atg pass if I remember right. Think for against the grain it probably is of benefit to soften the hair a little so it doesn't drag the razor too close. Just my thoughts on it.

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Originally Posted by Frederickdav

I am a Newbie even though I am 63 years old. When I decided to start this self torture, I went to Amazon and bought a book titled The Art of Shaving or Shaving Made Easy- What the Nam Who Shaves Ought To Know. This book was first published in 1905 by an unknown author. For an 80 page book it is pretty much loaded with information. In the chapter on Soap the author explains thusly "The popular impression is that the soap is used for the purpose of softening the beard, in which condition it is supposed to be most easily cut. This is a mistake. The soap is used,not to soften the beard, but to produce exactly the opposite effect-namely to make the hair stiff and brittle ,so the they will present of firm and resisting surface to the razor." Italics his. He goes on to explain that if the beard is oily and or soft the blade will slip over the hair or cut into it lengthwise all the while pulling and making for a miserable shave. The author even suggests avoiding the use of hot water for the same reason. According to the book a good shaving soap has alkali, potash or soda which when applied to the beard in the form of lather unites with the hair oil removing it and leaving the hair stiff and brittle. Like I said, I am a new comer at this so I haven't done a lot of trial an error. What this author says seems to make sense.

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Welcome to SRP. Great little book. I've been practicing what the author preaches for 5 years. That book was the source of this thread here ;

http://straightrazorpalace.com/shavi...orst-ever.html

I've yet to experience a noticeable difference when changing my prep although that's mostly for DEs. The real difference comes in how well my lather is so I try and focus on that aspect although now switching over to straights I'll pay closer attention and see if it's the same as DEs.

What you all don't realize is that book contains material stolen from a guy locked away in an insane asylum ever since he was arrested for murder. They called him the Bay Slasher as he used an oversized W&B to slit the throats of his victims. He'd break into their homes and tie them up and apply liberal amounts of shave soap to their throats before doing them in.

He actually had a huge beard and never shaved in his life period.

Writing that book was his therapy. it was a work of fiction.

I've never had a hairdresser put oil in my hair to make it easy to cut but plenty have washed it pre cutting.

I believe pre shave oils are about the skin, not the stubble.

A cold water shave did nothing for me. I managed to get an ok shave, but nothing else. I'd rather use hot water. Works better for me. Not saying some could benefit from cold water shaves. I'm just not one of them.

I agree with Omni, preshaves help the skin stay soft and pliable during the shave. They can also provide slickness and a little more protection for those that need it.

Hot water for me. The thought of cold water puts me off shaving completely. That might be different if I lived in a hot climate, then I can see how the cold water could be very refreshing. Anyway, I live in cold and wet Wales, so hot water it is! I had to use cold water quite often when I was in the Army and out on exercise, and I remember how much I hated it.

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Originally Posted by wayne394

Hot water for me. The thought of cold water puts me off shaving completely. That might be different if I lived in a hot climate, then I can see how the cold water could be very refreshing. Anyway, I live in cold and wet Wales, so hot water it is! I had to use cold water quite often when I was in the Army and out on exercise, and I remember how much I hated it.

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Yes, I have been on winter schemes here and can see how having hot water to shave with would be preferable to cold. Oth even when it is 30c-40c below in winter my house is still nice and warm inside so using cold water then is no bother for me.

Bob

I guess since leaving the Army I've turned into a wimp and gotten a bit soft! If we actually get what could be considered a summer this year (Although proper hot summers are a bit rare here, the rain just gets slightly warmer) I may try a cold water shave - it will be a trip down old memory lane!

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Originally Posted by wayne394

I guess since leaving the Army I've turned into a wimp and gotten a bit soft! If we actually get what could be considered a summer this year (Although proper hot summers are a bit rare here, the rain just gets slightly warmer) I may try a cold water shave - it will be a trip down old memory lane!

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Wasn't trying to push you into trying it, just saying there is a difference between being inside or outside during winter. Mind you I find if it is damp with a wind when it is cold you really do feel that in your bones. Humidity makes a big difference in the cold and in the heat. If you do try it I hope it is not too shocking an experience.

Bob

As for the soap stiffening your whiskers, I don't buy it. Run your hand over your face and feel how stiff your whiskers are. Now lather up, and leave the lather on your face for a few minutes, then (without shaving) rinse it off. Run your hand over your face again, and I guarantee you will feel a significant softening of your whiskers.

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Originally Posted by thebigspendur

What you all don't realize is that book contains material stolen from a guy locked away in an insane asylum ever since he was arrested for murder. They called him the Bay Slasher as he used an oversized W&B to slit the throats of his victims. He'd break into their homes and tie them up and apply liberal amounts of shave soap to their throats before doing them in.

He actually had a huge beard and never shaved in his life period.

Writing that book was his therapy. it was a work of fiction.

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Yeah, I heard about him, he used to dull his razor on a glass before he cut the throat ....... :w

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Originally Posted by Frederickdav

... According to the book a good shaving soap has alkali, potash or soda which when applied to the beard in the form of lather unites with the hair oil removing it and leaving the hair stiff and brittle...

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Usually soaps have some rate of superfat that can range from 1% to 10% with 5% being the most common superfat rate.
Superfat means that you add an excess percentage of oils more than the certain amount of lye you used can saponify. In this way, the excess oils will give to the soap some conditional properties that go together with the cleansing properties of soap.

Most shaving soaps have a small rate of superfat and some others no superfat at all. The shaving soaps that I make my own range from 0 to 3% superfat.

In this way there is no lye at all in the soap. In order to make it contain some lye, NaOH or KOH that is, you need to make it lye-heavy, which means add less oils that the certain amount of lye you used can saponify.
I am afraid that a lye-heavy shaving soap will irritate the skin leaving a non-pleasant feeling and increasing the post shave razor burn.

Moreover, the soap has been invented and used for the purpose of removing oily and greasy dirt. A soap molecule has a hydrophobic part and a hydrophilic part. The hydrophobic ends of soap molecule attach to the oil and the hydrophilic ends stick out into the water. In this way the running water removes the oil and the dirt.
I am telling all this because if you want to remove the oils from the whispers you just need soap to do that, you don’t need lye molecules that must saponify the oils of the whispers (which takes time in cold process!) in order to remove them. We clean our dirty hands with soap and not with lye.

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Originally Posted by onimaru55

I've never had a hairdresser put oil in my hair to make it easy to cut but plenty have washed it pre cutting.

I believe pre shave oils are about the skin, not the stubble.

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Absolutely. Oils and gels have everything to do with the skin.

Gentlemen,

I promised myself in the Vietnam jungle, shaving with cool water out of a steel helmet, with a nasty plastic disposable razor scraping my Hollywood face and even nastier can of shave cream poisoning my skin with chemicals, I promised myself that if I ever got out of that armpit alive and returned to The World, I would never, ever, shave with cold water using those sinful Army-issue shaving tools.

And I have not. Nor have I ventured into the damn jungle so that a starving tiger can make an Assyrian into its Sunday brunch. And furthermore, what's the morning shave ritual without hot water, a sweet shave brush, a quality shave soap or cream and a silky sharp razor?

Come, gentlemen, some things in life are sacred.

I have read that book, which is quite interesting, except for the noted segment, which must have been written in some jungle while the author was fleeing a hungry tiger.

Cold water shaving and no preparation. OY!

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Originally Posted by Obie

Gentlemen,

I promised myself in the Vietnam jungle, shaving with cool water out of a steel helmet, with a nasty plastic disposable razor scraping my Hollywood face and even nastier can of shave cream poisoning my skin with chemicals, I promised myself that if I ever got out of that armpit alive and returned to The World, I would never, ever, shave with cold water using those sinful Army-issue shaving tools.

And I have not. Nor have I ventured into the damn jungle so that a starving tiger can make an Assyrian into its Sunday brunch. And furthermore, what's the morning shave ritual without hot water, a sweet shave brush, a quality shave soap or cream and a silky sharp razor?

Come, gentlemen, some things in life are sacred.

I have read that book, which is quite interesting, except for the noted segment, which must have been written in some jungle while the author was fleeing a hungry tiger.

Cold water shaving and no preparation. OY!

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Obie, with all that Agent orange on your skin it's a miracle you haven't morphed into the Hideous Sun Demon by now.

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Originally Posted by thebigspendur

Obie, with all that Agent orange on your skin it's a miracle you haven't morphed into the Hideous Sun Demon by now.

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Nah, spendur, my friend, not when I have my Nana's Assyrian chicken soup and hot tea, the cure for any disease, from the "Hideous Sun Demon" to the Gold Dollar.

The only problem was you joined the wrong outfit. If you had been in the Navy instead you would have enjoyed hot showers and great hot water shaves. It would have given you a different outlook and who knows some more spring in your step. It would have been a life changing experience.Maybe it would have been you hosting the Metropolitan Opera Broadcast instead of that Milton Cross dude with the marbles in his mouth.

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Originally Posted by thebigspendur

The only problem was you joined the wrong outfit. If you had been in the Navy instead you would have enjoyed hot showers and great hot water shaves. It would have given you a different outlook and who knows some more spring in your step. It would have been a life changing experience.Maybe it would have been you hosting the Metropolitan Opera Broadcast instead of that Milton Cross dude with the marbles in his mouth.

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The Navy? Good heavens, Spendur, that means water everywhere. I did manage to dip a toe in the South China Sea, though. Otherwise I'm infantry and I'll stay as close to land as possible.

The rivers Tigress and Euphrates in Mesopotamia are an exception, of course, because that's the land of the Assyrians, my people.

As for The Met, Milton Cross was a wee bit hard to listen to, I remember. Even so, I'm not that big a fan of opera, although I have listened to quite a bit of it. Give me the ballet, my friend — the Bolshoi Ballet, the Paris Ballet, the Royal Ballet — and I am one mesmerized soul.

Even with all this cultural champagne talk, I'm still not for cold water shaving, or short changing my daily shave prep. It still goes: hot water, sweet brush, top notch shave soap or cream, and good razor. That's a kiss from heaven.

I tried the cold shave and didn't like it. I did stop using pre shave products and now use a soap then a creme. What worked best was putting on the soap over a warm face to clean it, then taking a wash cloth and running it through cold water to remove the soap. While moist I apply the shaving creme and shave. I find the creme should be a little thicker and I then use the wash cloth again in cold water to rinse. Does reduce irritation. Don't know about a better shave yet.

I shaved for the first time today after my morning shower, and it went very smoothly. My beard seemed to put up less of a fight, but maybe it was my imagination. I normally just wet my face with hot water, soap up and go. I will be more scientific and try consecutive days with the same razor and different preps to see if there is a difference!
I am thinking the cold water prep is a no go for me, but I might give it a go just so I know for sure if I like it or not.

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Originally Posted by Frederickdav

I am a Newbie even though I am 63 years old. When I decided to start this self torture, I went to Amazon and bought a book titled The Art of Shaving or Shaving Made Easy- What the Nam Who Shaves Ought To Know. This book was first published in 1905 by an unknown author. For an 80 page book it is pretty much loaded with information. In the chapter on Soap the author explains thusly "The popular impression is that the soap is used for the purpose of softening the beard, in which condition it is supposed to be most easily cut. This is a mistake. The soap is used,not to soften the beard, but to produce exactly the opposite effect-namely to make the hair stiff and brittle ,so the they will present of firm and resisting surface to the razor." Italics his. He goes on to explain that if the beard is oily and or soft the blade will slip over the hair or cut into it lengthwise all the while pulling and making for a miserable shave. The author even suggests avoiding the use of hot water for the same reason. According to the book a good shaving soap has alkali, potash or soda which when applied to the beard in the form of lather unites with the hair oil removing it and leaving the hair stiff and brittle. Like I said, I am a new comer at this so I haven't done a lot of trial an error. What this author says seems to make sense.

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That book is one of the most helpful tools I have. I must admit I wonder if any soap or cream I've shaved with has alkali, potash, or soda.

Pre-shave prep for me is to rinse my face in the hottest water I can stand to open the pores then apply a organic oil to set up the facial hairs. I then lather up my soap for about 1-2 minutes to the right consistency and go from there. I have tried not pre-prepping and not sure it makes that big a difference.

I always shave prior to showering as well. I wonder if the heat/steam and moisture from a shower first to be a great avenue to go to open the pores prior to shaving???? May try that next.

As with all things in life...To each their own. My "prep" depends on how much time I have. I prefer the hot shower and hot water shave, but if I am in a hurry, whatever I have time for is what I do... results vary!!!

It was around 95 today in the central valley and the thought of my usual hot shower, hot towel, warm lather was not appealing. Since I started SR shaving last November I hadn't used cold water before. So I soaked my brush in cold water, put some cold water on the puck, took a cold shower, made cold lather and had an awesome, refreshing shave. Summers here are hot so I was thrilled to get such a great shave with cold water. Next fall I'll start warming the towel.

I use pre shave on rare occasions. I think I use it mostly because I paid for it, why not use it. I switched to cold water a couple months ago and have never looked back. That might change when I leave San Diego and head back to the east coast where I will see winters again. Haha.