Brushless shaving

[Marco]

Although perfectly doable, for me "brushless" is synonymous of "soulless"...

 

[tube_guy]

I tried eliminating various parts of my shave in an attempt to save some time in the morning. For a few months, I lathered my shave soaps using my fingers. After a few weeks, my skin got noticeably worse. I'd get shave bumps and weepers. As soon as I returned to using my brush, with the same soaps, my skin got noticeably better. Bumps pretty much disappeared and weepers are pretty rare now. I came to the conclusion that, at least for me, using a shaving brush is worth the extra few minutes of time and cleanup.

 

[Ivo4u2]

On my sopwith shaving sticks they even write to apply without brush but to be honest I get a better result using it with a brush.
In a case of an emergency a shower spongue or sisal scrub spongue works too.

 

[tamahagane]

For a few months, I lathered my shave soaps using my fingers. After a few weeks, my skin got noticeably worse. I'd get shave bumps and weepers. As soon as I returned to using my brush, with the same soaps, my skin got noticeably better.

Exactly my experience as well, except I tried this for a week only. I imagine it would take solving the soap into water and applying the slime to the face, otherwise the soap dries. This doesn't happen neither with cream, nor gel. Foam is somewhat comparable (to hand-applied soap) because it dries very quickly and does not cushion as well as gel or cream.

 

[demaro]

I do not use a brush when I use proraso cream , I tried using a brush with it , but rubbing it into my beard with my hand works better for me . I am a soap and brush guy 99% of the time . My local supermarket Wegmans sells proraso cream. Also , my beard is fairly tough , and has seemed gotten more tough since it is almost all gray now .

 

[thombrogan]

Just used Pre de Provence bath soap brushless for shaving last night. Worked great, felt awesome, and has way more scent options than their shave soap. Maybe that’d work?

 

[RogerThat]

The only time I'll use brushless shaving cream is travel or when I don't have time to whip up a lather with my brush.

I've used Cremo and VDH Shave Butter to shave and Pre-shave. Also add these slicks sometimes to my bowl for added slickness.

My latest go-to is Trader Joe's Cream Shave, honey mango with aloe vera and vitamin E.

It's very slick, excellent glide and moisturizing. Great for brushless shave or Pre-shave.

I'm Camp Value and it's only $3.99 inside the Trader Joe's store.

 

[demaro]

I don’t use a brush when I am using Proraso cream. I just put some of one "of my hands and then rub into my beard and lather builds up . I shave every other day , my beard is moderately tough ..I am mainly a soap guy and use a brush and soap 99% of the time . My local supermarket carries Green Proraso , so I use quit bit of it in the summer .

 

[deafficianado]

Using a shaving brush is an enjoyable aspect of wet shaving. The only time I don’t use one is when I’m traveling or the rare instances when I’m in a rush. I get a great lather by rubbing a hard puck of shaving soap on my face -just like a shaving stick. To build that lather with a brush is preferred but not absolutely necessary.

 

[Atlantic59]

A $9 Razorock brush gives you better results than not using a brush and probably takes less time. I don't see the point of doing without unless you just left your brush at home by mistake. There's no maintenance for a synthetic brush, other than rinsing it and shaking out the water. Trivial level of effort.

 

[tamahagane]

Addendum on shaving gels: I still claim that gels are as effective for me as soaps or creams. However, I have encountered two issues I want to mention for completeness sake - i.e. I want to correct my post here:
Brushless shaving - https://www.badgerandblade.com/forum/threads/brushless-shaving.606940/#post-11360580

Gels come in 2 forms, see wiki - Shave creams - https://www.badgerandblade.com/forum/wiki/Shave_creams#Shave_Gel

• Canned gel leaves me with a burning sensation if not shaved off immediately. This kind of irritation stop once I have wiped off all gel from my face. This issue seems to be due to the natural gas required to propel the contents from the can.
• Gel in a tube (without air) has a different base ( Lauryl glucoside, coco glucoside ) than canned one ( Triethanolamine ). It also gets the job done, but has a different side effect - my face gets red like a tomato for at least an hour after shaving, without any noticeable irritation. I experienced this most recently with "Cosnature shaving gel with hops for sensitive skin", but have tried several others before with the same result.

Bottom line: if I don't want my face on (apparent) fire and yet want to shave without a brush, good old shaving cream is the best compromise for my skin.

 

[tamahagane]

I need to correct myself again. This year I tried shaving foam again (the last time was 2-3 years ago), namely Sante Homme II Caffeine & Açai. What a difference between then (the first foam from Sante) and now! I recall the foam without gas propellants used to be too watery and therefore ineffective. The formulation has improved a lot, now I can get a DFS in less than 2 minutes and without the irritation (and smell from gas) or cuts (from runny lather). The smell reminds me a little of Tabac. I will revisit lavera and logona to see how the competition has fared, but 3 shaves mark me impressed.
I am keeping my brush and soaps for weekends and holidays, when I can afford the time. I still think soaps have the fragrance and ecological advantage.

 

[Tillerman]

I have been using Cremo. Slather it on with my hand and reactivate with water as needed for a 3 pass shave. No mess to clean up when you are in a hurry. I use it daily.

 

[StewB]

I used to shave without a brush, but found that I use less product and it applies more evenly when I use one (I use a Razorock synthetic brush that I got for about $10).