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I'm looking into shaving oils at the moment, and one that caught my eye was the one made by T&Hill. One that I've got a sample of but haven't tried yet is the Art of Shaving stuff, which if it turns out to be good I'll also consider using.
Any comments on oils or recommendations?
Me too! I just ordered some Proraso pre shave/post shave. I'm curious myself to see what kind of difference it makes before shaving. Not too concerned with post. I've been using Nivea Extreme comfort after shave balm. it's very soothing. I've used T&H shave creams, which are great. Let me know how the pre shave is, If I'm correct it's a little pricey, $40.00 USD, or am I mistaken?Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuggi
:OT
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'
:roflmao
That is all.
The T&H stuff is 18€ plus 5€ shipping, the TAoS stuff was about 28 if I remember correctly. I'll check it out in the morning and report back my findings. I'm using a Mach3 (since my str8 is still in transit), which should give a better idea on how and what it improves since the Mach3 is quite a bit more "abrasive" :DQuote:
Originally Posted by zib
The Proraso pre/post shave balm does help to soften the whiskers up a bit. Not as much as I'd hoped, but it does make a difference.Quote:
Originally Posted by zib
I'm anxious to hear what guys have to say about the pre-shave oils, too. Especially the T&H.
My mistake, The T&H is around 30 bucks here in the states. I was looking at Castle Forbes pre shave, it's a bit more, around 40 usd.
Ordered some Castle Forbes pre-shave oil as well. They make a travel / tester size with only 30 ml, so I got that to try it.
Got sucked into ordering much more stuff, though :w
While researching pre shave oils I came across several websites that had recipes to make your own.
Preshave oils typically use the following:
Castor oil & Olive Oil. This is often used in a 1:1 ratio. I've seen it listed in a 2:1 ratio as well. You can also buy lavender, lemon, and other oils for scent.
I made up my own and its been great. I was by a Neiman Marcus store today and checked the ingredients on the back of an AOS oil. Guess what the ingredients had? (see above)
PS Oil is quite controversial on the shaving forums. I've used T&H, AOS and TOBS. T&F is the thinnest with the slightest of orange neroli scent. TOBS is thicker with a botanical licorice type of smell. AOS is the thickest with different scents.
A little goes a long way with all. Most seem to prefer the T&H in my observations. They are not needed fo a superior shave.
I do think they add protection and comfort. Many others do not. Both AOS and T&H barbers use these as if they were the oxygen needed for llife. My last shave at T&H in Las Vegas had this applied before every pass and alone on the final touch up. I must admit that the results were excellent on that shave. My face felt as it handn't before. That is good.
A clone of AOS can be made at home with Olive and Castor oil. They also add scent and black pepper for its stimulating properties.
Best of luck.
MikeB
I've tried pre-shave oils, but never saw any benefit. In fact, I feel like they just goop things up. I do use the proraso pre/post while I strop. Then I rinse it off and just use lather. I'd rather spend my money on good soap, more razors, more brushes, etc :gaah: Just my two cents. :D
Jordan
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
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by TonyJ
Step 1: It is important to work up a good lather...Quote:
Originally Posted by sidneykidney
http://www.g-ray.co.uk/pictures/carwash.jpg
Does pre-shave oil also prevent good application of the lather on your face,or is it just mine,ZIRH.?
I use AOS pre shave oil, sandalwood scent. It does make a difference in the comfort of the shave. It's expensive and I was told at the AOS store that the main ingredient is castor oil. I'll try making some of my own. Castor oil is not expensive.
I also use AOS pre shave oil and I honestly think its not expensive about 22 dollers for 2FOZ.
I use about a nickel sized amount and shave every day . I have had the bottle for almost 2 months
and only used about 1/4 of the bottle.I think its atleast 6 months maybe more worth
but its always nice to experiment with your own potion...
keep us informed on how you make out.
I use Proraso Pre/Post with my Proraso shaves, and it
seems to do a nice job. I don't use it all the time, but
maybe my Proraso shaves are some of the best for a
reason... :)
- Scott
Hi I'm new here and new to this community as a whole, but I do have a wide variety of experience with shave oils as my prep to my shaving routine with cartridges. I used to prep my cartridge shaves similar to how most straight/DE users prep: shower/conditioner on beard, lather in bowl with brush, oil on face, brush lather over oil, etc.. all in the shower. I can't speak directly for oil with straight/DE shaves (yet!), but these are my experiences with cartridges.
IMHO
I started out with Art of Shaving oil. The AOS oil is relatively thick, smells nice, and gave me perfect cartridge shaves without any burn or ingrowns. Most of my girlfriends tell me I had the best shaved face of anyone they've ever met, and I attributed this to the oil. I swore I'd never go back, but decided to try out some other mainstays.
The Trufitt & Hill oil is thin and runny. It tended to get in my brush and gunk it up. Also I started getting razorburn again while using T&H oil. I don't think I even finished the whole bottle of this stuff. It was also the most expensive stuff I've tried.
Next I tried a sampler of the Lab Series for Men shave oil. This struck a balance between the AOS and T&H oil, but had no scent. The shaves were decent, with only minor burn; unfortunately I only got about 3 shaves out of the sampler, so I can't talk to longevity.
A sampler of KingofShaves oil gave me about the same results.
Most recently I had a bottle of Anthony Logistics pre-shave oil. This was my favorite by far, and I used every single drop. It was amazingly thick and had a mild mint/menthol smell which lingered a bit and mixed with my aftershave for a nice effect. Ant's was thick enough not to get in my brush, and required just a little work to spread sufficiently. I never had a burn or a bump with this oil, even with lazy-5-10-shave-old cartridges.
I was considering order another bottle of Anthony's, but I decided I would try making my own with plain castor oil, olive oil, and a few drops of eucalyptus essential oil. I have yet to use this prep, but I can report back with my findings!
It's been about 2 months since my Ant's ran out, and my shaves once again consistently give me burn and give me bumps too if I've used the cartridge more than 3x. I'm sold on oil. Also for the record I don't think the oil does anything for the softness of whiskers. I think primarily it provides a smoother working surface. The oil provides a little "give" for your blade to bite into rather than into your skin, especially with the ATG motion. Just think about oil works on the surface of a lathe.
i make mine with sweet almond oiland put what ever e.o. that i like , and it does make a difference in the shave.i warshed my face with hot water then put on the oil and let it soak in while i mix my shave soap. i make about 8 oz. of this for about 10.00 us. so not bad.
Do you think neat olive oil would work?#
been thinking of using peanut oit(use it for massages). what does the castor oil do for you?
I'v been using AOS lemon scent for about 3 months now and the bottle is still 85% full , I use it every shave it took about a week of use to notice a difference . For me it truly does work , it makes a shave much more enjoyable
and the scent is quite nice and stays fragrant all day .
when I don't use it I can feel a little stubble
I get a sever case of face-terbation after using, hahaha
i have used both poraso and l'occitane and would recommend both. if you are reapplying it in between passes it also gives you a good indication on the areas that you missed.
I was going to pick up some castor oil and tea tree oil from asda yesterday to make my own shave oil. I Walked down the shave aisle and found some nuage shave oil for £1, thought i`ll give it a try for a quid and its brilliant. lovely menthol kind of smell and best shave i`ve ever had....
So to follow up from my previous post. I'm a research scientist so I'm going to write this in semi-formal style. Enjoy (ha).
Materials and methods: I made my oil as follows: 3:1 ratio of castor oil: extra-virgin olive oil, with a few (5-6) drops of tea-tree essential oil. I decided to use an old glass spice jar that had contained whole cloves as my container. This was intentional for two reasons: oil of cloves is an essential oil that acts as an analgesic and in my opinion has a good smell.
This oil was applied to [my] damp face before both straight- or cartridge- shaving. Negative controls include not shaving and positive controls include straight- and cartridge- shaving without oil. No other controllable variables were introduced during testing. Uncontrollable variables include: temperature at time of shave, sharpness of my straight-blade, and amount of time allocated for shaving.
Results: Disclaimer first: I've only been straight-shaving for a few months, and I'm still not quite a "pro." I still cut my chin and adams apple regularly.
That said, there is a noticeable difference between oil vs no-oil just as I discussed with cartridge shaves. The frequency, duration, and extent of the appearance of "razor-burn" was significantly less (qualitatively significant, not statistically significant) in oil conditions for straight- and cartridge- shaving versus no-oil conditions. No-oil cartridge-shaving gives the worst razor-burn redness, with noticeable bump formation that I assume must be due to in-grown hairs.
The only difference between oil straight- and oil cartridge-shaving conditions is the redness that occurred. With straight-shaving this was gone within a few hours. With cartridge-shaving the redness did not go away until a few hours after second-day facial-scrub exfoliation I normally use to prevent ingrown formation. However, I experienced very little overall redness in these conditions as compared to no-oil conditions.
I did not do a direct test of homemade vs. store-bought oil, but it seems on par. However this is very anecdotal.
Furthermore and on an unrelated note, the tea tree and clove essential oil combination is refreshing but not overpowering. The analgesic effect of the clove oil appears to be fairly efficient for superficial cuts (mostly to my chin) that do not draw blood.
My rate of in-grown hairs has dropped exponentially since starting straight-shaving, and but I cannot discern a difference between oil/no-oil conditions for straight-shaving specifically with ingrowns. Razor burn is definitely different with and without using oil during straight-shaves.
Discussion: Pre-shaving oil appears effective in reducing the occurrence rate of razor-burn and overall "shaving discomfort" in both straight- and cartridge- shaving. The prohibitive price of name-brand shaving oil is unnecessary as these oils often contain blends of readily available and inexpensive off-the-shelf oils. It is possible to construct a similarly effective pre-shave oil using inexpensive store-bought oils such as castor and olive, for a fraction of the price.
For example, The Art of Shaving sells 2 fl oz bottles of pre-shave oil for $22. Comparatively, a 32 fl oz bottle of castor oil costs $10, a 51 fl oz bottle of extra-virgin olive oil costs $20, and a vial of essential oil costs $5. These ingredients at a 3:1 castor:olive oil ratio are good for the equivalent of 21 "equivalent bottles" of AoS oil. Thus costing approximately $1.66 per "equivalent bottle", a 13x price reduction.
Indirect conclusion: sensitive skin sucks and I'm destined to have razor-burn no matter what I do or how I shave.
I hope this pseudo-scientific approach to the matter is helpful for future reference. This is one thing that you should (please) DIY.
aerjnt, thanks for you recipe.
Questions:
What made you decide on the ratio between castor oil and olive oil?
What made you decide on those ingredients?
God knows, I'm in favor of those, too! Nothing says "Relaxed and ready to shave like a pre-shave girl!"Quote:
Originally Posted by sidneykidney
Shhh! Don't tell the wife!
I'll be curious to read your thoughts about the ArtOfShaving stuff. I was in their store at Union Station in D.C. not long back and it was a VERY nice upscale retail affair. Sorta made the necessarily high prices on the products rather obvious. Still their lavender and lemon oil scented products were downright alluring.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuggi
I've got one of their wee sample boxes, and if it turns out to be good stuff, I might have to use that $25 off card they gave me for one of their $100 full kits, although that still strikes me as breathtakingly expensive, (like my-wife's-cosmetics expensive), which makes me need to go out and make Tim Allen noises just to remind myself I'm a male.
i just bought AOS Lemon scented PSO. very nice but i've only used it once.Quote:
Originally Posted by BobKincaid
it's quite thick once i rubbed it & worked it into my beard, lathering was no problem and the shave was smooth.
Since I started shaving I've always had issues with irritation mostly on my neck I've tried many of the above mentioned oils. Most work very well. I decided to make my own so I can customize it any way I want, not to mention the cost is about 1/10th. I mixed 2:1 Castor to Olive Oils and added a few drops of Rosemay EO for smell. (It's a very refreshing smell) I find it works great. Less irritation, smoother skin and a more comfortable shave.
The reality is that everyone's skin is different so try as many options as you can and see what works for you.
Go with T & H, you will not be disipointed.
I've used the pre-shave oil from Anthony. There really was not a difference for me between using the oil and not. The shave felt the same, but the oil did stay on afterward. I actually had to wash my face because I didn't like the feel. That being said...anyone want to buy some Anthony pre-shave oil?