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Pre-Shave Oil a Gimmick?

CVargo

CVargo

“Ya… Chris, Dave, It really is my fault"
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Okay so I want to talk Pre-Shave Oil (PSO). I'll be honest when I first started wetshaving the traditional way I tried some pre shave oils and over time just decided that it was all a gimmick and didn't add anything to my shave. Instead it came down to having an excellent lather and part of me still believes that to be honest. At one time I was even using olive oil just to see if it could help. Fast forward 6 years I have completely given up on PSO, and instead focused on getting the lather right etc.

Well as most here now one of our artisans @CBLSoap.com released a pre-shave oil and he even used it on camera and talked about some of the benefits it provides. One thing I found interesting was that when he rolled it on, he rubbed it into his skin with his hands then lathered over it. Okay that was interesting... well when it was released I decided to purchase some mainly because anything that is released by our supporting artisans you can pretty much guarantee I am going to at least try it. Plus I have a problem LOL. Anyways since the arrival so about a week. I have been using it before every shave. I have been rubbing it in. But also using a superb elite level soaps as well. I don't know if I am noticing a difference or not.

So what do you all think? Is there really something here? Or is it kind of gimmicky? I would think to do the half my face with PSO and the other not, but wouldn't the brush just move it around my face?

I will say that after using it, PSO Is definitely NOT hurting my shave, but not sure if it is really adding anything either.

Thoughts?
 
I tried it before, and never liked it. It always detracted from the slickness of my soap and caused the razor to drag, no matter how little I used. I am curious to try CBL's though.

Cvargo said:
One thing I found interesting was that when he rolled it on, he rubbed it into his skin with his hands then lathered over it. Okay that was interesting...
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That's the only way I've ever heard of PSO being used..... how else are you supposed to use it?
 
I have been in the "not for me" camp. Don't know whether it's a gimmick or not but never saw a benefit before and didn't like the oily feeling. I too am sick and ordered some of CBL's because...........It's CBL's and I wanted to give it a try. I haven't done so yet as old habits (thoughts) are hard to break.
 
Tried it at first too, and some pre shave creams. Once I moved on to better soaps, it just seemed pointless and had similar results as @Spider
 
Spider said:
That's the only way I've ever heard of PSO being used..... how else are you supposed to use it?
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I always just applied and didn't really rub it in so to speak. Just lathered right over the oil.
 
Using a pre-shave seems to help the razor glide better on my skin. I started out using oils, but lately I have been using a puck of Williams Mug as a pre-shave soap, which is working well. I have some Stirling PSO that @NurseDave gave me in the Reindeer Exchange and I also purchased the CBL PSO. Once my puck of Williams is done, I plan to go back the the oils for a while. I plan to give them a fair shake. I really like the roll-on bottle that @CBLindsay is packing his PSO in. I may have to buy a couple of those for use with other PSOs.
 
Dave in KY said:
PLEASE someone help @dkeester as he is now 3017ing Pre-shave products !!!!!!!!!!
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Image result for oh the humanatee gif
 
Cvargo said:
I always just applied and didn't really rub it in so to speak. Just lathered right over the oil.
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I guess I don't see the distinction there. As you spread it around to get equal coverage, you are rubbing it in, right? At least to me that was the default. Unless you are slathering it on. But with PSO, less is more. I thought you were saying you did something completely different.
 
To be honest I am not a regular user of any oily product so pre-shave or post-shave OIL of any kind is not something I consider a regular thing. As I mentioned somewhere I considered the CBL pre-shave a proof of concept product more than a necessity item. I'll explain....

One of the things that lends itself to a "better" or premium artisan soap is the amount and kind of superfat left in the soap. Superfats are the fats/oils in a soap that are not turned into soap during the soap making process. Some artisans add mango butter or shea butter or coco butter or some other butter with the specific purpose of being a skin benefiting superfat. More recently you all spoke highly of the added hemp oil in CBL soap (not in the pre-shave oil), proving that the choice of oils used in making soap changes the perceived quality and performance. If money were no issue I would choose to add a substantial amount of JoJoba oil since it is one of the better known skin nourishing oils. In fact Jojoba and hemp oil are considered the closest thing to natural sebaceous gland oil.

In addition to choosing specific superfats and butters based on desired features and benefits artisans will choose to include superfats in varying percentages. Without exposing any secrets here it is typical or recommended that soap be made with 5-8% superfat simply to allow an adequate margin of error to ensure safety of the finished product. An experienced soaper might reduce or eliminate superfat but in doing so the "face feel" and post shave qualities most likely suffer. There are limits to the amount of superfat you can have before the soap fails to lather or runs into soup.

I purposefully made the CBL pre-shave using oils that would be a great addition to a good soap formula (meaning, if I made a soap using these oils I would expect you to like the resulting face feel and post shave) My theory is/was that by applying a small amount of these oils as a pre-shave then lathering you would in effect be increasing the amount of "superfat" in the lather and ensuring that you have some good stuff on the skin. Perhaps turning a good soap with mediocre face feel into a good soap with good face feel.

I also believe that simply adding some slick oil to the surface of the skin will necessarily improve the initial slickness. I assume the pre-shave oil is either soaked in, consume in the lather or scraped away after the first pass.

No matter where you stand on the whole pre-shave oil thing you can't ignore the fact that putting some good quality oils on your skin provide some sort of benefit. If not for use as a pre-shave then as a post shave.

In my opinion the pre-shave oil needs to be fast absorbing and be something you might want in your best artisan soaps, I don't think it should be thick and certainly shouldn't be considered a replacement for lather.
 
@CBLindsay this explanation was clear and makes sense. Based on this I think I will try the pre-shave with some lesser quality soaps in regard to face feel I have and see what the results are. Thanks
 
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@CBLindsay thanks for the extra insight. I think based off what you just said and after using your product for a week. I can see where it MIGHT help post shave feel. But not sure it is necessarily helping with slickness during the shave, as the soaps I have been using are already pretty darn slick. Now I wonder if i used a lesser quality soap could the pre shave oil help there? Hmmm... I guess I will need to try that.
 
Like many others, I tried pre shave oil, didn't see any difference, and stopped using it.

But I couldn't pass up CBL's oil at the discounted price. I use it as aftershave because it smells great and I agree that the oils must be good for your skin.
 
I’ll try it with an ‘average’ soap and see how it works. Thanks for including some in my order!
 
I’ve only tried 2 preshave oils, one from TOBS and one from AOS. I personally did not find that they helped my shave or really hurt it either for that matter. In some cases, it did reduce glide a bit for my open blade shaves, but I think that was more impatience (not letting it absorb/work fully) than anything. I’ve actually found that I enjoy preshave oils more as part of my post shave. Once these are gone, they won’t be replaced.

I’ve tried modern Williams as a preshave, which I’ve found to help the first pass or so, but even that I won’t do on a regular basis.

The only consistent preshave I do is wetting my face a few times, letting it sit a bit each time, before my face lathering.

I seem to get similar results no matter the method of preshave. I don’t think the oils are a gimmick necessarily, I just think the point is just to get something hydrating and lubricating on the face before you set a blade on it, no matter what it might be...even perhaps tamale sauce. :ROFLMAO:
 
I used a homemade preshave oil for a year or so and my biggest takeaway from it was just that since i shave after a shower, anytime something happens and i am delayed getting to my shave my face dries out pretty bad. The oil was an easy way to re-hydrate my face quickly as well as whatever was left on my hands got rubbed into my strop before i strop my razor to both keep the leather supple and to warm it up a bit before use. beyand that i had menthol in it so i could get some cooling even from non cooling soaps. I was kinda addicted to that menthol chill for a while.🥶
 
I have always maintained that a Pre-Shave Oil's best benefit was more for the Post Shave than for the Shave itself. I was a big user of PSO earl on. But as I found soaps with better and better post shave qualities, the PSO kind of fell off with me. As far as the shave itself...I found over time that I wasn't getting all that great shaves when I used PSO on a daily basis. I never figured out exactly why, but when I stopped, my shaves got closer and better. I will still pull out a PSO from time to time when I need just a little bit more. Or if I am really in a hurry, I will just douse my face with PSO and shave with that.

So in a nutshell, I personally find the best benefit of a PSO in the Post Shave realm.
 
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