Thread: Extra virgin olive oil???

Hi all,

Today in my prep I used a few drops of EVOO for the first time, and found that my skin feels better for it. But, and this is the very questionable part, after the second pass I found myself doing touch ups without water or lather. My skin feels good, a reasonable shave,no nicks,no irritation or anything but this surely cannot be a wise practise. Does anyone else do this or should I get back to the water ASAP?
Thanks, Ryan

If it works for you, it works. It you get good shaves with EVOO, why not use it? Another idea may be a lesser grade of olive oil that does not smell as strongly or a neutral oil, such as canola, which has no smell at all.

There are quite a few members that use, or have used, olive oil as a pre-shave oil. It sounds like it works for you, so why not use it? If you have enough residual oil on your face to allow a touch up without water or lather you really aren't hurting anything, assuming that you aren't irritating your skin.

That's great. EVOO is good for you anyway . But, just to be clear: You ONLY used EVOO and proceeded to shave? or did you use lather after EVOO application?

If the latter, I would suggest cleaning your brush very very thoroughly as oil tends to stick to the bristles and who knows, compromise brush performance over time. EVOO is very soluble in water anyways, but with hard water and other salts in water issues, this may become a problem.

I have used it a couple times in the past, but I had issues with the oil on my blade, and getting the blade clean. I would recommend using a towel to wipe the blade clean (strop it on the towel) to get the oil off the blade.

Matt

I got some coconut oil from my massage therapist, it is the lightest oil I have ever seen, has no oder and works great if my skin is getting a little dry from the cold winters. I bet that would work well for a pre shave as I dint think it would collect on the skin and hence not transfer to the blade or brush. Provided only a bit is used. My therapist uses it as a medium when applying essential oils to the skin, never feels greasy or oily.

Olive oil is a bit gummy on the edge, but it works well in the shave. I suppose coconut oil would be better.

Firstly thanks to all for the advice. Following on from yesterdays success with oil, today I tried to shave with oil only. Seemed to be going okay on the first WTG pass so I wet my face again and tried pass two (ATG, I dont usually do the XTG). Now things were beginning to burn a little bit, but I finished up with the usual touch ups. Cold water rinse, then the alum block - AAARRGGGHH! So I reckon its back to building lather tomorrow and just use the EVOO as prep - or in the kitchen.

There was a fella on here a couple weeks ago talking about how he uses EVOO as a preshave and a postshave (I believe). I have tried it and really love the way my skin feels after the shave. I will say that I have found I only need 3-4 drops for both pre and post. I rub it in my hand to warm it up nicely and apply before my lather and then again after I do aftershave routine. The only negative I've seen is it seems a little like it has broken my face out a little (a couple of acne bumps here and there). One day I hope to get rid of the occasionall acne (I'm 30 years old after all! haha). Oh, and I believe the guy talking about the EVOO that I read was named "skinnychef". But I could be wrong.