Thread: mineral oil as a pre shave

I have seen things for pre shave oils, and about a year ago i brought a crappy pre shave lotion that dried my skin to hell. then i heard of people using mineral oil, or baby oil. They used a touch of it to properly moisturize, and protect there skin from nicks, and razor burn. Now my question is will the oil clog up my skin and cause my already bad acne to worsen, will the oil do its job, and will it compare to the conventional pre shave oil. I am looking for a great and comfortable shave. I can already get pretty close, but i do have the irritating nick, or slight razor burn after wards. I have very sensitive skin, i am sure my angel is correct and i do avoid using pressure.

I had major bad acne as a teen, need to get antibiotics to clean it up. ashaving routine maybe a good thing for you because of the proper care of your face on a daily basis involved. If you use an exfoliator ( i recommend st Ives apricot scrub) use it genty, do not rub it in your face for all you're worth, and only use once or twice a week. The rest of the time use a good quality deep cleanser (loreal for men active is good) it foams up and is gentle. If you do that before you shave, and use the baby oil sparingly, then give your face another wash after you finish (clean water) you should be fine. Or you can put a few drops of glycerine in to the lather instead.

Be careful shaving round the acne though, give it a chance to clear up.

FWIW (I'm not a dermatologist) --

It seems to me that mineral oil is the _worst possible oil_ for clogging pores and making acne worse!

I have two suggestions for water-soluble products to use as pre-shaves:

1. Hair conditioner -- apply to face during shower, do not dry face, lather right over the hair conditioner; avoid products with silicones (any ingredient ending in ". . .cone");

2. Astroglide, or other "water-soluble" personal lubricants (or straight glycerin). Apply to face after shower, and/or mix with lather.

Either one of those will offer some protection from the razor's edge, and they'll wash off with water.

Charles

Originally Posted by Themagicturtle

I have seen things for pre shave oil
...snip...
then i heard of people using mineral oil, or baby oil.
...snip....

Since all faces are different you might just try it.

One caution is that the only thing that softens whiskers for
me is water. If you apply mineral oil it could keep
water from doing its part. If you shave after a shower
it could be a good thing to keep that moisture active...

A preshave oil can make the frame/ body of a razor
glide better (DE or tossable) . It is unclear to me if it helps an open
blade straight razor. A tighter lather (small bubbles)
can do much the same thing. Face lathering can
help me get a great shave...

Sensitive skin.. use a very light touch.

You might also try some vitamin E cream on the face and lather over the top of it after a couple of minutes. I got a good close shave the other day when I tried that. But it may have just been a good shave day too. I've only tried it once, but I plan on giving it another go. It was just circumstance that had me do it the first time as the 'phone was ringing just as I got out of the shower. So I slapped on a thin layer of vitamin E to try to retain some moisture.


Mick

Originally Posted by MickR

You might also try some vitamin E cream on the face and lather over the top of it after a couple of minutes. . . .

I wonder what the base of the cream was ? I suspect the vitamin E content was incidental.

Charles

Originally Posted by cpcohen1945

I wonder what the base of the cream was ? I suspect the vitamin E content was incidental.

Charles

Ask and ye shall recieve... The list as follows:

Water
Glycerine (10%)
Sorbitol
Light Mineral Oil
Stearic acid (Doesn't sound good...Maybe the acid was the trick )
Cetyl Stearyl Alcohol
Ipethanolamine
Wheatgerm oil (natural vitamin e)
Cetomacrogol
Imidozalidinyl Urea (some kind of p!ss)
Sodium Benzoate Chloracetamide
Tetrasodium E.D.T.A
???facrisol

I'll let the resident chemist tell you whether or not any of that suff is harmful or not. They can also correct any possible errors I may have made, as the writing is so damn small I just about gave myself a migraine trying to read it .


Mick

Originally Posted by MickR

Ask and ye shall recieve... The list as follows:

Water
Glycerine (10%)
Sorbitol
Light Mineral Oil
Stearic acid (Doesn't sound good...Maybe the acid was the trick )
Cetyl Stearyl Alcohol
Ipethanolamine
Wheatgerm oil (natural vitamin e)
Cetomacrogol
Imidozalidinyl Urea (some kind of p!ss)
Sodium Benzoate Chloracetamide
Tetrasodium E.D.T.A
???facrisol

I'll let the resident chemist tell you whether or not any of that suff is harmful or not. They can also correct any possible errors I may have made, as the writing is so damn small I just about gave myself a migraine trying to read it .


Mick

This looks like a normal and common list:
Water ... for hydration
Glycerin ... smoothness, providing lubrication
Sorbitol ... a humectant and thickener.
Mineral oil.. to maintain hydration and lubrication
Stearic acid .. to produce a pearly effect in shampoos, soaps (used in everything)
.....
Stuff for common and widely used preservative systems. antimicrobial preservative.

On stearic acid:

Stearic acid - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I see "stearic acid" in almost every soap-like product I look at. I thought it _was_ soap! <g> I've never looked at sorbitol --

Sorbitol - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I suspect you'd get a similar effect by using baby oil or mineral oil (thicker) as a pre-shave, and adding some glycerin to your lather to make "uberlather".

Whatever works . . . <g>

Charles

In my opinion, for my skin, it would be one of the worst ideas in the world re shaving preparation. I find oil blocks the pores as mentioned, in fact I don't advocate any pre shave at all. I believe all that is needed is a good soap/cream, brush and a properly honed razor. Technique will make more of a difference than any pre shave.