Get a great shave and save money too!
Cost Breakdown:
$6 4oz pure grapeseed oil, $9 4oz pure jojoba oil, $5 16 oz castor oil, $5 16 ounce extra virgin oil.
Cost comparison:
Shave secret: $7.01 per ounce (bulk)(walmart)DIY: $1.57 DIY Second batch: $0.94 DIY Third Batch: $0.94 DIY Fourth Batch: $0.94
You could make 4.45 batches of DIY shave oil for the same price as shave secret. Shave secret was chosen as it is widely available and the cheapest I could reasonably find.
You might ask yourself, how this is a rip off by the manufacturer? Well if you calculate cost of goods sold, and a really fair gross profit per part, the manufacturer is more than entitled to a 90% gross profit. Fair enough. At this rate, buying at retail price, they are making roughly 400% gross profit.
I went to buy one, and thought to myself. Why the hell am I paying 400% market price for oils that I could "easily" make myself. Maggardrazors and Shavenation be damned.
After doing some research and figuring out what other products on the market are using which oils I decided to experiment with. Obviously, Your Mileage May Vary.
However, Its quite simple to mix oils. There is nothing fancy going on here, no chemicals, no heat, just good old fashioned elbow grease. If you don't know what that is, then you shouldn't be shaving like a man. Even if you screw it up or don't get the right portions, you still have a damned good shave oil.
There are four basic oils I decided on. Castor, EV Olive Oil, Grapeseed, and Jojoba oils. After doing more research people are suggesting that they just be done in 1 parts. I however am already knowing that Castor is a very dense oil and simply is a lubricant. Therefore when I made my formulation, I used the following:
4 ounces organic grape seed 4 ounces jojoba oil 2 ounces castor 6 ounces EV olive
The mindset is, I wanted something that is really conditioning the skin/beard and not so much on the slickness factor. I am not shaving with the oil. The slickness factor I figure will be coming from the awesome Taconic soap.
Grapeseed oil. This oil is very high in vitamin e and containing pco's.
Jojoba oil. Man this stuff is like miracle oil. It does all kinds of stuff for the skin. Also a fungicide and low rate antibacterial.
Castor oil. Very slick and high viscosity. Gives the umph to the oil.
EV Olive. Extra virgin olive oil is great for the skin. UV and other protections. Also, it "sticks" to the skin.
A quick and simple recipe.
Buy List:
4 oz grapeseed (pref organic) 4 oz jojoba oil (pref pure) 2 oz Castor oil (16oz) 6 ounce olive oil (16oz)
Start with a 16 ounce bottle and make measure marks. Add the oils to the marks and shake the living shit out of it. Done.
1 16 oz bottle divided evenly into four parts.
Add all 4 ounces of grapeseed oil.Add all 4 ounces of jojoba oil. Add 2 ounces castor oil (halfway or so until the next mark) Fill the rest of the Container with EV Olive.