My wife came home with a tub of coconut oil today. She uses it as a substitute for cooking oil and as an alternative to store bought face cream for my twins. Today I decided to use it as pre-shave oil. I tend to not use per-shave oil, but I thought I would give it a try and report the results.

If you have never seen or used coconut oil it comes as a solid, usually in a tub or jar. It quickly becomes a liquid when you rub it between your hands. It doesn’t become so liquefied that it runs through your fingers like some “proper” pre-shave oils, but it also no where close to a pre-shave cream like the Proraso Pre-shave Cream.

Lets start with the positives

The smell. You can’t beat it really. Unless you absolutely hate the smell of coconuts, the scent is sure to spark some memories – summer, the beach, Mounds chocolate bars. It smell great in your hands and on you face. I did find that after applying the shaving cream the smell quickly took a back seat to the scent from the shave soap – in the case today the Edwin Jagger Sea Buckthorn shave soap.

The cost savings can’t be denied either. Compared to some shave oils out there, you could set up a vacation fund with the money saved.

The results

As mentioned above, I tend to not use pre-shave oil, and the initial impression proved that I was making the right choice. What has changed my mind is when I finished my shave. I could honestly say that I had zero razor irritation. Just a cold cloth and I was on my way.

Now the cons.

Oil on the fingers makes holding your razor a bit difficult. Even after wiping with a towel the slippery fingers maintain. Not that differs too much from standard shave oil, but still needs to be mentioned.

The other con being the big tub of coconut oil I your shave den. If you decided to go this route you may want to invest in some sort of vessel to hold your coconut oil.

Final thoughts. I always had trouble dishing out the cash for pre-shave oil. But the coconut oil offers a logic solution and I can count on my wife to ensure I never run out.

Have your say. Have you used coconut oil or any other non tradition product as a pre-shave oil substitute?



