hot or cold water?

[Gareth1982]

Tried cold shaving this morning after reading this thread. Not as good a shave as normal, but may be more effective with more than a day's growth?

The cold razor felt nice in this heat, but will go back to warm water tomorrow.

 

[Blademonkey]

Had too many cold water shaves in the dark and freezing cold in the past. Give me hot water, fluffy towels, a rain head shower and a steaming bathroom any day of the week.

I'm going to give the cold water shave thing a go just so I can say yep I've tried it.
if you a living in a hot and humid country I could see it being quite nice but I'm with you I think, a steaming bathroom, fluffy towels and warm lather on my face but I have not tried it so I won't knock it just yet!

 

[kamisori]

I'm going to give the cold water shave thing a go just so I can say yep I've tried it.
if you a living in a hot and humid country I could see it being quite nice but I'm with you I think, a steaming bathroom, fluffy towels and warm lather on my face but I have not tried it so I won't knock it just yet!

Paul, have you read this article? I think it makes a lot of sense.

 

[Blademonkey]

Paul, have you read this article? I think it makes a lot of sense.

Yes I read it and although most of it was written in the 19 century and hot water was not as easy to obtain as it is today the article does make a lot of sense and as I said I will give it a go, I'm not that dogmatic to say I've been shaving with hot water and that's the way it's staying, I will try most thing's at least once. Thankyou for pointing me in the direction of the article, most kind of you Mark.

 

[kamisori]

Yes I read it and although most of it was written in the 19 century and hot water was not as easy to obtain as it is today the article does make a lot of sense and as I said I will give it a go, I'm not that dogmatic to say I've been shaving with hot water and that's the way it's staying, I will try most thing's at least once. Thankyou for pointing me in the direction of the article, most kind of you Mark.

You are welcome Paul.

 

[Whosthedaddy]

Cold water makes me feel under prepared, saying that I don't rinse my face when out of the shower or between passes so shouldn't make an iota of difference for me. It's just hot water for the boar brush to soak in?

 

[Blademonkey]

I wonder if there is any benefit of shaving normally with warm water and then the application of a ice pack to your face.... A little like the Swedish who have a sauna and then roll around in the snow!

 

[SmurfK]

Paul, have you read this article? I think it makes a lot of sense.

It does not make a lot of sense for me. It would have made if I would have read it in the 18th century. Today, not so much.

I know that we like to think those guys were getting BBS all the time and were knowing what they were doing, as they were using a straight, but we need to be realistic too. We have better blades, better sharpening stones, better soaps, etc. We are getting better shaves than those guys were getting back in the day. As someone was saying in that article, the shaving was painful, and I definitely believe that. Not only painful, as they were getting irritation, but painful as they were not having sharp enough instruments. With that in mind, cold water can act as a mild anesthetic. So, it might have worked better. It would have masked the pain of dragging a blunt instrument over your face. Menthol works that way too.

Rest of the things are people that try to justify something that they are doing for one reason or another. Is pretty much the same thing as with people that are separating soaps into tallow and non-tallow, even if, technically, there shouldn't be any differences.

I've tried cold water shaving, and I feel that all soaps are performing as best as they can with warm/hot water, while only some of them are keeping those qualities with cold water. Some will not lather as good and might not provide great glide if cold water is used. While, I can shave with both, warm and cold, I generally prefer warm. If I have only cold, I'm definitely not gonna skip the shave, as it's working good enough.

I wonder if there is any benefit of shaving normally with warm water and then the application of a ice pack to your face.... A little like the Swedish who have a sauna and then roll around in the snow!

Of course, it is. Ice acts as an astringent that way. You can skip your aftershave and use ice. If you apply it on how/warm face, you might even see better results with ice than with something else.

 

[Blademonkey]

It does not make a lot of sense for me. It would have made if I would have read it in the 18th century. Today, not so much.

I know that we like to think those guys were getting BBS all the time and were knowing what they were doing, as they were using a straight, but we need to be realistic too. We have better blades, better sharpening stones, better soaps, etc. We are getting better shaves than those guys were getting back in the day. As someone was saying in that article, the shaving was painful, and I definitely believe that. Not only painful, as they were getting irritation, but painful as they were not having sharp enough instruments. With that in mind, cold water can act as a mild anesthetic. So, it might have worked better. It would have masked the pain of dragging a blunt instrument over your face. Menthol works that way too.

Rest of the things are people that try to justify something that they are doing for one reason or another. Is pretty much the same thing as with people that are separating soaps into tallow and non-tallow, even if, technically, there shouldn't be any differences.

I've tried cold water shaving, and I feel that all soaps are performing as best as they can with warm/hot water, while only some of them are keeping those qualities with cold water. Some will not lather as good and might not provide great glide if cold water is used. While, I can shave with both, warm and cold, I generally prefer warm. If I have only cold, I'm definitely not gonna skip the shave, as it's working good enough.



Of course, it is. Ice acts as an astringent that way. You can skip your aftershave and use ice. If you apply it on how/warm face, you might even see better results with ice than with something else.

You make a valid point, after all you have tried cold water shaving and it seems that you prefer hot water and yes I take your point about our equipment now being better than back then ect but someone once told me that octopus was a disgusting thing to eat, now had I took their word for it I would have never have eaten it but because I am willing to give almost anything a try at least once I did and found it to be very nice.
So I will give cold water shaving a go and who knows, I may like it or I may not but at least I can say I've tried it even if I don't like it..
I'm not saying that you are wrong, I just like to find thing's out for myself.
I may even try a hot shave followed by dunking my face into iced water.
Saying all of that doesn't change the fact that I enjoy listening to other people's views on thing's, if we all felt the same what a dull world it would be.
Thankyou for your views, much appreciated.

 

[SmurfK]

I think that cold water shaving might work better if you are having problems with razor burn or nicks. But if you are getting good shaves with hot water, it might be worse. Depends. Worth trying it out.

I love octopus. Unfortunately, I only find it in cans. I would like to try it alive. Something that I would definitely try if I'm lucky enough to get a trip to Korea.

 

[Scotshave]

I think that cold water shaving might work better if you are having problems with razor burn or nicks. But if you are getting good shaves with hot water, it might be worse. Depends. Worth trying it out.

I love octopus. Unfortunately, I only find it in cans. I would like to try it alive. Something that I would definitely try if I'm lucky enough to get a trip to Korea.

It'll be a bugger trying to eat it alive on your plate...

 

[Satanfriendly]

I was away over the weekend in SW Wales and the B&B had problems with the hot-water for the basin in the bathroom leaving me with no choice but as to cold-water shave. Something I wasn't too keen on. Well sod me if it wasn't possibly the smoothest most refreshing shave I can recall for a long time. Certainly a practice I shall continue may be every other shave to add in to the mix and variety.

Octopus? Heavenly food when pan fried in black pepper with a squeeze of lime.

 

[Gatsby]

Definitely warm water. It makes the beard smoother, easier to shave, it s kind of augumentation of the hair. I am using cold and very cold water just in the end, after rinsing my face, for a refreshing feeling and mostly to close the skin pores. I was forced, many times, to use cold water for shaving. I remember 25 years ago, in the military service, I had to use every single morning, for one year, only cold water, and a blade for 2 weeks, shaving my face daily. Hard times... it was the biggest nightmare of my life. This is one reason plus I don t like to shave with cold water...

 

[Scotshave]

For me, warm water for face wash or shower. Once hydrated, cold water rinsing between passes and rinsing the razor seems to really work for me. Mileage and all that, I guess.