Towel wrapping

[pea]

Ok, this is kinda anal, but does anyone know if there is a text book way to apply the hot towel to the face. I wanna do this whole thing properly!!!!

[majurey]

Funny you should say that. I just had a shave at Truefitt & Hill this weekend and I was strick by the way they did the whole towel thing.

Towel was heated (in a microwave) and had been poerfumed. No idea how long a setting. It was folded in half lengthways. While I lay back in the barber's chair, they put the folded towel under my chin/neck and wrapped the ends up the side of my head, coming round the front to cover my eyes and face, and then rested the ends on top of my hair. So the effect was that every part of my head/face was covered except for a small triangle through which I could breathe easily. The triangle's tip was at my nose and the base ran along under my lower lip.

I remained lying back with this incredibly hot perfumed towel for 5 minutes roughly. Then the guy came over, unwrapped me, and used another hot towel to wipe down my face, chin, top lip and neck.

Man, it was soooo relaxing!

Sorry not to have anything more scientific though (measurements like degrees for towel heat, minutes for time under towel, etc.).

[johnmw1]

Don't stop there, how was the shave?

John

[pea]

Cool thanks for the reply. This is exactly what i saw on a youtube video.

As for the microwave, i use a towel that is rung out, but so there is still a bit of squelch to it. About 1.5 to 2 mins works well for me. It is a 950watt model(!)

BEWARE: YOU DO FIND YOU GET HOT SPOTS IN THE TOWEL SO BE SURE TO CHECK THE CORNERS ESPECIALLY!!

Keep your eye on it too, and i find it helps to stop every so often just to move the towel around a bit to try to eliminate any supercharged hot areas!

pea

[pea]

was there much moisture in the towel you had majurey?

[majurey]

pea -- there was enough moisture to make it steam, but not enough that any water would come off or loose. I.e. wrung out well.

Interestingly, there was a report in the UK recently on a study that claimed that putting your dishcloths or sponges into a microwave for 2 minutes would kill 99% of bacteria and 3 minutes would kill 100%. For barbers that is probably a cheap way to ensure your towels etc. are sterile.

(Stop press: just searched the BBC site and these two articles (A and B)came up. So you're guaranteed sterility, but you might just burn your house down! )

John -- description of my day at T&H can be found in the thread A Shave Back In Time. Enjoy.

[pea]

Thanks! I must admit, i was a bit dubious. I think we have to be sensible here. Microwaves, so i understand, work mainly by heating the MOISTURE in the food, or in our case, our towels.

Putting something DRY in a microwave is asking for a bout of the ol flickery red stuff if left unattended!

I reckon a small percentage of wallies are putting dry or barely wet materials in there microwaves and blasting them for ages, drying them right out, and taking them up to flashover point. And who the hell would put a sponge in a microwave. Thats asking for trouble!! I mean when you wring out a sponge it holds little to no water.

so the moral is......DONT BE A WALLY!!

So how was the shave, and what were you shaved with? (blade/razor wise?)

[Kentriv]

I hand not though of the microwave. I shall have to try this. Do you know what sort of perfume he used on the towels? I'm guessing and old cologne or even aftershave would do the trick. I personally love to add a menthol based cream to mix, as this really heightens the sensation of the hot towel a lot to me. I use the proraso pre-cream for this, but I am sure anything with menthol in it would work just fine.

Matt

[pea]

I thought menthol content was not too good when straight shaving? Maybe i'm wrong but i got the impression that creams with little to no menthol should be used.

I find i get crazy irritation from menthol in shaving creams. Coconut oil shaving cream for me all the way!!!

[Kentriv]

I am sure it depends on your skin, but considering that just about everything that Proraso makes has menthol in it, I am guessing it just fine.