Okay. I never wanted to use pre-shave oils. I don't like overly elaborate rituals, for me it's more about the shave, an interesting and close shave. I have keratosis pilarus, which mostly effects my body skin but it's obvious that this skin condition, along with natural imperfections (permanent) which may or may not be attributable to chickenpox from the age of 15, leads to a difficult terrain to shave with any kind of razor.
I typically use a lather on the beard for around 10 minutes as a pre-shave softener. After a shower I don't bother, just lather and shave. My finishing hone is a Spyderco Ultra-Fine and it gets the blades screaming sharp. So sharp it can effortlessly cut the tippy tops of my raised follicles (bumps), no pain, just like a fresh DE blade.
I'd been shaving off blades finished with the Spyderco UF, which is usually estimated at around 12,000 grit. Whatever, microscope pics are very clean compared to many other hones in the same grit range. No chromium oxide pasted strops for me during this time to more accurately evaluate my honing. I've finally begun to use the chromium oxide again and it is very sharp, much like my finisher. The only tallow-based soap I have is Williams, which isn't good for the cushion, unlike many traditional tallow soaps. I don't have much money and I'm not about to buy yet another soap.
I'd read a bit here and there on pre-shave oils, it works for some and not for others. The first 1-3 shaves (usually 1-2) with my fresh edges leave a pink bloom, not real razor burn but it may show up as pseudo-folliculitis barbae, or razor bumps. I just find myself being very careful for the first few shaves, they are a little on the rough side. Maybe my stropping needs improvement (like do more of them) but they're still really really sharp. It's really the sharpness.
The last time I refreshed an edge with chromium, which was the second time in over a year and a half, for the first shave I decided to use the simplest home-made pre-shave oil: kitchen food-grade oil. Canola. I did the full beard-prep with lather, hydrating to suitable softness. Then dried face and hands well, dabs of oil and spread around to fully cover. Slapped on the lather again, some collapsing/gunkiness but to be expected as it runs into the plain oil, which was a very light sheen, not a "layer" on the skin, just as I'd seen described on the forums. No perceived difference in glide of the razor, my shaves are usually quite painless anyway...
No irritation, no pink bloom, typical sting from alcohol-based aftershave but not the level typical of a fresh edge. Success. No next-day bumpiness or irritation. It worked.
I hate using stupid vegetable oil before my quality shaving gear. What a cheap trick. But it worked very well. I'll try it again, that's for sure. I'll probably only need it for the first, harsher shaves. It wasn't messy or anything, just another drying and applying and washing afterwards, as if I don't have enough washing sessions during pre-during-post shave.
I hope this counts as rock bottom. I just don't know if I can deal with this pogonometry "sport" progressing any further. Please: pray for me.
