At the Y I saw a guy shaving his face and head. No shaving cream, no soap. Turns out he’s been using mouthwash for years. Said is was best to use a brand with plaque remover and apply to a dry face. Tried it the next morning. Works like a charm. Figure the alcohol content has something to do with it. Anyone know for sure?
Mouthwash is water, alcohol (in most brands) and a trace of flavoring and other chemicals. Alcohol is a drying agent, the base for most aftershaves. I can’t imagine how it facilitates shaving, where you want lubricant of some kind to soften the hairs and allow the blade to slide against the skin. (Whapping yourself with some alkyhol then feels good as it dries and tightens the skin.)
Sounds like a non-solution that happens to work for one guy.
Don’t most mouthwashes also contain essential oils? I’ve seen brands of shaving cream containing essential oils marketed on the internet, I’ve never tried them myself though.
I just went and tried it with some Corsodyl from a decade-old bottle. It worked! It definitely has some lubricating qualities. According to the label, it contains some sorbitol and hydrated polyoxytricin oil besides water and alcohol.
I did the other cheek with hand soap and water. No difference, really.
So, if you have a lot of old mouthwash you don’t want to wash your mouth with, there’s still a way to put it to use!
I can’t imagine mouthwash contains enough of any kind of oil to aid shaving, not against the alcohol’s effects.
I suspect that the guy tried this once because all he had was mouthwash, found it “worked,” and decided it was the best way. Kind of like doing laundry without any soap… it will come out surprisingly clean in many cases, but it’s not the “best” way to get clothes clean.
But all shavers are of course free to try it for a week and compare it with other methods.
As relayed to me, he was on a business trip and discovered he was without shaving cream. Tried different things, mouthwash worked best. I found it to be just as smooth as shaving cream.
FWIW, I just tried it with about 4-5 days of growth on me, and the mouthwash didn’t do a lick of difference, so far as I could tell. It was too painful to shave with it. I don’t use shaving cream, but, for me, the trick is that I need my face nice and hot, either after a long hot shower or by putting the hottest water I can stand on a washcloth and dipping my face into it. Think of those hot cloths you used to get on long flights. I do that along with a bit of soap (either regular soap, bar soap, or even shampoo) and the blade goes through like butter. I’m not even entirely sure I need the soap, but it seems like it helps the blade slide through easier. No pain whatsoever.
This sounds like the prank where people recommend that you charge your cellphone in the microwave. If others on this board had not tried it, I would have guessed it to be an exercise in skin burn.
FWIW I shave with hot water and Ivory bar soap.
I shave immediately out of the shower, using a bar of Mexican laundry soap, about a buck a pound and lathers nicely with no added chemicals or scents. Certainly cheaper than mouthwash. The mouthwash might work fine, but I have no compelling incentive to switch to it, and it’s far from likely I’d ever be in a situation where mouthwash is ready at hand, but there is no soap to be found…
I use mouthwash to rinse the toothpaste slime from my mouth.
I don’t shave.
Well, I tried rinsing my mouth with shaving gel (Edge brand) and found it a uniquely disagreeable experience.
Back in the 50s my Dad used Gleem brand toothpaste and Brylcreem brand hair gel. Those of us of a certain age will recognize both brands.
Both of which came in metal squeeze tubes with a bold red stripe against a white background. In the dim light of a pre-dawn bathroom they’re almost identical looking.
He said Brylcreem was one of the worst taste sensations in his life and he used to regularly siphon gasoline by mouth. :eek:
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Another vote that mouthwash as shaving aid is silly. I grow beard pretty quickly. Conveniently it’s blond going / gone gray or else I’d look like Dick Nixon.
I’ve shaved with just water and nothing else for years. Learned to get used to it when out in the field with the Army. It pulls and drags a bit, but that’s quicker than fussing with shave cream, etc. Just keep the blade(s) sharp and unobstructed.
If you shave daily you probably don’t need anything more than water. If I skip a couple days I’ll relent and use hand soap to lather up my face. Which improves the shave enough that I may start doing that full time. Maybe.
Since head hair isn’t as wiry as face hair, the OP’s head shaver could use water as well as mouthwash or aftershave or cheap bar scotch or antifreeze. Lube is nice-to-have, not need-to-have.
A hypothesis: alcohol makes the follicle contract, “gripping” the base of the hair more tightly and making it easier to cut cleanly?
However, of course we don’t need to speculate on explanatory mechanism until we have demonstrated and effect that needs to be explained. I need to shave today. I will conduct an experiment with pure water as a control vs alcohol-based mouthwash and report back.
I can also report that I’ve tried it and it works. However, the drying effect of the alcohol leaves my skin feeling very tight and stretched afterwards, so for me it isn’t worth it. The actual shaving, though, is quite pleasant - you get a lovely razor glide.
Well, I just tried it. I concur that it feels better and seems to give a close shave more easily than with just water.
By the way, my cell phone now seems to have stopped completely. Does the battery initially fade before it comes back? How long does it need to stay in the microwave to get a full charge?
And, your face smells so nice!
I can also confirm that shaving cream does not taste good.
I think you’re right. It’s the same principle employed by Lectric Shave, a product I remember using during my brief infatuation with expensive electric shavers many years ago. Lectric Shave is just alcohol with some lubricating agents and fragrance–probably not too far removed from mouthwash.
I was ass/u/ming the guy referred to in the OP was using a blade, not an electric razor. I could see where an alcohol-based prep might make electric shaving… different.
I usually start with a minute and then do 10 seconds at a time. Alternatively, you could try 2 minutes at 50%. Be sure to stir it half way through, so it gets a nice even charge. Did you do that? Maybe all your charge is on one side so it just looks low.