Thread: Baby oil as preshave?

Originally Posted by dudewithnofood

I don't understand how the brush gets affected by the oil. I mean, you'd have to be applying a lot of oil to really affect the brush. A little goes along way with the stuff.

Well...it's simple chemistry. Baby oil is NOT water soluble. Badger hair (or other natural bristles) are hair. Try putting baby oil in your hair and see how easy it is to take/wash it off. My bet is you would have a heck of a time and would be hard.

Same principle applies to your brush. Water insoluble stuff (like baby oil) is meant to repel water (keeps water that's in, in and water that's out, out)...this is why it is so effective as a blade oil (keep water away). So since your brush is meant to absorb water, if baby oil gets on your brush (and it will coat it once you expose to it), it will lose the ability to absorb water and hence, affect the performance and latherability.

-Robert

Originally Posted by BladeRunner001

Well...it's simple chemistry. Baby oil is NOT water soluble. Badger hair (or other natural bristles) are hair. Try putting baby oil in your hair and see how easy it is to take/wash it off. My bet is you would have a heck of a time and would be hard.

Same principle applies to your brush. Water insoluble stuff (like baby oil) is meant to repel water (keeps water that's in, in and water that's out, out)...this is why it is so effective as a blade oil (keep water away). So since your brush is meant to absorb water, if baby oil gets on your brush (and it will coat it once you expose to it), it will lose the ability to absorb water and hence, affect the performance and latherability.

-Robert

But surfactants, like the soaps we shave with, allow hydrophobic (oil) compounds to bind to water, letting water remove the oil. If you dramatically over-oil it will possibly affect one shave (remember: just enough preshave oil to barely rub in to your face. A drop or two!) but there would be no permanent effects...

Originally Posted by BKratchmer

But surfactants, like the soaps we shave with, allow hydrophobic (oil) compounds to bind to water, letting water remove the oil. If you dramatically over-oil it will possibly affect one shave (remember: just enough preshave oil to barely rub in to your face. A drop or two!) but there would be no permanent effects...

Hi Ben,
Agreed...you do remove the oil with polar surfactants like soaps...after all, it is exactly due to their polar nature that soaps can effectively remove oil (hydrophobic part of soap binds to the oil, dissolving it and the hydrophilic head of the soap binds to water allowing it to be washed away). I still would like to minimize the use of baby oil on face.

Personally, if I end up using soap to wash the oil off after my shave, I end up washing off most of my face's essential oils, leaving my face dry...My face, in particular doesn't like "hard" soap after a shave. Also, I have noticed that one to two uses of baby oil shave and brush, coats your brush with oil. I had to resort to washing the brush a few times with soap (mild detergent) and hot water to remove the "gunk". I stopped doing this.

I prefer Glycerin...it moisturizes and is water soluble (no soaps required to remove it from face and keeps your brush problem free).

At the end of the day, whatever one does is a matter of personal preference, I think regardless of the science behind it .

Thanks,
-Robert

Have tried different brands of shave oil, but mainly use KOS, but decided to try something a little different Bio Oil, did it work ? Yes it did, and even better than preparatory shave oils IMO