What's new

Shaving Without Products or Cream

Just one minor correction @Attilio, a person's skin does not have any pores that open and close (due to heat/cold or any other external action). This opening/closing of pores in the skin is a myth put out by advertising agencies.

Other than the above, it is good to hear that you have found a shaving system that works for you.
I don't know the science that deeply behind the "pores" but what my barber tells me is that when you warm up the skin the hair relaxes and extends so you will have more of it above the skin to cut vs when at a colder temp and you get a "closer" shave that lasts longer. Experience seems to confirm this and that is why I switched to the shower also because I was cutting myself more than I liked to get the shave quality I wanted. But when I was in the shower it was such a pain in the butt to lather that I ditched it.
Whenever I DE shave,
it's in the shower using whatever soap happens to be there.

A soaped up face won't dry out in there.

Shaving in the shower without a mirror
requires the same level of skill
as touching your nose with your eyes closed.

If a cop pulls you over and
you're unable to touch your nose with your eyes closed,
you ain't driving home.
From time to time I do try to use the products as they did cost a pretty penny and I want to make use of what I have left but then find that I lose sensibility on my face with either oil or the cream and then I cut myself WAY more. Even lathering soap does that. I do it all by feel. I use DE razor if I don't push at least somewhat, and more than what is recommended, I don't get a close shave. Tried using a sharper razor or bigger gap and shaving gently and in that case it doesn't cut but it still slices up my face. I just have to know where and when to push tactically and without product helps me feel that.

FYI I am alcohol free if that's any help new studies of the last 10 years show there's no safe dose and in concert with how much money behind alcohol there is and the voice is overwhelmingly anti, I listen. Quit years ago don't miss it at all. Would willingly submit to chemical testing instead can pass 100% of the time accordingly.
 
First and foremost, a warm welcome to B&B! We are certainly glad you have joined us!

Personally I would never shave without a lather on my face.

Your success is a classic example of
YRMV.(Your Results May Vary)
I understand this is a *VERY* subjective area. Just like saddles in the cycling world. Some people pay $3-400 for bike seat after bike seat they hate and end up with a soft plastic $12 amazon special that just from the flexible plastic cushions them. Or people use mountain bike seats for road bikes, or road bike seats on mountain bikes etc. There is no science or pattern to what is "better" only that its different for everyone which is why no bike shop recommends any saddle and merely reinforces that it's trial and error process. Just curious if anyone else was doing it like I was: DE safety razor, wet shave (in the shower of course) but nothing else.
 
I understand this is a *VERY* subjective area. Just like saddles in the cycling world. Some people pay $3-400 for bike seat after bike seat they hate and end up with a soft plastic $12 amazon special that just from the flexible plastic cushions them. Or people use mountain bike seats for road bikes, or road bike seats on mountain bikes etc. There is no science or pattern to what is "better" only that its different for everyone which is why no bike shop recommends any saddle and merely reinforces that it's trial and error process. Just curious if anyone else was doing it like I was: DE safety razor, wet shave (in the shower of course) but nothing else.
The only cycling I do is my shaving gear. :biggrin1:
No. I don't even shave in the shower. I find that to be a total waste of a valuable resource. WATER
 
I used to dry shave with a single blade bic disposable before I found these forums, my father did it his whole life. Simpler times I suppose. Thinking about it makes me want to find one of those bics and give it another go.
The BIC Metals are excellent and I use them when I travel. They are single blade and cheap (about $0.50 each). I would send you a bunch but shipping would cost more than the razors!

these ones…

 

linty1

My wallet cries.
The BIC Metals are excellent and I use them when I travel. They are single blade and cheap (about $0.50 each). I would send you a bunch but shipping would cost more than the razors!

these ones…

I've never seen/never knew of this "metal" version, sounds.... metal lol the version I am familiar with looks more like this:


They prob sell them on the lower shelves of the local pharmacy.
 

luvmysuper

My elbows leak
Staff member
You do you. If it makes you happy and you're satisfied with the results, that's all that matters for you.
Shaving soap and alcohol splashes have been around for far longer than anyone on this forum was even a gleam in dad's eye.
Don't make the mistake however of thinking that the voices denigrating alcohol splashes are doing so for some noble, non-profit motive.
There has been a movement afoot for many years touting "natural" products, which is a meaningless term, and a downright silly search for products with less "chemicals" or even less "ingredients".
Everything is chemicals. Everything has ingredients.
The ingredients involved just gets down to how far you want to break compounds down to their lowest level.
th-109778429.jpg
 
You do you. If it makes you happy and you're satisfied with the results, that's all that matters for you.
Shaving soap and alcohol splashes have been around for far longer than anyone on this forum was even a gleam in dad's eye.
Don't make the mistake however of thinking that the voices denigrating alcohol splashes are doing so for some noble, non-profit motive.
There has been a movement afoot for many years touting "natural" products, which is a meaningless term, and a downright silly search for products with less "chemicals" or even less "ingredients".
Everything is chemicals. Everything has ingredients.
The ingredients involved just gets down to how far you want to break compounds down to their lowest level.
View attachment 1544165
You know the old saying...You learn something new every day.
I never knew that there was Tryptophan in blueberries. I only knew about it in turkey.
Now I know why I'm tired of blueberries!
 
My best friend shaved without brush, soap, or lather using a Gillette SA. He did wait until after he was out of the shower. I asked him about it and he absolutely refused to use anything but water. It totally amazed me then and still amazes me now.

Other than the repeated nicks, and cuts you are experiencing if you're happy doing it that way, more power to you.

marty
 
In older times, it was fairly common for men in some Scandinavian countries to shave after sauna. The lubrication used was water, maybe with a bit of soap. The heat and moisture prepared the beard well for shaving.

If you can find a bath soap that won't dry out your skin, many of them will work OK for shaving. Soaps like Yardley with shea butter, for instance. It's really inexpensive and widely available.

My roommate after college was a Finn and his family built a sauna in the basement so I can attest to shaving in or after a sauna. Smoothest shave one could ever dream of. A baby's butt feels like burlap compared to a sauna shave! (Thanks for prompting fond memories of my younger days.)

I readily supplement my lather with foaming hand soap, especially if the wife has one I like the smell of.

As for the premise of this thread, I would note that street barbers in India typically shave completely dry. Lots of skin stretching and small strokes.
 
You do you. If it makes you happy and you're satisfied with the results, that's all that matters for you.
Shaving soap and alcohol splashes have been around for far longer than anyone on this forum was even a gleam in dad's eye.
Don't make the mistake however of thinking that the voices denigrating alcohol splashes are doing so for some noble, non-profit motive.
There has been a movement afoot for many years touting "natural" products, which is a meaningless term, and a downright silly search for products with less "chemicals" or even less "ingredients".
Everything is chemicals. Everything has ingredients.
The ingredients involved just gets down to how far you want to break compounds down to their lowest level.
View attachment 1544165
I know because am physician and chemistry major. Back in the day when I took organic I had a wonderful professor couple husband and wife that co-taught the class. I was actually one of the few who enjoyed this course in college (hence my being wierd maybe not having the soaps work for me) and all "Organic" means is containing carbon that's all.

It's not about avoiding "chemicals" because everything is so. It's because in order to get a really GOOD shave I need to press on my face, especially my neck. It's the neck that drives me nuts very difficult to get close shave and nearly impossible without cutting or causing rash. The only way is with milder blades, medium to above average gap razor to "grab" the hair, and some but not a ton of pressure. And the pressure is different for every area. Without product (but still in the hot shower) was the best way I found to have the sensitivity on face to detect if the pressure was too much and feel that I was pre-emptively about to cut myself and back off. If I use product I either don't push hard enough and it's a rough shave no better than electric, or I push too hard and look like the victim on horror movie.

With regards to alcohol it's been a decade my inbox has been filling up with articles from various many sources saying NO SAFE DOSE. They trained us in med school to be very skeptical of "scientific" studies because they can be designed with different control groups or inclusion criteria that ignore huge chunks of real data or truth in order to convey misinformation. Often times large, powerful entities have the budgets to design legitimate looking studies that show up as very believable and pay everyone off to approve when if you take a very detailed look the study falls apart. Remember a lot of foundations, schools and universities have large powerful donors! And it's HARD and a lot of work to take a very detailed look so almost nobody ever does. So when you have such a huge, powerful industry that can't respond back and ALL the studies are saying the same thing against them I listen. This includes the cardiovascular health which used to be "moderate drinking is good for your heart" but was debunked this February, now any alcohol at all is bad. It's all public record but my wife and I caught this years ago so we quit for 30 days and felt more energetic were able to do better things with our time and we never looked back.
 

luvmysuper

My elbows leak
Staff member
I know because am physician and chemistry major. Back in the day when I took organic I had a wonderful professor couple husband and wife that co-taught the class. I was actually one of the few who enjoyed this course in college (hence my being wierd maybe not having the soaps work for me) and all "Organic" means is containing carbon that's all.

It's not about avoiding "chemicals" because everything is so. It's because in order to get a really GOOD shave I need to press on my face, especially my neck. It's the neck that drives me nuts very difficult to get close shave and nearly impossible without cutting or causing rash. The only way is with milder blades, medium to above average gap razor to "grab" the hair, and some but not a ton of pressure. And the pressure is different for every area. Without product (but still in the hot shower) was the best way I found to have the sensitivity on face to detect if the pressure was too much and feel that I was pre-emptively about to cut myself and back off. If I use product I either don't push hard enough and it's a rough shave no better than electric, or I push too hard and look like the victim on horror movie.

With regards to alcohol it's been a decade my inbox has been filling up with articles from various many sources saying NO SAFE DOSE. They trained us in med school to be very skeptical of "scientific" studies because they can be designed with different control groups or inclusion criteria that ignore huge chunks of real data or truth in order to convey misinformation. Often times large, powerful entities have the budgets to design legitimate looking studies that show up as very believable and pay everyone off to approve when if you take a very detailed look the study falls apart. Remember a lot of foundations, schools and universities have large powerful donors! And it's HARD and a lot of work to take a very detailed look so almost nobody ever does. So when you have such a huge, powerful industry that can't respond back and ALL the studies are saying the same thing against them I listen. This includes the cardiovascular health which used to be "moderate drinking is good for your heart" but was debunked this February, now any alcohol at all is bad. It's all public record but my wife and I caught this years ago so we quit for 30 days and felt more energetic were able to do better things with our time and we never looked back.
Glad you found something that works well for you! There are dozens who never seem to find that slot that just "clicks" and I'm happy when someone does!
There's a new study every couple of years with a consensus that this thing that we thought was good is actually bad, and this thing we thought was bad is actually good!
In a couple of years they reverse and start all over again.
My motto is "Everything in moderation. Including moderation."
I generally try to avoid injecting 1000 times the normal daily dose under the skin of lab rats to determine the viability of any product!
I'll add that beyond the issue of questionable "studies", is the simple fact that if you could produce a study with incontrovertible evidence that subsiding on a diet of distilled water and grasshoppers would allow one to live to 150 years of age, I believe that I would not be interested in living 150 years if it meant subsiding on distilled water and grasshoppers
 
Last edited:
Glad you found something that works well for you! There are dozens who never seem to find that slot that just "clicks" and I'm happy when someone does!
There's a new study every couple of years with a consensus that this thing that we thought was good is actually bad, and this thing we thought was bad is actually good!
In a couple of years they reverse and start all over again.
My motto is "Everything in moderation. Including moderation."
I generally try to avoid injecting 1000 times the normal daily dose under the skin of lab rats to determine the viability of any product!
I'll add that beyond the issue of questionable "studies", is the simple fact that if you could produce a study with incontrovertible evidence that subsiding on a diet of distilled water and grasshoppers would allow one to live to 150 years of age, I believe that I would not be interested in living 150 years if it meant subsiding on distilled water and grasshoppers

I've gotten to the point where I will semi sort of almost believe anything. There was a Spanish author that wrote something to the tune of it can be false it can be true and it can be totally you it just depends on your point of view and where you are in life. I only read and follow the studies to stay out of trouble and not get sued. "Never do a good thing that looks bad or a bad thing that looks good."

Or as Macchiavelli put it the same thing might not work for the same person in a different situation, or the same thing might not work in the same situation for two different people. Brings in philosophical disussions like 1984's doublethink. Same thing can be true and false at the same time, IE cognitive dissonance.

As far as poisons and toxicology we were taught it all depends on the dose. You can kill yourself with water, look up water intoxication. That said some things are toxic at any dose and moderation won't help you as much as complete avoidance. Alcohol now makes that list just like asbestos, trichloroethylene, mercury, nicotine and other poisons which are defined as being toxic in FAR lower doses (or any exposure at all) compared to most other compounds. Found out first hand how money & time better spent on other pursuits. There are many.
 

luvmysuper

My elbows leak
Staff member
I've gotten to the point where I will semi sort of almost believe anything. There was a Spanish author that wrote something to the tune of it can be false it can be true and it can be totally you it just depends on your point of view and where you are in life. I only read and follow the studies to stay out of trouble and not get sued. "Never do a good thing that looks bad or a bad thing that looks good."

Or as Macchiavelli put it the same thing might not work for the same person in a different situation, or the same thing might not work in the same situation for two different people. Brings in philosophical disussions like 1984's doublethink. Same thing can be true and false at the same time, IE cognitive dissonance.

As far as poisons and toxicology we were taught it all depends on the dose. You can kill yourself with water, look up water intoxication. That said some things are toxic at any dose and moderation won't help you as much as complete avoidance. Alcohol now makes that list just likell asbestos, trichloroethylene, mercury, nicotine and other poisons which are defined as being toxic in FAR lower doses (or any exposure at all) compared to most other compounds. Found out first hand how money & time better spent on other pursuits. There are many.
Well, we'll just have to agree to disagree. For every document produced saying zero alcohol is best, there is one that states there are benefits to moderate consumption, including the stance of well recognized medical authorities including the Mayo Clinic among others!
Everyone has to make their own personal choices and decisions, and that should be encouraged, but we certainly don't want to promote personal opinion as fact and cause needless fear among our peers.
That's never a good thing!
 
Well, we'll just have to agree to disagree. For every document produced saying zero alcohol is best, there is one that states there are benefits to moderate consumption, including the stance of well recognized medical authorities including the Mayo Clinic among others!
Everyone has to make their own personal choices and decisions, and that should be encouraged, but we certainly don't want to promote personal opinion as fact and cause needless fear among our peers.
That's never a good thing!

Indeed. There is an ongoing study in The Villages regarding centenarians. Every single one consumes alcohol and is overweight.
 
Well, we'll just have to agree to disagree. For every document produced saying zero alcohol is best, there is one that states there are benefits to moderate consumption, including the stance of well recognized medical authorities including the Mayo Clinic among others!
Everyone has to make their own personal choices and decisions, and that should be encouraged, but we certainly don't want to promote personal opinion as fact and cause needless fear among our peers.
That's never a good thing!
The Mayo clinic stance is based on older information but overwhelming majority of new studies, pretty much all the stuff coming out last 5-6 years is "no safe dose" and that most of the protective effect of benefits was due to confounding factors usually related to higher socioeconomic stats, as is always the case. Very scary are the new studies studies regarding cancer, the JAMA cardiovascular effects one that came out this spring and those regarding cognitive decline after age 40 in 2018. That's what caught our attention.

Try it for yourself for 90 days. The energy, focus and ability to keep weight off are incredible. Most of our friends couldn't believe all the stuff we started accomplishing or doing on a regular basis after we quit and weren't even partaking in huge amounts, so they quit too!
 
Top Bottom