You Pinspire Me
Alright, I admit it: I’ve never been fanatical about keeping my legs silky smooth. I love the feel of freshly shaven legs, but my skin is sensitive – I need the really good razors and the expensive shaving cream: keeping my legs in this fashion is a costly venture.
Even before kids came along, I much preferred to spend my hard-earned money on a new dress or a night out than on expensive toiletries, especially toiletries that were required for tasks that I just didn’t feel like ‘wasting’ time on. Now that the kids are here and I’m not working and I have an even more limited budget… well, let’s just say that I haven’t purchased shaving cream in the last 2 years.
At first, I’d just use conditioner – but my skin is naturally dry, and there just wasn’t enough moisture in conditioner for me. Then one day, I picked up a jar of coconut oil for baking (because I’d heard how absolutely AMAZING it was as a replacement for all other baking oils), only to realize that coconut oil does, indeed, taste like coconuts AND it makes whatever you’re baking taste like coconuts, too. No Thank You. I am not a fan of coconuts.
What to do, then, with this large jar of coconut oil? I started giving myself a weekly coconut oil hair treatment, which my hair loved and thanked me for, and at some point I decided I’d give it a try with shaving, too. Now, it’s strange to shave with oil, especially if you’re used to shaving with cream. The oil doesn’t lather, it doesn’t show you what you’ve shaved & what you haven’t shaved, it doesn’t smell as perfume-y, it’s just different. However, the razors glide like butter, and my skin gets moisturized while I shave! I’ve since switched to using Sweet Almond Oil as it’s much faster to use than coconut oil (it doesn’t harden, so I can just squeeze it out onto my leg instead of using a spoon), and while it’s a little more expensive, it’s still ridiculously cheap compared to shaving cream.
Pros of Shaving with Almond Oil
- It’s cheaper. $4.47 for the shaving cream that I used to use, which would last a month or two (I don’t actually REMEMBER how long it’d last me, so I’m ballparking it!) vs the $8.81 Sweet Almond Oil which will last me about 8 months if I use it just for shaving.
- You moisturize while you shave. I actually go ahead and slather it on my arms & butt, too, while I’m at it in the shower (am I the only one who gets a really dry, itchy butt in the freezing cold Canadian winters?!).
- It’s an all-natural oil – NO strange additives of any kind.
- Almond Oil is rich in vitamins A, B, & E, which are all great for keeping your skin healthy.
- Almond oil reduces inflammation & itching caused by eczema & has been known to heal cracked & broken skin.
- Almond Oil absorbs more easily into your skin than other oils, leaving your skin less ‘greasy’ after application.
- Your razor blades should actually last a little bit longer than when used with shaving cream.
- Space-saving: use it as a make-up remover, whole body moisturizer, facial moisturizer before bed, stretch-mark ‘cream’, skin-soother, and toss all those other products in your bathroom.
Cons of Shaving with Almond Oil
- The bathtub gets a bit slick & should be quickly wiped down after your shower
- Umm, I think that’s about it.
I’d say that the choice is pretty obvious, my friends! Now, you can shave with most oils – baby oil, olive oil, coconut oil, etc. Each have their own particular benefits, but because we use Almond Oil to sooth my daughter’s occasional eczema, I use that as it’s already in the bathroom.
