Cold water shave - first try

Menth heads :lol:

Another thing I noticed is a few guys saying they use a face wash before shaving. If i do that the shave is closer but not in a good way, some time spent with my face in the shower then a slunge with warm water is as much cleaning as I want to do before shaving.

And rinsing between passes? thats just crazy talk !!!

Maybe I am like a dumpster diver to you guys but honestly, I do wash my face....most days...I just find washing it before with any face wash or rinsing between passes makes my shaves a lot less comfortable. Each to their own and that but in the spirit of adventure give it a try.

What do you mean by a cold water shave? I am from a place cold taps are only used as threats to children and cats that piss in your garden.
 
dodgy said:
Hiya,

Ok, I'm once again trying to get my head around this cold water concept. Yeah, I understand it works well for lots of people, but that still doesn't explain why someone would choose cold water over hot. Does the cold water actually feel more enjoyable in your face? Heh, I just cannot believe that.....sorry. Do you guys just splash some cold water on your face and get to shaving, or are there cold water soaked towels and some time involved? Also, would you use cold water to soak your brush in?

See, the idea of having something cold on my face...........hey wait a minute here. Hmmmm, let's see what happens with this line of thought. Yeah, things are becoming clear.

Are most of you guys fans of menthol (the big M)? Yeah, this cold water shaving sounds like a twisted and perverted menth head kinda thing. I think I get it now...........y'all are a bunch of freaks!! Only thing that makes sense.
Click to expand...

I wash my face in a hot shower then fill the sink with cold water and soak my brush and soap. I then splash cold water on my face and neck, face lather and shave. I find it refreshing and I quite like menthol stuff but don't use it in most of my shaves. I get a closer shave with less irritation and less faff so it works for me, I think other people put towels in the freezer or use ice to get a really cold shave but I'm not going to bother with that.
 
I just soak the brush in tap-cold water, splash a little on my face and get to it. No hot shower, no messing around. Invigorating and much easier on the skin, at least for me. In the winter I rinse in slightly warm water afterwards.
 
Dr Rick said:
I just soak the brush in tap-cold water, splash a little on my face and get to it.
Click to expand...

I gotta say that is the oddest thing. That prep obviously works for you, but I can't quite see how. Maybe face lathering would take the place of any other sorta pre conditioning? Heh, you got me.

Martin
 
I do face lather, certainly. Somebody - Helveticum? - posted an old shaving manual a few times which recommended cold water and no soaking because you don't WANT the beard soft, you want it brittle, just as one wouldn't cut one's nails straight out of the bath with them soft and prone to tear rather than cut cleanly. Made enough sense for me to try, and I've not really looked back. Indeed, if I'm showering in the same "session" as shaving I will shave first, now.
 
To be honest I don't know why it works better for me, and yes, I would rather shave with warm/hot water, but my skin protests. I was all but ready to give up on DE shaving with the brush, soap and all when I was following the advise to pamper my skin with warm towels to get the best shave.

But if you will indulge me, would you rather cut through a 2 inch bit of green wood, or a 2 inch bit of well seasoned wood? Which would have the better cut surface?

A poor analogy I know, but I do get better shaves using cold water. Prior to shaving I rinse and hold a flannel to my face for a short period, just so that it is sufficiency wet that the soap produces the desired lather when I bring the brush to my face. I do still soak the brush in warm water, and it's nice to have that initial warmth of the bush, but I think the real difference is that my face isn't hot.
 
JohnnyO said:
I recall being fascinated a few years back when watching the film "Miller's Crossing" to hear one of the characters lecturing his driver to always rinse the soap from his razor using cold water whilst shaving as this gave the best result.
Click to expand...

I vaguely remember Robin Williams' character in Good Morning, Vietnam giving advice over the radio to the forces to shave in cold water to avoid skin trouble. It was the first I'd heard of cold shaving. Having read this interesting thread, I'll give it a try. It would fit my routine well as I often finish a shower on full cold (when I'm feeling up to it, anyway).
 
Tried it again this morning, this time with a new Astra blade. Ironically I'm not as happy with this shave as I was yesterday. It's still a good shave but I found the short stroke technique I need to adopt whilst using Astra blades didn't equal the results from the tuggy Shark yesterday, and I needed a touch up after. Still feels great afterwards, still a decent result, but yesterday was better.

It's a funny thing this cold shaving, it's not the most pleasant of experiences, but it does invigorate & wake you up! ;-) It reminds me of when I was on outward bound (many years ago) we were made to get up and do a couple of lengths in a freezing cold pool every morning, unpleasant but you were certainly awake from then on. This has a similar effect, even if it's rather less dramatic.
 
For me hot water can make my face a little puffy while cold water tightens the skin and I find this helps with the shave.

Having said that whenever you see a proper barber shave they use hot towels so there must be a reason for it.

I soak a flannel in the freezer and use this for my post shave, it's very refreshing and cold water can help with weepers. I find this very pleasant and refreshing and it can help take the heat from the shave. I actually saw this on a Mantic video where he gets a T&H shave in Vegas (I think) and the barber puts a towel in a bucket of ice water and then places this on the face in a similar fashion to the hot towel prep.
 
tried this morning

hot shower, soak soap and brush in warm water, face lather

cold water splash between passes and to rinse razor each time.

harder to rinse razor in cold water and get rid of scum so took slightly longer

used my one glycerin soap (mama bears) and a fresh astra, results were similar to hot but felt a bit better after, will try tomorrow with a tallow soap

im a believer though in for want of a better word (muscle memory)that sometimes your face gets used to a particular style and results then peak or get worse, so it doesnt hurt to change routines regulary
 
Well, it seems my cold water shaving experiments were timely.. we sprung a leak on the joint between the mains input pipe and header tank in our water system. Fixing it should be a matter of tightening the connection, but, as I don't have big enough spanners I've had to wait for my father in law to come and sort it for me this morning whilst I'm at work.

This morning, having skipped shaving yesterday, I turned the water on long enough to collect a litre of water with which to shave..
Long stubble, not much water, cold.. needles to say this wasn't my favourite shave, I'm thinking with longer stubble I may prefer the warm water approach ;-) But, I do have a fairly close smooth shave, albeit with a few weepy spots. Seems it's best not to be in a hurry shaving in these conditions.
 
I have been shaving with cold water exclusively for a month now.

This evenings shave was: wash face with cold running water from the tap using soap. Fill sink with cold water and dunk a fs pur tech synthetic brush in it. Lather with MWF straight onto the face.

The soap seems to lather quicker. All blades seem to shave closer with much reduced irritation. So much so that I used a Derby today without feeling like my face had been flayed!

After shaving my face feels smoother and the shave closer than with hot water. As an added bonus I can see in the mirror as neither it nor my glasses steam up!
 
It was quite a while ago that I tried cold water shaving so I don't remember the specifics but I thought I'd give it another go. For me, no discernable improvement in the quality of shave, no improvement in irritation and a distinct decrease in the comfort and enjoyment. Oh well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom