Our Top Five Pre Shave Treatments
Good preparation is essential for a close, smooth and irritation free shave. This step is even more important if you have sensitive skin, or suffer from ingrown hairs or razor bump. The team here at Executive Shaving have been debating the merits of some of the different pre shave treatments that we currently stock, and we decided to draw up a list of the best.
After much discussion we came up with this top five list. Hopefully it will help guide you when deciding which pre shave treatment to choose, from the plethora available today.
Number 5 - Pre Shave Oil
Favoured by many wet shavers, pre shave oils are a combination of various natural oils. Designed to be applied directly to wet skin, the oil softens your beard hair and creates a thin barrier between your skin and shaving lather when applied to your face. This layer gives an extra level of lubrication to your razor blade and helps to improve razor glide, this in turn helps to reduce razor burn.
Our current favourite pre shave oils is our Executive Shaving Pre-Shave Oil
Number 4 - Pre Shave Gel
Not as commonly available as most other pre shave treatments, pre shave gels are a great non-greasy alternative to oils. These gels provide an great ultra-smooth razor glide with no burn or pain giving excellent protection against irritation.
Our current favourite pre shave gel is Taylor of Old Bond Street pre shave herbal gel. This gel lifts the beard hairs slightly to prepare them for shaving, the gel also gives great lubrication to the razor blade as you shave. This gel is ideal for shavers who suffer from sensitive skin, or for those with a heavier, coarser beard.
Number 3 - Skin Food
Skin food is an extremely versatile shaving product, one that can be used as a pre shave treatment, a post shave soother and even mixed in with your shaving lather to add extra glide. The glycerine based skin food softens your beard hairs, protects your skin and increases razor glide. It helps to prevent skin irritations such as razor burn, razor bump and ingrown hairs. It also moisturises and soothes newly shaved skin.
Our current favourite skin food for use as a pre shave treatment is the Geo. F. Trumper sandalwood skin food, closely followed by the Extract of West Indian Limes skin food.
Number 2 - Pre Shave Cream
A good quality pre shave cream is non-greasy, easy to use and relatively inexpensive. These creams soften beard hairs, protect skin and reduce irritation all by creating a smooth layer on your face between the razor blade edge, shaving lather and your skin. Their non-greasy formula means they don't leave any residue around the sink, or clog up your razor during shaving.
It was a difficult choice for us, but the favourite pre shave cream the team selected was the Proraso Anti Irritation Pre and Post shave cream for sensitive skin. This pre shave cream is an institution in the shaving world. All Proraso's heritage and expertise have gone in to creating this cream. It incorporates green tea, oatmeal and glycerine to reduce shaving irritation, shaving bump and razor burn. It is so good you can use it as a post shave soother too.
Number 1 - Pre Shave Soap
Our number one, most popular and recommend pre shave treatment is the humble pre shave soap. For the best value, the best performance and speed, you will find a good pre shave soap hard to beat. These glycerine based soaps do everything you need to prepare your skin for the closest. smoothest possible shave. Extremely good value, these soaps are inexpensive to buy and will last for many months continuous use. All of the team at Executive Shaving who shave have used them and rate them very highly.
Our favourites here is the Executive Shaving Patchouli & Lime Natural Soap. Available in five different scents, all of which are fantastic, they are quite simply excellent.
Well that's our top five. You can view all our pre shave treatments here.