Thread: Olive vs Baby oil?

Hi people, I have heard that you can use both olive oil and baby oil to protect a razor from rust, I know that a mix of alchohol and mineral oil is probably the best but I need a purchase that wont take much explaining to the wife (saving up credit for a posher razor in a few months or so), so I was hoping that one of these would be acceptable as I have them lying around the house, does anyone have any thoughts as to which would be better?
I am hoping to use it for daily protection as my bathroom can get pretty humid, also hoping that either of these wont need to be cleaned off prior to a quick strop and shave.

Cheers, Sillyfishyboy

Pick up some sewing machine oil and share it with her.

It works very well on razors.

Lynn

Baby Oil is just mineral oil with some scent added to it.....

Originally Posted by sillyfishyboy

Hi people, I have heard that you can use both olive oil and baby oil to protect a razor from rust, I know that a mix of alchohol and mineral oil is probably the best but I need a purchase that wont take much explaining to the wife (saving up credit for a posher razor in a few months or so), so I was hoping that one of these would be acceptable as I have them lying around the house, does anyone have any thoughts as to which would be better?
I am hoping to use it for daily protection as my bathroom can get pretty humid, also hoping that either of these wont need to be cleaned off prior to a quick strop and shave.

Cheers, Sillyfishyboy

Originally Posted by Slartibartfast

Baby Oil is just mineral oil with some scent added to it.....

Exactly, some other possibilities are sewing machinge oil (as Lynn pointed out), honing oil (sold in knife stores and other places that sell oil stones, usually food grade white oil), which also works well as a light house hold lubricating oil.

I just read your post and the one part about not cleaning of the oil prior to stropping struck me as odd...

I would reccomend wiping off any oil that you might put on any razor before stropping / shaving......

Originally Posted by gssixgun

I would reccomend wiping off any oil that you might put on any razor before stropping / shaving......

Thanks, I thought I had read that stropping without cleaning off oil will help to condition the strop, but some oils will still need to be cleaned further to prevent skin irritation, however I have probably misunderstood. am I ok to just wipe off oil with a cloth/toilet paper or does it need to be rubbed down with alchohol?

Originally Posted by sillyfishyboy

Thanks, I thought I had read that stropping without cleaning off oil will help to condition the strop, but some oils will still need to be cleaned further to prevent skin irritation, however I have probably misunderstood. am I ok to just wipe off oil with a cloth/toilet paper or does it need to be rubbed down with alchohol?

Mineral oil can be taken off just by whiping. It is not the same as machine oil, it is not greasy, and can't be used for lubricating or on oil stones(as far as I know)

I use either mineral oil or baby oil, whichever is at hand at the moment. I just wipe the oil off prior to stropping, then after the shave I dry then wipe a thin layer onto the blade and monkeys tail. I have 3 reasons for using it: It was recommended by a heavy machine manufacturer for use to keep the machine from rusting, it's cheap & easily found, and a bottle lasts a really long time.

Thanks very much guys, exactly what I wanted to know!