Pre-shave tug of war

Hello everyone,

So I've recently purchased a pre-shave (TOBS) and find that when I use it with my straight it feels like I'm tugging more at the hair than when I don't use it. I have used it when I use my DE and found that it was perfectly fine and had a nice BBS shave, but the day before when I used the straight there was a touch more discomfort during the process. I'm assuming that its my technique as I'm still only in my first month of SR shaving, but I'm still curious if there is anybody else out there who may have some advice on why or if they too have the same scenario when using the pre-shave. As of right now I've cut it out of my SR routine until I've gotten a bit more proficient, but let me know your thoughts!

Thanks!

Preshave oil is a sticky subject with straights (see what I did there). Because you hold the straight razor at such a close distance to your face you can have "sticktion" occur where the razor sticks slightly to your face and causes friction. Hence the stick-tion. I would suggest you try using a thinner lather and no preshave oil. I personally had to abandon my TOBS preshave oil and eventually settled on the Suavecito preshave because it is much less viscous.

Another potential issue that happened to me is that I found it was harder to keep my skin taught with the oily preshave. Try putting some alum on your finger tips if you find you have this issue as well.

Do you wet face, apply oil, work the lather on top of the oil and shave? It is a thick oil that might add some adhesion to you face.

Dr., it hurts when I do it. Then don't do it.[emoji2]

Thanks for the responses, I think I'll have to keep the PS to whenever I use my DE from now on. As far as pre shaves go do any of you have one you tend to use before shaving with a SR? I find my skin feels a touch ruffed up after a shave and curious if there is anything other than a good soap you gents would recommend?

I tried oil once with a straight. Lost my grip with my off hand and dumped the oil. I consider it hazardous to my shave.

Can you share some info on your razor. Who honed it, how are you stropping it?

It's a limited edition Fendrihan Dovo, ebony scale that I picked up from them pre-sharpened. I've been stropping it about 25ish laps on my cotton side and then 50ish on the leather before each shave and about 10 or so on the cotton after. I've been considering contacting one of the reputable honemeister here and getting them to give it a once over but when I don't use my PS it's not a problem and from what I can take from it, she shaves like a dream.

I have never been much of an oil fan for pre-shave.

But for whatever reason, I recently bought some TOBS pre-shave oil.

Tried it twice, and both times, going on, I thought... What am I doing? This stuff is like glue! Its STICKY, not oily.

But I have to tell you... I got great shaves both times, with less irritation in those tough spots that I usually get a burn on!

Love hate for me at the moment... jury is still out.

I've been using this stuff for about 7 years now, with a straight for the last 3 months. When I first started wet shaving in 2007, my first pre-shave oil was Caswell-Massey Almond Pre-shave Oil. It worked wonderfully, but I got tired of spending $13+ on a tiny bottle, so went to Wal-Mart and got this one for less than $3 -- it works just as well. I haven't had any problems with irritation or stickiness (except today when I was rushing a little and used too much pressure, my fault entirely), but that might also be because I use a DOVO Shavette. I have yet to see if it makes a difference -- good or bad -- with a fixed-blade straight

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I use Shea Moisture pre- shave oil and find it works well. 5 to 6 drops, spread onto wet skin and then apply lather. The oil mixes into the lather and sort of disappears but the shave is better with the oil than without, at least for me. And the stuff is a lot more reasonable in price ($8 / 2 oz. bottle) than a lot of pre- shave oils.

Brian

Khory93 said:

Thanks for the responses, I think I'll have to keep the PS to whenever I use my DE from now on. As far as pre shaves go do any of you have one you tend to use before shaving with a SR? I find my skin feels a touch ruffed up after a shave and curious if there is anything other than a good soap you gents would recommend?

Click to expand...

Maybe time for a touch up on the blade edge of your razor. Green Crox on balsa wood works great. I'm not a fan of adding crox to my linen or cotton linen strop.

I normally use a pre-shave. Gives me something to fidget with while the brush is soaking. If the soap doesn't have menthol, then I'm inclined to use a mentholated pre-shave. If it has menthol, then maybe an oil. JASON skin oil has worked great in this capacity.