Your Pre-Shave Ritual?

BoxANT

BoxANT

Joined
Mar 23, 2008
Messages
2,269
I have been using a straight razor for ~half year now and am very happy. Coming from an electric to a straight was a big change, especially in concern to the prep.

Right now I basically massage with warm water and then soak with hot rags for a few min. I have toyed around with some basic pre-shave lotions but have not found anything that improves the shave.



What are you guys doing, anything that works well for getting a closer shave or lessening skin irritation?


Thanks, and stay smooth ;)
 
Hair conditionner in the shower after the wash. Yep, conditionner on the face.

Then the hot towel, sometimes with green Proraso already on my face, that menthol and eucalyptus help open the pores.

I might try vitamin E soon.
 
A good hot shower prior to shaving, and I also use conditioner on the whiskers to soften them up. I will also use some left over canned shaving cream sometimes. The stuff is lousy as a shaving cream, but works well as a beard softener as part of the pre-shave prep.
 
Kind of like the above.
Nice, hot shower. Wash my hair first, then put conditioner on my beard (no, I don't use it on my hair), and leave it there through the rest of the shower. Last thing I do is rinse it off before turning off the shower. Then directly to soaping up and the shave.
 
I have a thick beard so I wash and scrub vigorously in the shower, let conditioner soak throughout the shower, I do not dry my face after the shower, apply Art of Shaving sandlewood pre shave oil over hot water, next I get the water as hot as I can and let the brush soak in the mug, and my DE razor and shave oil soak in hot water too, re apply the shave oil, dump water out of mug, get some sandlewood shave soap on the bristles and add Crabtree Nomad and Taylor of Old Bond street sandlewood shave creams to mug, I keep the mug submerged in really hot water the whole time I work the lather. The lather takes about 10-20 seconds to form this way, and I scrub it into my face for 30-45 seconds and then smooth it out.
After all of that I take the first pass VERY lightly, and reapeat until satisfied. I normally don't go more than 3 passes and get a baby butt face
 
cybrok said:
Hair conditionner in the shower after the wash. Yep, conditionner on the face.

Then the hot towel, sometimes with green Proraso already on my face, that menthol and eucalyptus help open the pores.

I might try vitamin E soon.
Click to expand...

Cy, bro conditioner works great eh. Vitamin E works well.
 
BoxANT said:
What are you guys doing, anything that works well for getting a closer shave or lessening skin irritation?
Click to expand...

a cold beer - steadies the hands... :D

the thing i find that works most is plenty of stropping - no big suprise there but keeping the edge razor sharp really does let the blade float over the skin with no irritation. if i get irritation it's usually because i tried to get away with not stropping enough.

i'm pretty new to straight razor shaving myself - just three or four months i believe. i just do the basics - plenty of really hot water (bring it to an almost-boil on the stove in a tea kettle) applied to the whiskers with a washcloth. I also fill my mug with hot water before lathering up so it stays warm.
 
First: Shower
Then dont dry the face, lather up, and shave(with a Gillette fatboy in my case)

Peter
 
Plug the electric razor in and turn it on!:D
Just kidding,used to use a razor,too much trouble,soft beard cuts easily.:D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top