Just want to share my experiences with using the Grooming Dept preshave cream. I'm on my second tub and I think it's worth mentioning the difference it has made in elevating the results of my shaves. You might have come across this very plain looking jar in various SOTD pictures.
It's a pretty soft cream with a slight almond scent that is hard to detect. This particular one is unscented though there are a few variations with coolant and others that are lightly scented (see Grooming Dept site).
Here's how I personally use this magical cream...
I shave with a sink or wash basin full of warm water. As that is filling with water i'll wet my hands and take an almond sized amount of cream and gently spread it around the beard. I will use the palms of my hands to "tap" the surface of the sink water to hydrate the cream and keep working it into the beard. This tapping process is repeated over and over until the preshave is making quite a mess over the counter- try to avoid rubbing hard and use only the surface of your palms to work the cream into the beard-as little pressure as it takes. By now your hands feel like you've just handled a catfish- they should be slippery and wet. I rinse them in the sink water and take note to dry them carefully. This stuff is dangerously slick- don't pick up any cutting instruments until you've dried them thoroughly. Proceed with your shave and lathering as normal. If you're taking multiple passes don't rinse thoroughly because the preshave will leave residual slickness that will benefit the next passes. Simply tap your hands in water to clean up and then reapply lather.
The preshave will increases the slickness of your soaps during the pass and add residual slickness after you've picked up lather- and add any post shave feel they may be lacking. I find this preshave works exceptionally well with sub performing shave soaps- MdC particularly is one that benefits from this preshave because the scents are amazing and I enjoy using it so much but found results to be less than stellar compared to my regular high performing rotation. The preshave solves that conundrum. I've found the preshave is beneficial if I just need a shave and haven't showered because it hydrates things and helps with beard prep on a dry face- rinsing under running water doesn't cut it for me. If you're one to use a hot towel for prep, this preshave would negate the need for that.
The unscented version doesn't conflict with most if not all scents. Where I think you might notice a slight change would be very light scented soaps (eg Palmolive) or light citrus scents. I don't notice a change in scent, though its probably most noticable with Palmolive stick to my nose and changes the scent to slightly mossy. I can't speak for the cool version and scented ones.
Where this preshave makes less of a difference is mainly if you're using very excellent performing soaps and/or especially if you've taken a hot shower right before a shave. I still believe even with the great soaps we have available to us it's worth keeping a jar of this around just because it makes a huge difference with beard prep-if you know, you know.
It's a pretty soft cream with a slight almond scent that is hard to detect. This particular one is unscented though there are a few variations with coolant and others that are lightly scented (see Grooming Dept site).
Here's how I personally use this magical cream...
I shave with a sink or wash basin full of warm water. As that is filling with water i'll wet my hands and take an almond sized amount of cream and gently spread it around the beard. I will use the palms of my hands to "tap" the surface of the sink water to hydrate the cream and keep working it into the beard. This tapping process is repeated over and over until the preshave is making quite a mess over the counter- try to avoid rubbing hard and use only the surface of your palms to work the cream into the beard-as little pressure as it takes. By now your hands feel like you've just handled a catfish- they should be slippery and wet. I rinse them in the sink water and take note to dry them carefully. This stuff is dangerously slick- don't pick up any cutting instruments until you've dried them thoroughly. Proceed with your shave and lathering as normal. If you're taking multiple passes don't rinse thoroughly because the preshave will leave residual slickness that will benefit the next passes. Simply tap your hands in water to clean up and then reapply lather.
The preshave will increases the slickness of your soaps during the pass and add residual slickness after you've picked up lather- and add any post shave feel they may be lacking. I find this preshave works exceptionally well with sub performing shave soaps- MdC particularly is one that benefits from this preshave because the scents are amazing and I enjoy using it so much but found results to be less than stellar compared to my regular high performing rotation. The preshave solves that conundrum. I've found the preshave is beneficial if I just need a shave and haven't showered because it hydrates things and helps with beard prep on a dry face- rinsing under running water doesn't cut it for me. If you're one to use a hot towel for prep, this preshave would negate the need for that.
The unscented version doesn't conflict with most if not all scents. Where I think you might notice a slight change would be very light scented soaps (eg Palmolive) or light citrus scents. I don't notice a change in scent, though its probably most noticable with Palmolive stick to my nose and changes the scent to slightly mossy. I can't speak for the cool version and scented ones.
Where this preshave makes less of a difference is mainly if you're using very excellent performing soaps and/or especially if you've taken a hot shower right before a shave. I still believe even with the great soaps we have available to us it's worth keeping a jar of this around just because it makes a huge difference with beard prep-if you know, you know.
