Minimalist approach to aftershave?

[zed117]

Cold water shave, rinse with cold water, Witch Hazel, Aftershave, Balm.

After a consecutive week of this routine my skin has never been so smooth soft and amazing!

 

[Aaronburner]

just water and a bay rum aftershave splash for me. Maybe one day I'll play with other products.

 

[TheChariot]

Splash was drying out my face too much after a week or so of continuous use, and I found that balm alone couldn't sooth anything beyond light irritation. Alum filled this void.

My base line post shave is alum + balm. Sometimes I need a splash if I've given myself heavy irritation (which is happening less and less these days), but I usually save the splashes for when I'm going out. No need to smell like a "sharp dressed man" when I'm in my living room wearing hospital scrubs and watching the Buffalo Bills embarrass themselves.

 

[mswofford]

AS is one thing I use up before trying another; I'm currently on my second bottle of Aqua Velva Ice Blue. Available locally, no waiting for ground shipment when ordering other AS's online.

 

[Bob57913]

It's all what works for you. Some people swear by pre-shave's others find they are not needed. Same goes for pretty much everything except you must have a razor and you must have a blade.

That pretty much sums it up, what works for you works for you. I can probably get away with just my slightly modified VDH soap I got with my VDH premium set (I added shave secret when I melted it down) and use it for shaving as well as pre/post shave. I apply it, then apply warm towel and let it soak and wipe it off and apply another layer and shave. After I shave I apply another layer and let my skin soak it all in as I clean up the brush, bowel, razor, etc. Wipe it off and then I apply some witch hazel which I can easily get rid of as I think my skin feels smoother without it but the witch hazel I use now is just because I know it works and it tells me where I screwed up as I am new to shaving with a DE. I think when I feel competent in shaving I just drop down to just using the soap, it works and works pretty dang good.

I just add shave secret as a pre shave oil when I don't have time to fully prep my face or when I screwed up the day prior and need a little more protection. No need to get too fancy. Most men just use a shaving cream and cold water and thats it. You stumbled upon the enthusiast site where we do a lot more. Find what works for YOU and go with it.

My advice as being pretty new to this as well, just jump in and see if it works. You can ask someone what is good and you get 5 answers from a single person here. Look up as to what is good razor is to start with that is in your budget and buy one, I went with a Lord L6 as it was cheap and it worked. Then I went with the VDH Premium set for brush/bowl/soap as I wanted it now and it's cheap and bought it locally. Shave secret was local and I knew where to find it. Had some gillette aftershave I bought at the same time which I didn't like, eventually bought generic witch hazel which works a lot better for me once again local. Sometimes trying things out with just enough research your getting a quality product is good for this as all of our faces and techniques for shaving is slightly different so what works for me won't work exactly the same way for you.

My only advice is go cheap but good quality and improve on your setup where you feel the need to once you get the hang of it so you don't blow all your money on a set up and decide you don't like one piece of it but don't have the funds to replace it. Or don't go cheap, just try to stay under budget or make sure you are capable of replacing anything you don't like later on if your strapped for cash. Nothing is worse then spending a lot of money on something just to find out you hate a key component of your setup.

 

[Penknight]

I use cold water, alum block, cold water to rinse it off with after a full minute, pat dry with my towel, then an aftershave. In extreme circumstances when it's cold out, I'll wait fifteen minutes and add Nivea Sensitive balm. My fiancée loves feeling my face after I do all that, and I love her doing it.