Polytetrafluoroethylene - No!

Getting back to soap, on a scale of 1 to 100, soap comes in at around two where sand would be a one - better than nothing when they slid blocks of stone over one another when they built the pyramids, but that's about it! At the other end of the scale there would be things such as PTFE (Polytetrafluoroethylene/Teflon), or my personal favourite, Molybdenum Disulphide, neither of which would be applicable to shaving.

My quest was to find the best lubricant that would be safe and comfortable when applied to the skin. For a fleeting moment I thought of the petroleum based oils, they would be good as lubricants (they work well enough in the car as axle grease), but knowing better than to apply petroleum products to my skin, that thought was quickly dismissed.

At this time I was looking for something for my own use, I wasn't looking to develop a marketable product, so cost never came into the equation. I was simply seeking the best basic ingredients to build Ultra Shave from, without regard to ingredient costs.

Though my original intention was simply to respond to my own shaving problems, I was aware that if this radically different way to shave worked there could be millions of men who would appreciate getting a better, smoother, closer and most importantly, more comfortable shave.

Looking at what was used as alternatives to petroleum products in the cosmetics industry, the next highest-used lubricant is animal "extracts" (the less you know about the origin of some of these the better), road kill is often rendered down and used in the more expensive products! Lanolin (sheep grease) is also used widely as is bacon fat along with other stuff that would look much better in a dogs bowl than on your face!

I discounted 'animal fats' not only because I didn't fancy rubbing sheep grease or bacon fat on my skin, but I'm quite a cautious sort of guy, so I was concerned about the possibility of contracting a prion based disease (BSE aka Mad Cow Disease) from using animal based by-products.

Besides my concern about prion diseases, animal fats simply aren't 'kosher' not just to Jews, but Muslims, Hindus and others, who through their lifestyle choices (vegetarianism, vegans et-al), have adverse attitudes to animal by-products.

As for myself, I like bacon sandwiches as much as any Wigan lad, but... if you have to use animal fats, they are better suited for swimming the Channel, rather than for cosmetic use. Animal fats simply sit on the skin, they'll make you waterproof, and most likely clog your pores up, so animal fats were out!

Once you eliminate petroleum products and animal fats you've removed over 80% of the ingredients used in the cosmetics industry. The next group used are the more exotic/expensive/natural/organic ingredients, including... vegetable oils, nut & fruit oils.

The first ones to eliminate from the list are the nut oils, many people have serious allergies to peanut oil, so nut oils were excluded from any further evaluation.

This left vegetable and fruit oils, usually classed together as "vegetable oils", yet there is a difference between the nature of them.

These oils have a lot going for them, they are high on the scale of lubricity and can be ingested safely, let alone applied to the skin.

I focused my research on the finer, higher grade of oils, including almond oil, palm oil, olive oil and grapeseed oil.

I was seeking an ultra fine oil, one that would quickly and easily be absorbed without leaving a greasy feeling on the skin. All the oils work quite well as lubricants but rubbing some oils onto your face can be as much fun as battering a fish.

Most oils would work with the blade and cut easily through the beard, but you end up with pools of oil with minute cuttings of hair all over your face. Then you wash your face to get rid of the greasy feeling, and the hair gets into your eyes!

Drawing on my lubrication knowledge my next quest was: how can I make these oils that show so much promise into a cream ?

After some trial and error I formulated a cream that was easy to apply, felt good on the skin, and was quickly absorbed.

The final choice for the basic building block of Ultra Shave was grapeseed oil, mainly due to its anti-oxidant qualities, a major component of grapeseed oil is Linoleic Acid, a potent antioxidant. Linoleic Acid has been the subject of a great deal of research within universities and commercial research departments in the US and is widely recognised an effective anti-carcinogen.

The research into grapeseed oil is to say the least, exciting, ranging from the anti-carcinogen nature of grapeseed oil/linoleic acid, to the actual anti-ageing properties and skin tightening claims that have been made. Though these sound more like promotional hype they are based on actual clinical trials at world-renowned universities.