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Great shave with olive oil and aloe vera

I normally use Nancy Boy preshave oil and aftershave, but today I decided to go natural and use olive oil as a preshave oil and pure aloe vera gel as aftershave.

Olive oil is a lot thinner that NB preshave oil. It goes on really well and it seems that instead of just resting on the skin, the skin absorbs a bit of it. It's difficult to wash completely off, so after 3 passes you can still feel it.

I washed my face in soap to get the rest of it off, but it seemed that some of had been absorbed in my skin. I applied the aloe while my skin was still a bit wet, and it were absorbed completely leaving the skin smooth and cool with no irritation at all.

The shave was much closer than normally, with much less irritation. It seems that the olive oil that was absorbed by my skin stays on and acts as a moisturiser, while the aloe vera cools and soothes the irritation.

What are your thoughts on this?

Christian
 
in my desk someplace is a recipe for shaving oil...it's too kinds of olive oil with a little lavender essential oil and you have just made some kind of shaving oil that is on the market....

and that is all there is too it...

mark the shoeshine boy
 
Christian,
I am a firm believer in the benefits of Olive Oil, I really like the Enchante Cube as a facewash (and as an occasional addition to my lather) and I wouldn't be without my Savon de Marseilles soaps either. One thing I was interested in though, when you used the olive oil as a pre shave, were you also using a brush? The reason I ask is because when I posted a question about the Enchante Cube, someone ( I think it was Kyle) posted about using straight olive oil instead of the Cube and said that it ruined their brush. If I didn't think it would destroy my brush, I would use olive oil as aa pre shave in an instant, therefore I would appreciate hearing more about your experiences.
Warm reagrds,
Alex
 
I'm using a boar brush. I have only used olive oil once and I haven't noticed any changes yet. I think it might get sticky from the oil, but it is possible to remove it with soap.
 
Kent the English brush manufacturers say you can occassionally clean a shaving brush in a little borax.

As to Olive Oil as a shaving oil ..., this is old timer advice, a vegetable oil like rape-seed works also. A number of commercial shaving oils main ingredient is listed as a vegetable oil of some sort with a few essential oils mixed in.

I occassionally use Olive Oil when I shave with a hard soap .., it produces an emulsion when lathering up. It is definately a case of "less is more" otherwise it gets sticky...., A tear-drop amount & no more.

An old Men-U face wash pump dispenser is an excellent container, mine has olive oil and a little tea tree oil shaken in.

Regards
John
 
AJS said:
Christian,
I am a firm believer in the benefits of Olive Oil, I really like the Enchante Cube as a facewash (and as an occasional addition to my lather) and I wouldn't be without my Savon de Marseilles soaps either. One thing I was interested in though, when you used the olive oil as a pre shave, were you also using a brush? The reason I ask is because when I posted a question about the Enchante Cube, someone ( I think it was Kyle) posted about using straight olive oil instead of the Cube and said that it ruined their brush. If I didn't think it would destroy my brush, I would use olive oil as aa pre shave in an instant, therefore I would appreciate hearing more about your experiences.
Warm reagrds,
Alex
It did not work well and gunked my brush up badly. Seeing that it was an older brush and a very cheap one, I did not bother trying to salvage/clean it. It is very likely that a borax soak would have improved its condition and maybe even fully restored it, however, I can't see justifying the risk, especially if you are using a high end brush.
 
I made my own pre-shave oil using a 50/50 mix of Olive Oil & Vitamin E Oil and added some Sandlewood EO. it works very well!:001_smile
 
I've used Olive Oil as a pre-shave treatment as well... it works great, and I've never noticed any ill effects on my brush. It did, however, tend to clog my pores... I don't use it anymore.
 
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