Thread: cold water, floppy silvertip and great soaps.

hello every buddy! long time lurker and long time poster here! been shaving with straights for a while now but its the first time i am sharing a great experience, so do forgive me if i dont follow a "format". also, is this the appropriate place for this thread?
i have been shaving with arko since a long time. great soap with nice lubrication and easy glide. but recently i came across a stick of tabac soap which i had bought a long while ago. so i took the stick, soften it with hands until it felt clay-like and pressed it into a mug. over time my prep has basically turned into just a splash of luke warm water and then straight to lathering instead of the hot towel/shower prep. however, last week i tried cold water while using the stick for the first time after long. to my surprise the results were amazing, i felt and easier glide and atg passes were almost as smooth as wtg passes. the entire shave was great and the cold water managed to keep my skin cool, strong and refreshed. i use a frank shaving silvertip which is quite floppy, but soaking it in colder water made it stiffer to, a slight degree which was noticeable. at first i wasnt sure weather the shave was great because of cold water or tabac soap, changing two variables at once was certainly an inconvenience to ponder over, so the next day i went back to arko with cold water; easy lathering and great shave. infact, this has worked well with all my soaps and creams (crabtree sandalwood, tobs sandalwood, tabac and arko).
i do have a question; although i dont mind the tabac, do they make soaps with other scents? a sandalwood or lime scented tabac would certainly challenge the higher end products, or maybe im just too bold with this statement.
so thats about it. i cant thank anyone except the great wisdom this community has shared with me, which is the only reason i have had such successful shaves and i would like to thank all of you. also, if you have any wild ideas or recommendations do share them!

Yes cold water do the trick. In summer when im camping i only use cold water, the way to shave imo.

it is also very enjoyable! i never knew that until i tried it. i always assumed it would be full of pulls and tugs and irritation but needless to say i was wrong!

After going back and forth for a couple of years, I've pretty much convinced myself this week that cold water shaving is the way to go.

Pages 50-52 of this online book explains the reasons Shaving made easy; what the man who shaves ought to know .. : 20th century correspondence school, New York. [from old catalog] : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive. Cold water makes your whiskers brittle and therefore removable with less irritation.

I had all sorts of trouble with lather this week. An artisan soap I had been using with hot water just wouldn't respond to cold water. I also tried Musgo Real shave cream and once again, it does a wonderful job with hot water but not cold water.

I had an old mug with Cella from the kilo brick (almond scent) and it did the job equally well with cold water. Before I found out that Cella worked, I found a soap on ebay that advertised that it lathered well with cold water because it had honey in it. That one came in various scents. Soap, Strange Stuff items in Joshua Tree Soap Works store on eBay!. They are on order (therefore I haven't tried them) and I wouldn't have bought them if I knew Cella worked.

Hopefully I'm not out of line pointing out an ebay product, but I know that all soaps don't respond to cold water. Some of you who sell soaps might consider confirming that it works in cold water because not all of them do.

Originally Posted by CaliforniaCajun

After going back and forth for a couple of years, I've pretty much convinced myself this week that cold water shaving is the way to go.

Pages 50-52 of this online book explains the reasons Shaving made easy; what the man who shaves ought to know .. : 20th century correspondence school, New York. [from old catalog] : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive. Cold water makes your whiskers brittle and therefore removable with less irritation.
.

that is exactly where i was sold to cold water but i just couldnt remember where you or somebody else had posted it. all of it is pretty interesting to read. thankyou!
ahan, all these scents look pretty good. i will have to try them. i have been seeing alot of col. conks lately but have read that they are hard to lather?

That link was a great read. Thank you