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anyone NOT use pre shave or aftershave lotions/gels/creams etc

the only pre shave i do is hot water on towel and damp my face

then apply lather and shave

I also use no after shave


Also,

1) what is cologne ? I thought cologne was aftershave ??

Another reason I use no pre shave or aftershave, because I have no clue which is which ! or what they are !

2 ) Can anyone explain it to me ?

3 ) is aftershave used to make you smell nice ? or is it actually meant to be used after you shave ? or is it just a name ?
 
I dont use any of those things. I either take a shower , then shave or just wash my face with warm soapy water and leave the soap on my face , then wipe it off with a hot wet towel , then lather and shave. I use an as balm in the winter and cooler months , but not during the summer.
 
Cologne and aftershaves are different even if they both smell. They definitely have different scent content and aftershaves often contain other chemicals that moisturize and restore your skin after the shave. Pre shaves are harder to explain because they can be oil-based or no but their function is to prepare the beard for the shave. Some find great benefits when using them and others don't...

Al raz.
 
1) All cologne is, is for smelling nice. There may be addatives in a few that might work to moisturize or help your skin, but mostly they are for scent.
2) Pre-shave would be something you apply to your face prior to lathering. Most of it is an oil-like consistency (at least the ones I have tried). I find these don't really do anything for me (YMMV).
3) Aftershave is for both smelling nice and for helping your skin. Some of them have scents that are awesome and last for quite a while (though the ones I use don't last as long as cologne). Most of them have ingredients which will help after you shave; moisturizing, menthol (cool your face down), tone and/or tighten your face (witch hazel). I think they are beneficial to some extent, but you aren't going to die without them either. You might go pick up a couple cheap ones at Walmart or CVS or somewhere like that...Try like the Nivea Sensative "BALM" or the Aqua Velva "SPLASH."

A balm tends to be more lotion consistency and most of them moisturize (again from my experience). A splash will contain alcohol and menthol (sometimes) and will be a water-like consistency (just to reiterate my experience from what I own). I find that a lot of people switch to a balm during dry weather and a splash during humid weather...YMMV, I tend to use whatever I am in the mood for (scent-wise, cooling-wise, moisturizing-wise, etc.).
 
Fuggles, I've seen an English shaver on Youtube who applied a splash lotion right after his shave, and called it "cologne." Then he sprayed on something scented and called it "aftershave." The terminology seemed quite backwards to me, but apparently the words have different meanings in different parts of the world. Here in the states, my personal understanding of terms is the same as Angry_Panda's.
 
I don't use pre-shave because it does nothing useful for me. Hot water, preferably applied by taking a shower, is enough.

I don't use aftershave because it does nothing useful for me, and I don't want to keep smelling it on myself if it's scented. A cold water rinse is enough.

I don't use colognes because I don't want to smell them on myself. What I think of as cologne is basically perfume for men.

From comments around here, I get the impression that most B&Bers at least use aftershave, but it's not like you have to do so to belong to the club.:001_smile
 
I don't find products labeled as preshaves work for me either.

I do a face/beard prep, in hot weather it's only face lathering, and I take my time. In the winter it's a few hot wet towels on a slightly soapy face, then face lather. I want it to last for at least 4 minutes.

After the shave I apply a hand crafted Bay Rum that I make. It's designed specifically for blade shaving and it's loaded with good stuff and none of the bad. One thing I knew that I didn't want to do was play around with my face all morning, so the BR does it all in a few splashes. Then I'm done.

I've found that most modern *** are just scent with alcohol, pretty useless for conditioning the facial skin after a shave IMO. As already written, I consider cologne to be perfume for men- nothing I want in my nose all day. I don't care how good it smells.
 
Lately my prep has been to apply a shave stick to my wet face while the brush soaks and work it up into something a bit like lather with wet fingers, and let it sit for a minute or two, adding a bit more water as needed.

Post-shave I just rinse well and sometimes apply witch hazel, sometimes not - usually only if my face feels at all sore. I've tried a few balms, and don't have any great objection to them, but nor do I seem to get much tangible benefit from them.
 
I don't use any pre-shave product; just water. I often use an alcohol-based spalsh aftershave. I also use some form of cologne often as well.
 
You might go pick up a couple cheap ones at Walmart or CVS or somewhere like that...Try like the Nivea Sensative "BALM" or the Aqua Velva "SPLASH."

suggesting destructive, price-first, low qulity, marketing-driven shopping practices like that, you may as well advise buying into the gillette fusion system. please, think it through. it's not at all in line with what this community should be about.


v.
 
Only pre-shave I do is a shower.

I normally use an aftershave, however the past 6 weeks or so, I've been experimenting a bit with "drying" vs. "Moisturizing" shave soaps so I haven't used an ASB for a while, except the 2 days I used Speick, and the 3 days I used Arko. I just couldnt' stand the tightness in my face those two days.
 
I don't use any pre-shave products except when I am at sea and shaving with my electric. Then I use Williams Letric shave. But for my DEs and Injectors, nope, I believe in keeping shaving as simple as possible. I do use aftershave, witch hazel, or Nivea ASB, depending on the day. I also use cologne.
 
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suggesting destructive, price-first, low qulity, marketing-driven shopping practices like that, you may as well advise buying into the gillette fusion system. please, think it through. it's not at all in line with what this community should be about.


v.

Huh? :confused1

That was a joke, right?
 
suggesting destructive, price-first, low qulity, marketing-driven shopping practices like that, you may as well advise buying into the gillette fusion system. please, think it through. it's not at all in line with what this community should be about.


v.

Huh? :confused1

That was a joke, right?

I think not. I think that the respondent, in this case, has bought into the AoS "To be good, it has to be expensive" model of wet shaving. In fact, speaking as someone who learned to shave before cartridges were even on the market, wet shaving is all about shaving with the best quality products available at the lowest cost. Any other perspective is just a waste of money. Remember shaving should be simple.
 
I think not. I think that the respondent, in this case, has bought into the AoS "To be good, it has to be expensive" model of wet shaving. In fact, speaking as someone who learned to shave before cartridges were even on the market, wet shaving is all about shaving with the best quality products available at the lowest cost. Any other perspective is just a waste of money. Remember shaving should be simple.

Hmm :scared: Maybe not AOS... cause I don't really consider them of particular quality, but rather "destructive, price first" (I know many people like the shave soap, I wasn't particularly impressed by the sample I tried. Not bad, not great, pretty much meh...)

I don't like the smell of AV, or for that matter alcohol based splashes, but a lot of people do. To each their own... Those who do use it in no way hurts me, or anyone else. (well, if they aren't around me for 15 minutes after they apply it, anway... And that goes triple for Pinaud Clubman... Once the dead skunk scent goes away, I can tolerate it, as long as it's not on MY skin... lol)

I don't use Nivea, due to the paraben content, but again, if someone wants to use the product, and isn't worried about possible long-term health effects (which, obviously, have not been proven...) it's no skin off my butt. :)
 
Hmm :scared: Maybe not AOS... cause I don't really consider them of particular quality, but rather "destructive, price first" (I know many people like the shave soap, I wasn't particularly impressed by the sample I tried. Not bad, not great, pretty much meh...)

I don't like the smell of AV, or for that matter alcohol based splashes, but a lot of people do. To each their own... Those who do use it in no way hurts me, or anyone else. (well, if they aren't around me for 15 minutes after they apply it, anway... And that goes triple for Pinaud Clubman... Once the dead skunk scent goes away, I can tolerate it, as long as it's not on MY skin... lol)

I don't use Nivea, due to the paraben content, but again, if someone wants to use the product, and isn't worried about possible long-term health effects (which, obviously, have not been proven...) it's no skin off my butt. :)

OK, you realize that I was agreeing with you, right? :001_unsur Most people, I believe, when back to DEs and SEs because of the not so great shaves and high costs of cartridge shaving systems. To suggest that buying a product base on price first is some how destructive does not make sense to me either.:confused1
 
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