shave oil effect on brushes?

[Queequeg+]

hey, what do you guys think about the effect of shave oils on brushes? Leisureguy (Michael Ham), in his book says he doesnt like to use oils because he thinks they muck up brushes / make them hard to clean, but it also seems that he never particularly liked oils anyway. For my part, I think a good shave oil *essential* to a good shave. No lather can have the same softening and slippery-ing effect as a good oil. But it does seem to make the brushes a bit oily/sticky - which could actually be GOOD for the hair, for all I know. Then again, maybe you just need to shampoo the brush a bit more often. It would be nice if someone who understand hair anatomy and chemistry could weigh in.

Cheers.

 

[Lucky11453]

I use the AOS pre-shave oil and my brushes are fine. I wash my hands with soap after I apply the oil to my face. The oil washes off of my hands pretty easy so I am guess it washes off the brush just as easy. I use the pre-shave oil about 80% of the time so I'm going to say it does not muck up the brush.

 

[mparker762]

No lather can have the same softening and slippery-ing effect as a good oil.

I'm guessing you use shave cream instead of a triple-milled soap...

 

[luvmysuper]

hey, what do you guys think about the effect of shave oils on brushes? Leisureguy (Michael Ham), in his book says he doesnt like to use oils because he thinks they muck up brushes / make them hard to clean, but it also seems that he never particularly liked oils anyway. For my part, I think a good shave oil *essential* to a good shave. No lather can have the same softening and slippery-ing effect as a good oil. But it does seem to make the brushes a bit oily/sticky - which could actually be GOOD for the hair, for all I know. Then again, maybe you just need to shampoo the brush a bit more often. It would be nice if someone who understand hair anatomy and chemistry could weigh in.

Cheers.

I never read the book, but I am in total agreement with him.
I have tried pre-shave oils, it did not improve my shave one tiny bit. It did however gunk up the razor and the brush, made it hard for the lather to stick to the face, and made it more difficult to clean up at the end of the shave.
It's a YMMV thing. If it works for you, that's great, and I couldn't be happier for you, but it is a positive no go for me.

 

[Lucky11453]

I never read the book, but I am in total agreement with him.
I have tried pre-shave oils, it did not improve my shave one tiny bit. It did however gunk up the razor and the brush, made it hard for the lather to stick to the face, and made it more difficult to clean up at the end of the shave.
It's a YMMV thing. If it works for you, that's great, and I couldn't be happier for you, but it is a positive no go for me.

Phil, what oil did you use?

 

[dcnpaulk]

It's ALWAYS a YMMV thing. I use them sometimes, sometimes not. Never found any deleterious effect on my brush. But Queequeg, if you like the extra "sliippery" feeling, you may want to try my favorite pre-shave. I use Cremo cream underneath my lather (soap or cream). Cremo is not oily, but extremely slippery. Honestly, it feels like you sprayed your face with silicon lubricant, or perhaps teflon is a good image. It also lasts well, so it sems to remain for an additional lather-up for another pass XTG.

 

[Razorburne]

It's ALWAYS a YMMV thing. I use them sometimes, sometimes not. Never found any deleterious effect on my brush. But Queequeg, if you like the extra "sliippery" feeling, you may want to try my favorite pre-shave. I use Cremo cream underneath my lather (soap or cream). Cremo is not oily, but extremely slippery. Honestly, it feels like you sprayed your face with silicon lubricant, or perhaps teflon is a good image. It also lasts well, so it sems to remain for an additional lather-up for another pass XTG.

Never thought of using Cremo as a pre-shave.....never used anything as a pre-shave (no oil)...may have to give that a go as I have some Cremo in my den

 

[luvmysuper]

Phil, what oil did you use?

I don't recall the brands. I tried a few, and even tried coconut oil (for hair treatment, from India) over the course of a few months. But this was almost 2 years ago, and I can barely remember what I had for lunch yesterday.

 

[Lucky11453]

I have to say the AOS oil feels pretty oily to me, maybe too oily. I have to wash my hand after using it, but, it does not seem to hurt anything, brush or blade. I'm sure everyone feels different about things like this, I guess the rule is if it works for you use it.

 

[luvmysuper]

I have to say the AOS oil feels pretty oily to me, maybe too oily. I have to wash my hand after using it, but, it does not seem to hurt anything, brush or blade. I'm sure everyone feels different about things like this, I guess the rule is if it works for you use it.

+2

The very heart and soul of YMMV

 

[Go West Young Man]

Phil, what oil did you use?

And how much did you use? I find my shave much better if I add 2, maybe 3 small drops to my face in the shower. I can't imagine that small amount would even be noticeable on the brush.

 

[luvmysuper]

And how much did you use? I find my shave much better if I add 2, maybe 3 small drops to my face in the shower. I can't imagine that small amount would even be noticeable on the brush.

Let me assure you, with the coconut oil, I used far more than 2 or 3 drops.

But I followed the directions on the other stuff I used, and it was very little.
That's why I thought I would splurge with the coconut oil, to see if there was a difference.
At least for me, no difference in the shave at all. But I needed a degreaser to wash my face afterwards.

 

[brian1g]

I stopped using pre-shave oil after I realized how bad it can gum up a brush. It didn't happen very quickly for me but that's what made it hard to figure out why I was getting a rash after shaving and I couldn't make lather as good as I could in the past.

What made it bad is my solution to the rash was..... use more pre-shave oil to protect and moisturize my skin . I finally just went back to the basics and cleaned my brush and razor well, problem solved.

 

[Rancor16]

I use the AOS preshave oil and Shavesecret. I've never had a mucked up brush