Favourite preshave and why?

[Gentleman in Japan]

Hi Gents
Greetings from Central Japan where it feels like autumn is slowly approaching.

Anyway I wanted to ask what your favourite preshave product is and why?

I have used the following over the years:

• TOBS aromatherapy oil (nice and thick, great scent but perhaps too much for my DE Razor and brush). Clogs up the Razor and leaves oil on brush.

• TOBS preshave gel (nice lavender scent but not really sure it did too much from memory)

• Trumpers sandalwood skin food. Great scent. Who doesn't like a fresh sandalwood hey. Not a bad skin feel, mild shave feel performance but no great post shave remnants. I think it would be better placed as a post shave toner IMHO. In fact I seem to recall that's how I ended up using it.

• Dapper Dan beard oil back in the days when you could buy in a nice barrel shaped bottle. (Great scent-tonka and vanilla), good skin feel and balance of absorption and light coating to provide good shave feel and post shave skin feel.

• Floris No.89 shave oil. Great scent and great skin feel. A little light but great all rounder(big floris fan)

• DR Harris preshave lotion. Nice simple Arlington scent but frankly didn't live up to its heritage and price. When i used it i didnt feel that it did anything other than smell nice. When I looked at the ingredients today I realized it is basically a perfume with one added anti static hair ingredient!

• Prorasso preshave creams. Good all-rounder here, and great performance for its cost. Predominantly stearic acid and water. That's why the cream is nice and thick, with the sickness of the glycerin. Stearic acid is naturally found in coconut etc. Guessing cheapness and ease of production lead to its use here.

• Carthusia preshave oil. Again amazing fresh scent. A nice light oil suitable for use in the hot humid summer. A little light for me in the sense that it doesn't feel like there was much post shave feel but still a very good product. One I still reach for.

And lastly
• my own homemade facial oil. It definitely has room for improvement (with addition of a couple more oils, plus a botanical extract) but frankly (IMHO obviously) it is really good. I use a combo of golden jojoba oil, grapeseed and sweet almond oil. My current version is scented with Hinoki and Japanese sweet orange. Vit.E added as an antioxidant. The grapeseed oil provides great absorption while the jojoba oil leads to an amazing shave feel. Then post shave my skin feels well moisturized. It's a little light now with the approach of autumn so will reformulate for a slightly thicker version.

I used to be in between whether a preshave was truly necessary but now with my oil I definitely would feel the difference if I didn't use it.

So I would be really interested to hear your thoughts on what you use and why you feel it is good.

Thanks all.

 

[reformedshavr]

My daily driver preshave is Proraso or Cella gel. Most oils never worked for me, with the exception of Musgo Real preshave oil, which is what I use when I'm trying for BBS.

 

[Gentleman in Japan]

My daily driver preshave is Proraso or Cella gel. Most oils never worked for me, with the exception of Musgo Real preshave oil, which is what I use when I'm trying for BBS.

The musgo is on my wishlist too. It looks good.
@reformedshavr What was it about oils that didn't work for you?

 

[TheBurgh]

One, and only ever one brand of pre-shave.

Grooming Dept. Moisturizes, softens and creates a glide base for the lather.

Others never came close for me.

 

[DEgeezer]

Water; because it's cheap, and it works just fine.

 

[Star_Wahl_Clipper_Treker]

Tried pre-shave oil, wasn't slick enough for me, it liked to run down my neck. It was just so messy, go on everything I don't want it to. And as the pre-shave ages in the sink drain, it goes rotten, and causes a mold smell, coming from the drain. No thank you!

I discovered the best pre-shave in the world, for me...

This is a solid 8 whopping ounce, of pre-shave cube, from the makers of PAA. They sell several different kinds, the one that I own and have been using for a year now, is the menthol Ice 2.0 pre-shave cube. Literally the most slickest pre-shave soap I have ever used, it works amazingly good. And next chance I get, I am going to buy more of their pre-shave cubes, cause I love em. Oh yeah, you can also get a cube dock for them, as seen in the picture, that way you pre-shave soap is not making your counter messy gross, and allows the cube to air dry. I couldn't recommend anything better. But YMMV!​

 

[jbhunt04]

I never use preshave oil of any kind, unless I’m traveling. It’s the Proraso brand travel kit. When I’m home, I use Arko soap puck or Cella. Those soaps don’t need a preshave oil. That’s one reason I bought them.

 

[Gentleman in Japan]

Tried pre-shave oil, wasn't slick enough for me, it liked to run down my neck. It was just so messy, go on everything I don't want it to. And as the pre-shave ages in the sink drain, it goes rotten, and causes a mold smell, coming from the drain. No thank you!

I discovered the best pre-shave in the world, for me...

This is a solid 8 whopping ounce, of pre-shave cube, from the makers of PAA. They sell several different kinds, the one that I own and have been using for a year now, is the menthol Ice 2.0 pre-shave cube. Literally the most slickest pre-shave soap I have ever​

used, it works amazingly good. And next chance I get, I am going to buy more of their pre-shave cubes, cause I love em. Oh yeah, you can also get a cube dock for them, as seen in the picture, that way you pre-shave soap is not making your counter messy gross, and allows the cube to air dry. I couldn't recommend anything better. But YMMV!​

Loving that wooden rack! Did you make it yourself?
And where does one buy that soap?

 

[Gentleman in Japan]

Tried pre-shave oil, wasn't slick enough for me, it liked to run down my neck. It was just so messy, go on everything I don't want it to. And as the pre-shave ages in the sink drain, it goes rotten, and causes a mold smell, coming from the drain. No thank you!

Wow! Running down your neck?
The "oil" must have been super thin.
I only need a couple of drops and it absorbs nicely and provides sickness and post shave moisture.

 

[deafficianado]

I use a wide variety of hard soaps and sometimes a soap stick. I just rub them on my wet face and build lather on it with a loaded brush (loaded from another soap). I think the combination works much better than either soap by itself. Works for me every time.

 

[mcee_sharp]

In my case, now, I rely on the warm water pre-wash. When I was using preshaves the ONLY one I felt helped was Crown Shaving Co. preshave. It was gel based vs the creams or oils I had tried previously.

It definitely does allow for that extra polishing stroke, but for the cost I didn't feel it was worth it any longer, particularly after I started using 'fat' based soaps.

 

[Legion]

Water; because it's cheap, and it works just fine.

Same. Warm water works for me.

 

[Star_Wahl_Clipper_Treker]

Loving that wooden rack! Did you make it yourself?
And where does one buy that soap?

Thats great, cause I love the wooden rack too. I actually didn't make it myself. The 5-Brush & 5-Razor brush stand, was made by an artist on Etsy. Its made out of cherry hard wood with love, to my exact custom specifications, so that it would fit on my medicine cabinet correctly. Let me post pictures where you can see it better, both not loaded, and very loaded. Since the pics were taken, I have a 5th brush now, a Zenith Manchurian Badger with Chubby Blue handle.

From PAA's online store directly from manufacture, PAA for short, Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements. Thats where you will find the pre-shave soap, as well as the cube docks, which can be purchased in either black, or clear.

Wow! Running down your neck?
The "oil" must have been super thin.
I only need a couple of drops and it absorbs nicely and provides sickness and post shave moisture.

Yeah, I used Stirling's pre-shave oil. While I am usually impressed with Stirling's products, I wasn't pleased with their pre-shave oil. Yeah, I never felt like the oil was being absorbed into my skin, so I don't know what to tell ya. Like everything in traditional wet shaving, YMMV

 

[NorthernSoul]

I've never cared much for the oils. I think the point of a pre-shave is to help hydrate the whiskers. Some type of mild facial soap will be sufficient. I've used Savon de Marseille 100% olive oil soap. That is fairly gentle on the skin. It mostly gets washed off before you lather up.

I've used unscented shaving cream. That works because the stearic acid/glycerin combo holds water on the face for a couple of minutes while you do something else.

I've used Noxzema cream. That is mostly stearic acid, neutral oils and glycerine. Works as a cleansing cream and it's a proven product that's been around a long time. You may not like the scent though I think it's OK.

My overall favorite is one of the PAA Cubes, either with menthol or without. I cut the cube up and melted it into a shaving stick container. Less messy that way, and works very well. You only need three or four swipes. Rinses mostly off and leaves a slick film behind that you can lather over top of.

 

[Sherlock40]

I now make my own pre-shave oil to approximate the Art of Shaving’s Unscented Pre-Shave Oil. It is pretty close, I believe, and works well. I’ve been using a pre shave oil for decades and would not shave without it. I also recently discovered a product made by Ethos, called First Lather, that is a slickness booster and lather enhancer. They have a cooling version and non cooling version. I have the former and it definitely is cold!

 

[Chaucer]

I use glycerin bar soap from the drugstore. No special brand. Just rub my wet hands on it 2 or 3 times and then rub my hands on my wet face for 5-10 seconds. It helps a bit on the first pass. No life changer, though.

 

[Gentleman in Japan]

Interesting to hear different opinions.
I mainly used prorasso preshave creams after my Floris addiction was getting too costly. But when I moved over to the oils I felt a big improvement.
Having said that the oils can be tricky in the summer when the humidity is 80%+ as they are too heavy addiction lead to itching later in the day. In that case I think the cream is a better option. Early in the new year I'm going to attempt to make a heavy stearic acid based preshave cream.

 

[reformedshavr]

The musgo is on my wishlist too. It looks good.
@reformedshavr What was it about oils that didn't work for you?

The oils I tried (aside from the Musgo) didn't do anything when I did a comparision shave without.

 

[Brian H Shaves]

PAA The Cube is by far the best preshave soap I have ever used. This soap is $10 for a whopping 8oz block. The Cube may be the slickest shave soap I have ever used. I don't use preshave soap every day, but it's great to boost lather of less effective soaps or if you need to add a little more soap mid shave. The Cube leaves your face feeling soft and smooth. The Cube is a unique and incredible product.

 

[Phoenixkh]

I’ve developed a standard pre-shave routine borrowed from a combination of people here. I use the PAA non-menthol Cube 2.0 in the shower twice as I wash my face with a mild facial soap by CeraVe or Cetaphil and shampoo my hair twice. I got this idea from @Chan Eil Whiskers .

When I shave, I use one of these 4 pre-shaves: the Cube 2.0, Baumé.be, Stirling, or Grooming Department. Like many people here, I’ve done lots of testing, with and without. People come to various conclusions but for me, there is a positive effect of using a pre-shave. My old man, grey brittle whiskers need all the softening they can get.