Here is a pre-shave oil that I made and which works well for me -- 3 Tablespoons each of Jojoba oil, Grapeseed oil, Extra Virgin Olive oil, Castor oil. 20 drops each of Tea Tree oil, Lavendar oil, Eucalyptus oil -- add more or less depending on preference.
I wash my face first and apply a hot towel ... then apply the pre-shave oil and massage it into my face ... then lather and shave.
A generous face rub-down with a good PSO or PSC before lathering provides me with an extra layer of slickness and protection.
Yup! And Dustin, "good" doesn't have to come expensive. I've used Art of Shaving PSO at $25 for two ounces (gift card for my birthday) and my own PSO for maybe $1.50 - can't tell the difference, except that I like the scents that I make better.
I followed your recipe. Pre-shave oil has changed the outcome of my shave. Fantastic! Irritation FREE! Thank you for posting!
I made my own using this recipe with extra virgin olive oil and some musk oil. Works like a charm though I find the olive oil just masks the scent. Used yesterday for the first time. Im just hoping it wont give me acne.
I agree CJames. My favorite PSO is American Crew. I like that it is much thinner and slicker to me than AOS and is practically half the price. I also tried a 1:1 homemade of evo/caster and was not happy with results. It was too thick on my face for my liking. It felt like a coat of grease instead of a slippery ultra thin lubricant that the Crew is. Please tell me if you think your mix of caster/jojoba/grape/evo you posted later is close to american crew in consistency (viscosity) and slickness. If so, I'm getting those other oils and will give your recipe a try.
Purchased some Castor Oil last night, and, with EVO, created a PSO based on the formula Sara-s posted. Went through my routine of washing face, hot towel for a minute, and then applied the PSO...I have to say that the shaving experience was much better, and it helped produce a BBS shave in 3 passes. Thanks for the tutorial
First of all, thanks to everyone for sharing their "secret recipes" for their shave oils. I've been using Shave Secret for several years, and I am a big fan. I recently purchased some castor and olive oils, and I'm trying to decide what else to add for my first bottle. A big thank you to CJames for mentioning his American Crew SO; I've been using AC hair products for over a decade, but I had no idea they made shaving products.
I think the slickness in their formula is mainly due to a higher level of grapeseed oil, which is super slick! My recent formulas are much higher on grapeseed and jojoba and less of the castor oil. Grapeseed is fairly inexpensive as well, jojoba not so much.
I continued to drop the castor oil. The mix is mainly grapeseed first, jojoba second, castor and olive last with only small amounts. This gets much closer to the viscosity of AC PSO.
Wow, I read every single comment. I just couldn't help it, I was sucked in! I recently received Shave Secret and generally use it only with my most aggressive razors. Well, I think I have a lot of these oils here so I'll let you know. Thanks to every one for posting!
Well I put together a PSO from ingredients that I had here. I did use it this morning and I think it might be just a touch thick for my taste. I'll use it a few more times to know for sure. If I decide to thin it out some, I'll most likely add jojoba or even grape seed oil since they are not as thick (from my recollection) as olive oil etc. Anyway, here is what I put together. Olive oil 2 oz Castor oil .75 oz Vitamin E oil .25 oz Lavender EO 30 drops Eucalyptus EO 10 drops I really think this recipe would benefit from 1 oz of jojoba oil to thin it out. I'll use it again in the next day or two and start with half an oz. Here is the container I used as well. I bought it several years ago to put shampoo in for camping. It has a hole just a little bigger than dropper sized.
Made some last week. Added eucalyptus massage oil for scent. Works great. Wife..."That's expensive olive oil your using!"
I use Jojoba, almond, and vitamin E oils. I find preshave oil helps and making your own is definitely cheaper in the long run.
