How to Shave Without Shaving Cream? 7 Shaving Cream Alternatives

Not so many people are good at learning things on their own, but when it comes to the young adult stage; that high school period is when we tend to discover some superpower abilities in ourselves. Shaving is one of them. 

Could you remember the experience you’ve had while shaving your face for the first time? Not everyone would be able to remember his first shaving experience, but in my case, I can vividly remember.

While getting to shave for the first time, I used a cartridge razor blade to get the job done, but the fear not to scratch myself then was intense; I’m one of those soft-skinned dudes; I guess that’s why facial hairs scared me then.

Well enough, I got a smooth shave then, like I was taught how to do it by someone when no one ever showed me how to shave. I watched my dad and uncle shave, sometimes with manual razors, and other times with electric trimmers, in both cases, I don’t think that was where I had my inspiration from. Also, the question was how to shave without shaving cream?

While using the blade, I didn’t care to use shaving cream or any other moisturizer available, maybe it was because I was just eager to get the hair shaved and forgot to use it or something else. Therefore, I saw no need for it, but after quite a few shavings with blades, I noticed some skin patches and the shave wasn’t so close.

That was enough to tell me that I wasn’t doing it well enough, so I had to find a solution to those spots. Instead of a doctor, I headed straight to an older friend who advised me to apply shaving balm before shaving with blades, that he had a similar experience while shaving his beard too.

I did as advised, and I noticed improvements, and then a cure. 

Do you know one thing I’ve experienced besides the cure to the spots? It was a smoother shave. Since then, I have considered using shaving cream to shave my facial hair, of utmost necessity. At this point, you might be wondering if I’m now a 100% member of the shaving cream gang. Well, I’m out of initiation because further experiences revealed to me that there is more to shaving than using shaving gel or cream.

So, back to our topic; can you shave without cream? or let me put it this way; do you need shaving cream to shave, if you do, then what happens when you run out of shaving cream? 

If you are skeptical about having an answer to these questions yourself, don’t worry; just make sure you hold on tightly so you won’t fall off the ride, as I’m going to drive us through the concept of shaving without cream, and if there are other alternatives to commercial creams, we will look into them as well. 

So let’s head to the answer.

Why Shave With a Shaving Cream? Benefits of Using Shaving Cream

Using shaving cream to shave is not a necessity, and someone’s need to shave with it doesn’t mean that you also have to answer by following the same pattern. 

Many men are doing great, shaving without shaving cream. Also, many others were not doing that great by not using it.

First and foremost, let’s start by looking through the essence of using commercially available cream whenever you need to shave ingrown hairs, and from there, we can know what we are/not missing when we don’t use it.

Hydrates the Hairs

When you apply shaving cream before you shave, it gets your facial hair moisturized. The essence of this is to make the hair soft and easy to cut.

Since the razor blade finds it easier to cut through your hair when it is hydrated, it in return provides you comfort in the process. 

Lubricates the Skin

Shaving creams are well known for their ability to help get rid by lubricating the friction between our dry skin layers and the razor.

In the case of men with sensitive skin, this is of super advantage, because it greatly reduces the possibilities of skin irritation that could result in redness, razor bumps, or nicks and cuts.

Shave Tracking

Wherever you run your blade across, provided you’ve applied shaving cream, the place becomes vacant of the lotion, since it sweeps both the cream and hairs at your face area.

Therefore, the cream can help you to keep track of the face area you’ve already shaved.

7 Best Shaving Cream Alternatives

Now that we’ve known what a shaving cream does, and the support it provides to us when we use it to shave our face, we are fractions away from solving the puzzle behind shaving without cream.

What we need to do next is to replace shaving cream or even provide more of the advantages that using cream provides, whenever we run out of shaving cream, or just don’t want to use it.

Fortunately, there are more than enough alternatives to shaving cream, and most of them could be used to prevent the annoyance of the skin and provide you with a better close shave, in addition to many other benefits you may get while using cream.

Hair Conditioner and Shampoo

The use of hair conditioner is not a well-talked-about aspect of grooming, particularly in men, I believe we underrate it, and here’s why:

I can’t find enough justification for certain aspects of this, but some experts believe that there are instances where hair conditioners could double the effectiveness of shaving cream when it comes to providing a better shaving experience. 

One of these is making the hair and skin soft.

Well, even though we underestimate the potential of using them, hair conditioners and shampoo have proven to be among the best alternatives for shaving creams. 

So, feel free to try out replacing your cream with a good hair conditioner or shampoo whenever you have the chance, I’d love to have your input in the comment section, your experience, outcome, and justification about using a hair conditioner or shampoo before shaving your beard after you give it a try.

Peanut Butter Or Shea Butter

Now your eyes may be blinking, oh it did blinks; as you find this, topping up to the second in the list of the cream alternatives; probably because you know the best place to find it in your house was in the kitchen. 

Although these lists are in no way arranged by any order, peanut butter or shea butter still deserves to be acknowledged as early as possible.

Before I tell you how effective using peanut gel could be, when replacing your shaving cream with it, let me remind you what you probably know. 

This is nothing more than its compositions.

It is composed of essential nutrients and calories in the body, such as vitamins, minerals, fats, carbohydrates, and proteins. Good for the body right?

Well, it is also among the important skincare products, and since many people love to cut the cost of things they need, kitchen items seem to be getting a lot of recognition, especially from naturalists. 

Whether your face suffers from acne, dehydration, or sensitivity, any kind of shea butter has the potential to provide you with it as a solution. So, when you apply it in place of shaving cream, you’re not only going to get relaxed hair and easier shaving but also leave your skin softer and healthier.

Moreover, you don’t necessarily require a post-shave lotion or cream, when you use peanut butter.

Soap

This is one of the frequent questions men ask about shaving. Many people ask if it is advisable to use shaving soap in place of shaving cream, and the answer is yes. Soap can be used in place of shaving cream.

However, you need to exercise some level of caution when it comes to shaving with it.

To put soap into perspective when it comes to the best alternatives for shaving cream, it isn’t that good of an option to be sincere.

When it comes to ease of use and cost-effectiveness, then soap is dope. All you need is to lather some foam up and you are good to start shaving, you don’t need to wait for your ingrown hairs to get loose. Make sure the lather foam is all around the area.

However, let me explain the point where I said soap may not be the best option for you. Soap lather doesn’t provide you with enough lubrication that you may require; this is why you can easily get nicks and cuts when you use the lather in place of shaving cream.

Even when soap is not among the best alternatives to shaving with a cream, you can increase the chances of getting a better shave when you seek the appropriate soap that is good for shaving.

Baby Oils Or Pre Shave Oil

There’s a moderate level of disparity between several body products that different people could use.

Some are made purposely based on gender while you may find some other bodies or skin products have their difference based on age groups.

However, there are certain cases where even if you cross over your lane, there is no problem. In this case, you can use typical baby oil; yes you got it right, that oil your baby uses for his/her body after bath.

Baby oil is nothing but a mineral oil that is mixed with fragrance to give the good scent it has. 

The mineral oil is made up of hydrocarbons from petroleum, so it has nothing toxic or biocidal present in it. 

This is why it is used in babies’ delicate and soft skins. 

Women were the first to unlock the secret behind using Baby oil, and they use it to shave their legs, due to the level of moisture, nutrition and comfort it provides them.

Similarly, a pre-shave oil in men helps serve as an alternative to shaving cream. The outcomes of shaving using oil and that of shaving cream are relatively similar.

Give that baby oil a try now, and come back to give us your result, but make sure you buy your separate own, so you don’t finish that innocent baby’s oil before its usual finishing time.

One issue you might find displeasing about the use of baby oil is that it leaves your face a bit oily and slippy aftershave, but washing your face is enough to get you good.

Essential Oils (avocado oil, coconut oil)

Baby oils are perfect for the shaving task, but another way to get it done is by using essential oils. 

Chances are that you’ve heard a lot about how useful certain essential oils are to the skin and hair, but due to familiarity or another reason, we chose to go for the well-known among them such as olive oil and coconut oil.

There are additional essential oils besides the above that would provide us with better facial hair shave and aftershave hair care, such as moringa oil, almond oil, and the rest. 

The list is huge, so you may need to figure out a time to learn about the sets of options you have available, from the varieties of essential oils out there.

Water

Now that I mention water, some people will be like; what the heck! Well, I bet you’ll agree with me when I tell you the following.

Water is a substitute for shaving lotion to a certain extent. Wet shaving might be a good idea for some people. Several people are lucky enough to have skin that endures the basic stress of a blade, without easily getting cut or razor burned, compared to a man with very sensitive skin.

If you are fortunate enough to have that kind of skin, then wet shaving might be a good idea.

Moreover, hot water is a very good shaving cream replacement. 

This is because the giveaway steam in hot water when we shower not only softens the skin and hair but also opens up the hair follicles or pores.

Open pores are very essential in reducing the risk of acne, so it’s good for men’s grooming.

This is why it is recommended that you shave immediately after a hot water body wash or shower.

Raw Honey

I almost concluded this list without adding honey to the list, but thankfully, I just realized what I could have had you guys miss by skipping this source. So, here comes honey, as an alternative source to shaving cream or gel.

Honey is available in almost every household due to its various benefits, both kitchen-wise and toilet-wise, and if in your case, you only have your honey in the kitchen, then the time has come to source that honey into the toilet, or buy another one for the toilet and keep the old one where it is meant for (yeah the kitchen).

Honey performs greatly when it comes to acting as a moisturizing agent, and is also great for skincare shaving your hair by using it in place of your lotion is a good idea too.

Though applying the honey can look a bit messy, the extra protection it provides your skin is something worth considering too.

Whenever you notice that the honey gel looks stickier during shaving, you can get rid of or minimize the stickiness by adding a little water and you’re good to keep shaving.

Using honey might not be the best way to shave your face or stubble, but getting the job done without shaving cream, is worth your trial.

Besides the above essential oils like coconut oil, olive oil, and the rest, we discussed, there are other good alternatives you may consider, such as body lotion, avocado oil, and aloe vera.

How to Shave Without Shaving Cream?

Here are some tips on how to shave without using any commercial lotion out there.

Get Familiar With Your Skin Type

This is something you need to know right before you even consider choosing to cut your hair down with or without lotion.

Therefore, start by understanding the level of sensitivity of your skin. If your skin is found to be hypersensitive, then you need to take exceptional measures to stay in harmony with its well-being.

If you have sensitive skin, then you should not consider a dry shave in the first place, and secondly, use specialized razor blades that are designed purposely for those with sensitive skin to prevent skin irritation and inflammations.

However, if your skin is not that sensitive, and could endure dry shaving, then you deserve to know that earlier too.

The purpose is to know what works for your skin type to avoid a bad face shave, and once you get familiar with that, shaving will become easier for you.

Hydrate the Surrounding Areas

When you want to shave, prepare yourself by hydrating the entirety of your face, its surroundings, and most importantly the hairs. At this point, a shower is recommended which will also help in relieving dry skin!

Once you properly hydrate the skin surface and the hair or have a complete shower, you’ll notice that they are soft and flexible. This is a good sign that your hair shave isn’t going to be as stressful.

On the other hand, if your skin becomes dehydrated, you may easily experience some nicks and cuts in the process which in the end will leave you with a bad shaving experience and further pains, in addition to possible skin conditions such as acne.

However, if you are using electric razor blades to shave your beard hair, then not hydrating or having a shower wouldn’t be of any problem to you, but for manual razors, hydration is of utmost importance.

Put Your Shaving Cream Alternative to Use

Your skin is now hydrated through showers or just a wash to get you on the go right? It’s time to bring your shaving alternative to proper use.

We’ve made a mention of quite several shaving lotion alternatives for men in this article, so whether it is baby oil, coconut oil, shampoo, aloe vera, body lotion, honey, shaving soap and lather, peanut butter, hair conditioner, or any other good alternative you may find out there, use it as a pre-shave and you are good to proceed.

After using your alternative aloe vera or any other, and you are done, then you can use an aftershave balm as a finishing.

Exercise Caution

Even with commercial shaving creams, you must shave with caution, and now that you are to shave without shaving cream, you should employ even more layers of caution starting by carefully handling the razor blade so you don’t mess up your face due to a bad beard shave.

When you are careful enough, there is a high tendency that you would have a little or no razor cut in the end. 

As a rule of thumb as well as a piece of advice, make sure that you always shave the beard towards the grains and not against them. This will go a long way in minimizing your risk of getting a razor cut.

Shaving Tool Matters

The moment you are done shaving, the next thing you should do is to properly collect, clean, and properly store your item.

Maintenance is also part of this. If you use an electric razor, clean, dust, and lubricate its part. If however, you’re using a razor, maintain it as outlined in its menu and make sure the environment you store those tools is also a good fit for them.

Make sure you maintain the sharpness of the razor where possible, and if there is a need for changing the parts or the entire razor or shaver, change it, please.

The priority is to leave you with not only comfortable skin feeling and shave convenience, but also improve your looks afterward.

Conclusion

That moment when you’re about to shave but without shaving cream can be a bit confusing, daunting, and also scary. 

However, when you’ve read and understood that even without using shaving cream, you can still shave based on your preferences and look even better by using some of its best alternatives, that’s when you will know that being scared shouldn’t matter again.

Before we wrap up, let me give you a final tip; whenever possible, shave in the shower. It is very beneficial in minimizing the risks of irritation. If you are shaving in the shower, you can even use a shaving cream dispenser.

Feel free to give your suggestions and feedback as it will help us to come up with more useful articles.