Thread: Pre-Shave Oils

I am using occasionally, but any of them has not given me an extra value for shaving.
I have a normal oily skin and what I have read they work best with sensitive and dry skins.
Pre shave oil's main intention is to protect your skin and after that help a little with sliding and soften the whiskers. IMO hair conditioner is better for softening and most soaps are so good that they don't need any help for sliding.
They are fun to use though.

Anthony pre oil - I like the scent of this stuff and it's most thickest. It works best with Anthony shave cream but doesn't rinse away easily from the blade. Worst slide. Too expensive

T&H pre oil - A little bit annoying thin stuff on the other hand enters the skin pretty well. Quite good slide and easy to use with any cream. Not much protection from such a thin oil.
Too expensive

Proraso cream - Easy to srcub and very easy to rinse away from blade. Menthol scent is quite nice at first and awakes in the mornings. Anyway the scent is way too strong and overwhelming for every day use. It's just like vicks vaporub on the face. No thanks! Shame because otherwise works quite well. Cheap stuff

Trumpers skin food - covers face with slight film and seals the skin. Needs to let it dry.
Skin food works best for me as a basic pre shave product and is good for post shave using too. Nice three scents and you can try samples to find your own. Pretty expensive but no need to use much just a few drops so even smallest bottle goes long way.

i got some from caswell massey... the almond... interesting fragrance but it has a slight burn to my face... i think if i want more i might just get castor oil and olive oil and mix my own like the other guy types.. the scent is not much needed since it gets washed off anyway. i only use it in the shower or before cause i don't want any left on my face... but i always shave before or in the shower so i can get all the little hairs off.

Hi

I have the T and H oil, it smells very nice and does help to give a smooth shave.

Is it worth the money....... I dont think so, the bottle and colour looks great but its not worth that much money.

I personally have spent far too much on shaving in the last year and have to get a grip. I paid £17 for a tiny bottle of T and H oil, I also have a small can of cheap shaving oil that I bought from Tesco for £1. I have tried both and the shaves are exactly the same, thats a £16 difference in price for no visible difference in shave quality.

I also get very good results by showering, then use a facial skin care wash, cover the beard in cheap hair conditioner, rinse off, lather up and shave. The bristles are clean, soft and cut smoothly.

Regards
London

Okay, here's my report on the AoS stuff, unscented.

First, don't get unscented if you don't actually need unscented since the smell is like olive oil and cloves, not extremely unpleasant, but still not nice as such. Get some of their lavender or lemon stuff instead, same base, just added scent. Now onto my shave;

I didn't shower before shaving today, so I just washed my face with hot water while rubbing it a bit, then I measured out all of the sample pack (like 1½ teaspoons) into my palms and rubbed it into my semi-wet skin. After that I whipped up some Dr. Harris Arlington lather (I used the soap) with my best badger brush (which is kinda stiff) and went to work.

The difference while shaving was kinda subtle, but I was able to do 3 passes across the whole of my face with less irritation than with only 2 passes and just lather. I also did quite a lot of J-hooking and blade buffing on the third pass, so some small spots got more like 5-8 passes Also note that I was using a used Mach3 blade, which felt like brand new even after 5-6 shaves. Normally with the Gillette gel I had to get a new one after just 2 shaves, and this one had already gotten those 2 gel shaves.

The only problem with this oil is that they get into your brush as you lather up, so you need to wash it out and make some more after the first pass. A thinner oil would probably be less of a problem here.

But the real effect is how your face feels afterwards. I use an alcohol splash AS, and it didn't sting much today due to the less irritation, but after it evaporates my face normally feels quite dry. Today it felt great, very smooth and moisturized without being oily.

So, it does give you a slightly smoother shave with less irritation, but I don't know if this translates to straights or DE's since the mach3 is very abrasive, so I don't if this is a perk. The re-lather part is only really annoying if you don't know about it (the oil destroys the lather (since the soap binds to the oil) and therefore doesn't do anything on your face. Luckily this is only evident in the second lather, the first lather-up is great and silky), so it's not much of a problem either. The mosturizing effect afterwards was incredible, best moizurizer I've ever used. If you get dry skin after shaving, do try this stuff since it's absolutley marvelous!

I give it a 4/5 just because the scent isn't very nice, it doesn't really give that luxurious feeling you get from the Dr. Harris soap and expensive after-shaves. Still, the scented stuff is probably better since the scent of the unscented oil isn't very strong and is completely covered by my after-shave. If it had a better scent, 5/5 hands down.

Hope this helps, I'm still going to try the T&H stuff before getting more of this. The AoS oil is 23 € for 60ml, the T&H oil is 18€ for the same amount.

I would recommend using Hawaiian Tropic Tanning Oil (no SPF)...I know it seems weird but this oil is really great...smells like vacation... its cheap, so you can use as much as you like without worrying...it provides a great protective layer under your lather...

Worth a try.

I use the Caswell-Massey Sandalwood PSO. It works great and is only about $12 for a 2 oz bottle from Barclay & Crocker.

The best i've ysed so far is CADE travel oil by L'Occitane
en provence.
This is a juniper oil product i've been using it latley as a base prep for shaving as I live in a very hard water area. & this has been giving me good results.Paul

Originally Posted by TonyJ

I am using occasionally, but any of them has not given me an extra value for shaving.
I have a normal oily skin and what I have read they work best with sensitive and dry skins.
Pre shave oil's main intention is to protect your skin and after that help a little with sliding and soften the whiskers. IMO hair conditioner is better for softening and most soaps are so good that they don't need any help for sliding.
They are fun to use though.

Anthony pre oil - I like the scent of this stuff and it's most thickest. It works best with Anthony shave cream but doesn't rinse away easily from the blade. Worst slide. Too expensive

T&H pre oil - A little bit annoying thin stuff on the other hand enters the skin pretty well. Quite good slide and easy to use with any cream. Not much protection from such a thin oil.
Too expensive

Proraso cream - Easy to srcub and very easy to rinse away from blade. Menthol scent is quite nice at first and awakes in the mornings. Anyway the scent is way too strong and overwhelming for every day use. It's just like vicks vaporub on the face. No thanks! Shame because otherwise works quite well. Cheap stuff

Trumpers skin food - covers face with slight film and seals the skin. Needs to let it dry.
Skin food works best for me as a basic pre shave product and is good for post shave using too. Nice three scents and you can try samples to find your own. Pretty expensive but no need to use much just a few drops so even smallest bottle goes long way.

I use the Proraso as my pre shave every day. I do not like the menthol scent or menthol feeling. However, it does do a good job of cleaning your face, it does soften the whiskers a bit, it doesn't interfere with your lather or clog up your brush. Really, it's a pretty good value. Honestly, though, I think the formulation is almost identical to the orginal formula Noxema. I haven't bought any Noxema to do a toe-to-toe test yet, but I do plan on it. Noxema is even cheaper.

Originally Posted by sidneykidney

My apologies.... but I am waiting for new glasses to arrive and only half-read your thread title correctly.

I thought it said 'Pre-Shave Girls'



That is all.

Step 1: It is important to work up a good lather...

Does pre-shave oil also prevent good application of the lather on your face,or is it just mine,ZIRH.?