Pre Shave Is It Necessary ?

Mike Smart

Supporter
Supporter
Messages
3,764
Location
Edinburgh Scotland
Well after DE shaving for 18 months so yes still a newbie iv come to the conclusion pre shave is over rated by me and possibly many others.
iv spent £30 on a small bottle of oil iv spent over £100 buying all the ingredients and making my own and iv also spent a right good few quid on this pre shave & that pre shave but the final results always seem to be the same a good all round shave.
Surely the answer is a good face wash and a good old soaking or am i missing something.
Because i work abroad i have lots of time to myself especially in quarantine and iv spent loads of time with my face, iv washed it for a number of minutes adding water as i go and iv also spent time on the pre shave products again never in a hurry.
So what’s the deal ?
what’s your thoughts ?
Are we all possibly getting sucked in to a world of spend spend spend when actually we don’t need it.
Many years ago probably before most of you boys were born my dad would use a touch of Glycerin or a touch of castor oil.
I think most of it is highly overrated.
On a personal note i don’t see or feel a difference if i use a cheap & cheerful product or a high end my shave is always virtually the same
 
Mike, I entirely echo your thoughts on this. If shaving routine was kept identical with same timings I personally could not identify any distinguishable difference between an 'artisan - high end' pre shave and one budget friendly. (well, maybe apart from scent).
There's this idea that if a product is not expensive enough it won't be of good quality.
On a recent survey I completed around a new product launch (not shaving related) there was a question along the lines of 'What would be the price that would reflect this a premium product?' which goes to show the level of quality reflected in price is a concept companies care for. And we all know there are so many exceptions to the rule....
I am a daily shaver (mornings) and what made a drastic change to the quality of my shaves was a moisturiser cream before bed. Do I still use pre shaves? Yes I do, but mostly because I like the prep routine and all my boxes ticked in the process.
 
I’m often asked by my customers to make a pre-shave product. My reply is you shouldn’t need one if you’ve washed your face with a good natural soap. A non-commercial handmade soap contains a high level of glycerin that is created during the saponification process ( it’s not an added ingredient it’s created naturally) hence the soap molecules remove dirt from the face and deposit conditioning oils. I feel this should be good enough face preparation pre-shave. It’s then over to a good shaving soap to do it’s job. No doubt if I wanted to be commercially greedy I could say you need one to soften hairs and protect skin etc as per marketing messages!!!
 
I've been given a few pre-shave products over the years and never found any of them made much of a difference, except in a couple of cases to leave a slightly oily residue on my brush, razor and sink. Washing your face beforehand can help, but usually I just face lather with a quality soap and shave away, with no ill effects.
 
Echo everything said, not 'necessary' at all, as with yourself I've tried numerous different efforts (primarily oils I received as part of the personal barber subscription a while ago) and I did not note any discernible difference in comfort or finish. Nowadays the only time I end up using one is part of my Proraso routine, and that is just because it is routine and I like the smell and feel, however I get the exact same finish if I skip it entirely!
 
I don't need preshave but I use it. I do stretches between showering and shaving* and I have it applied during this period. I enjoy the smell and it's part of my routine.

* Yes, I do bollock-naked stretches - get over it! Excellent time to do them when the body is warm. Particularly legs and back.
 
My preparation is shower including face wash then an application of preshave with a hot face cloth for a minute or so. Like the OP I don’t think you get much from just a pre-shave - it was the hot cloth that changed things for me. It also coincided with using Edwin Jagger Hydrating cream - this can be lathered over with no problem. Previously I’d used oils but have since thrown them out.
 
As a rule, I don't use pre shave products.
As @BrianH says, a good face wash prior to shaving, quality shave soap/cream and a sharp cutting edge is all that's required.
The rest is all marketing imo.
Take beard care products for instance - men have grown and worn beards for millennia, but only since having a beard has become trendy (why someone wants their face to look like a 70's porno close up is beyond my comprehension), have we seen the emergence of this, that and the other next best beard care lotion and potion.

Wash, lather, shave
 
If you wash your face with soap and water first, then irony is that's your preshave so yeah you do, I use Proraso preshave coz it's part of the set, but I don't use preshave products with anything else, and before you ask yes I do wash my face before I shave it's something I preach to others for years. Why would you shave your dirty, dead skin face? I'll take a guess........your ill-informed or lazy.
 
If you wash your face with soap and water first, then irony is that's your preshave so yeah you do, I use Proraso preshave coz it's part of the set, but I don't use preshave products with anything else, and before you ask yes I do wash my face before I shave it's something I preach to others for years. Why would you shave your dirty, dead skin face? I'll take a guess........your ill-informed or lazy.
John are you asking a question ?
answering your own question ?
or generally making a comment ?
sorry i’m confused
who is lazy & ill informed & who dosent wash their face ?
 
I'm Asking a question, answering my own question, and making a comment. No need for confusion Mike.
The new wetshavers are ill informed as when I teached my son's to shave, both refused to wash there faces before shaving, both got red faces, I fully explained why you need to wash there faces but they like the Steep learning curve, one of them is sporting a beard that looks screwed up.

Do I notice any difference between using preshave and not using preshave? No not really.
 
I'm new to DE shaving and have sensitive skin so was desperate for any help I could get. Bought some preshave oil and it's main impact seems to be murdering lather. When I use it I always need to load the brush more times than without, so end up using twice as much shaving soap.

I have to use so little on my face for it not be a negative that's its not really worth bothering with. The only use that might be making a positive impact is when I head shave but that's been negligible. I'll use what I have on my head, until its gone then probably not bother in the future.
 
I'm new to DE shaving and have sensitive skin so was desperate for any help I could get. Bought some preshave oil and it's main impact seems to be murdering lather. When I use it I always need to load the brush more times than without, so end up using twice as much shaving soap.

I have to use so little on my face for it not be a negative that's its not really worth bothering with. The only use that might be making a positive impact is when I head shave but that's been negligible. I'll use what I have on my head, until its gone then probably not bother in the future.
If too much oil is used it will kill the lather
Have you tried using only a drop or two ?
 
I don't need preshave but I use it. I do stretches between showering and shaving* and I have it applied during this period. I enjoy the smell and it's part of my routine.

* Yes, I do bollock-naked stretches - get over it! Excellent time to do them when the body is warm. Particularly legs and back.
What are you stretching, is something short?
 
Back
Top Bottom