Thread: Should I keep my face wet?

I rinse my face at the end of each pass and I also dry my face before applying lather, I keep a folded barber's towel in front of me at all times to dry my hands as well. I do three passes and conclude with a cold water face rinse...I have always gotten excellent results.

Gotsta' have the face wet in my case.

Originally Posted by Bthr22

Sorry newbie talking. But I have just been soaking my face in fairly warm water. I tried lathering wet last night and it seemed to help thicken the lather.

Not a problem. There are some skull shavers out there and
I know nothing about shaving a head of hair.

Tinker and try different things. We all have slightly different skin,
whiskers, soaps, brushes, water, razors, hones and habits.

Just use a three day rule... it takes a couple days
to evaluate a shave method/ mix.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

I aways used to lather and re-lather on my wet face. I once started a thread asking if others rinsed before they re-lathered and a couple of fellows said that they did not. So I decided to try it their way and now I find that the lather sticks better if I don't wet my face before applying it. Give it a try both ways and see which way works best for you.

Jimmy,

I tried this for the first time when I was experimenting with the cold water shaving technique, and it does work. However, I like my first pass lather to be nice and thick, and my subsequent lathers to be a tiny bit runnier (helps with the glide). IMHO my system (damp face, not too wet or dry) seems to be a nice compromise of the two. Try it out, you might like it.

Thanks Ryan, I will. I confess that lathering is an art I haven't mastered yet. At least not consistently.

I think you have to experiment. If the lather is running down your face it's too wet. I like to paint my face with soap, add a bit of water to the brush them work up a lather on my face.

Originally Posted by Ryan82

Jimmy,

I tried this for the first time when I was experimenting with the cold water shaving technique, and it does work. However, I like my first pass lather to be nice and thick, and my subsequent lathers to be a tiny bit runnier (helps with the glide). IMHO my system (damp face, not too wet or dry) seems to be a nice compromise of the two. Try it out, you might like it.

tried it this morning probably will do it forever, it just works well

Although I've only been using a straight razor for 2 weeks, I've been wet shaving for 5-6 years. Like Obie I like my face to be slightly wet before applying lather. Slightly wet, not dripping wet.

Before I swithed to str8's I'd never used the a hot towel as part of the pre-shave routine. I'm currently shaving with 3 passes. In between passes I reapply a hot towel to my face - firstly to re-wet my face before reapplying lather as I'm new to st8's and therefore slow, and secondly to be totally honest I've become addicted to how great the hot towel feels on my face.

Originally Posted by jankrix

tried it this morning probably will do it forever, it just works well

I'm glad I could be of service, mate.

Be well.

I'm a splash a little water on between passes guy. Just a month or two ago, I just went pass to pass with what was on the brush, but found out that if I splashed a bit of water on between passes that it draws the lather out of the brush alot better...not to mention that the lather doesn't dry up nearly as fast. The only problem is stopping to dry my left hand off after splashing on water. The right hand does no splashing and is kept dry for the razor.