Everything I thought I knew was wrong! Cold water.

Well, it's not quite as bad as all that. I forget the exact user, but in a thread about cold water shaving, someone made a comment last week about their personal reasons for using cold water over hot. They said that hot water was actually burning their skin, increasing razor burn and irritation.

Now, I've always had a problem with irritation. My skin doesn't get red, it's just uncomfortable for most of the morning. I can feel the skin is a little raw after every shave, be it with cartridge or straight, and regardless of my level of prep.

I've recently been using steaming hot towel treatments as a pre-shave and very hot water during the shave to help soften and loosen up my beard prior to shaving. I had never given thought that that could be a cause of the irritation, but this user's post made me get to thinking about. So, yesterday, I took a nice luke-warm shower, soaked my beard, and then did my normal shaving routine using cold water from the tap rather than steaming hot. The difference was amazing. On three days growth, I got an incredibly comfortable and close shave. I was shocked at the difference. To make sure it wasn't a fluke, I gave it another go this morning. Just a little bit of irritation, and I did nick myself, but nothing serious, and still very comfortable post shave.

I don't think cold water shaving is going to be my only approach, but I am definitely losing the scalding hot stuff directly to the face. I am officially a believer in the benefits of cold water shaves!

Good to hear your success :) I think I'll keep the cold-water shaves for the summer and luke-warm for the winter. Not going back to hot water anymore.

Face lathering can also cause razor burn, I tried it a couple of times and stepped off from that.

Good to hear you did try cold water shaving and found there was an actual benefit to you. Personally I can't say that I have any more or less irritation using hot or cold water when shaving. That being the case, I just went with what was less time consuming and most productive for me. OTH if I had of preferred using hot water in the same circumstance I would have but the point is to at least give cold water shaving a fair trial.

Bob

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Laurens

Good to hear your success :) I think I'll keep the cold-water shaves for the summer and luke-warm for the winter. Not going back to hot water anymore.

Face lathering can also cause razor burn, I tried it a couple of times and stepped off from that.

---

For sure face lathering can cause "razor burn" from heavy handed use of a shave brush, particularly from brushes with heavy backbone that are scritchy. Found that out breaking in a boar brush. I face lather and cold water shave exclusively now and that is not a problem any more as I have adjusted my brush technique to suit face lathering. Also some people just have more sensitive skin too and that adds to it also.

Bob

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by BobH

For sure face lathering can cause "razor burn" from heavy handed use of a shave brush, particularly from brushes with heavy backbone that are scritchy. Found that out breaking in a boar brush. I face lather and cold water shave exclusively now and that is not a problem any more as I have adjusted my brush technique to suit face lathering. Also some people just have more sensitive skin too and that adds to it also.

Bob

---

You're quite right, I have a sensitive skin and scritchy brush. Can you tell me more about the face lathering technique you use?

Laurens

First off I don't think I have overly sensitive skin being able to do 2 full 3 pass shaves a day with a straight with little irritation. I might have a head start in that department. You might try to lighten up on the pressure you are using on the brush when lathering and use just the tips. I have several different brushes ranging from boar to various grades of badger and a synthetic Muhle and each uses a slightly different technique. If that fails a different brush with less scritch might be in order.

I have a 2 band SOC badger that has backbone and soft tips that works nicely but if you lean on it while lathering you can still induce "razor burn" caused by the brush. My favourite all around brush is a Muhle XL synthetic silver tip tha works with MWF/Tabac or creams well.

Everyone is different so it might be a matter of finding the right combination technique and brush for your sensative skin or stick to bowl lathering.

Bob

Thanks, Bob. I have a few knots coming my way, so I'll get to experiment with those soon. Using just the tips for face lathering doesn't seem to work for me. I can brush endlessly without getting a proper lather. Pushing the brush into my face will cause irritation.
For the time being, bowl lathering it is :)

I'll second the face-lathering/brush comments. I started out with a pure badger brush, and that thing was hell on my face. I did not like it at all. Switching to a softer silvertip brush did a lot for me. I now own three silvertips, one of them a Simpson's chubby, and they all do a pretty great job. I've found that loading the brush in a bowl with cream, applying the paste to my face with paintbrush strokes, then dipping the tips of the brush in water and coming back and scrubbing for thick lather works best for me. Not too much pressure, but I do push the brush into my face. I could never do this with anything harsher than super-badger/silvertip I'm sure.

Laurens

You are welcome. I do use some pressure sorta like push in till you feel the scritch and back off a little bit as opposed to just painting it on like you do bowl lathering. The brush does splay when I use it. I do have a Muhle Retro brush that I think is an over stuffed silver tip knot that is pleasant too even if you work it hard. Hope you find a knot in the batch you have coming that works for you. Good luck.

Bob

Mathis, 'Glad to hear your found some joy at it.

My first really enjoyable shave coincided w/ my first cold water shave. 'No magic, but there's so much variation in skin types, preferences - you just never know what it will be that unlocks the joy. Just yesterday, spoke w/ the honorable Randydance - who likes the old sheffield stub-tails. I've tried over 3 dz sheffields and just don't like the feel of the steel in any size/grind/point/shape/maker. Randy spoke of having the same reaction to stainless - which I love. Its a good argument to try things to see what gives you the biggest smile during & after a shave.

'Hope the joy is easily found.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by pinklather

Mathis, 'Glad to hear your found some joy at it.

My first really enjoyable shave coincided w/ my first cold water shave. 'No magic, but there's so much variation in skin types, preferences - you just never know what it will be that unlocks the joy. Just yesterday, spoke w/ the honorable Randydance - who likes the old sheffield stub-tails. I've tried over 3 dz sheffields and just don't like the feel of the steel in any size/grind/point/shape/maker. Randy spoke of having the same reaction to stainless - which I love. Its a good argument to try things to see what gives you the biggest smile during & after a shave.

'Hope the joy is easily found.

---

I think you hit the nail on the head partner. The key of this hobby/adventure is open-minded experimentation. There's no way to know what it is you will love until you try things you might hate. Fortunately, we live in today's world where we have sites like this to open us up to so many different ideas. I'm proud of my ridiculous collection of creams and soaps and oils and balms and splashes and grinds and strops and hones. I want to find what's best. Simply sitting back and writing off someone else's good experiences because they don't jive with how you do things is a sure-fired path to nowhere.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by vmathis12019

...Now, I've always had a problem with irritation. My skin doesn't get red, it's just uncomfortable for most of the morning...

I am definitely losing the scalding hot stuff directly to the face. I am officially a believer in the benefits of cold water shaves!

---

Funny. Until I read that thread it never occured to me a cold water shave was anything except a punishment in "The Dirty Dozen". After a lifetime of post shave red- or irritated neck I recently tried the straight razor + cold water thingie and that's all she wrote. Neck doesn't even get prickly when I sweat. Well, if I ever regularly worked hard enough to have sweat-neck I don't think it'd burn. OK. I did sweat once, maybe, since cold water shaving and no irritation.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by vmathis12019

Well, it's not quite as bad as all that. I forget the exact user, but in a thread about cold water shaving, someone made a comment last week about their personal reasons for using cold water over hot. They said that hot water was actually burning their skin, increasing razor burn and irritation.

Now, I've always had a problem with irritation. My skin doesn't get red, it's just uncomfortable for most of the morning. I can feel the skin is a little raw after every shave, be it with cartridge or straight, and regardless of my level of prep.

I've recently been using steaming hot towel treatments as a pre-shave and very hot water during the shave to help soften and loosen up my beard prior to shaving. I had never given thought that that could be a cause of the irritation, but this user's post made me get to thinking about. So, yesterday, I took a nice luke-warm shower, soaked my beard, and then did my normal shaving routine using cold water from the tap rather than steaming hot. The difference was amazing. On three days growth, I got an incredibly comfortable and close shave. I was shocked at the difference. To make sure it wasn't a fluke, I gave it another go this morning. Just a little bit of irritation, and I did nick myself, but nothing serious, and still very comfortable post shave.

I don't think cold water shaving is going to be my only approach, but I am definitely losing the scalding hot stuff directly to the face. I am officially a believer in the benefits of cold water shaves!

---

Think it was me that said that, the hot water just seems to irritate my face. When I started, I'd get out of the shower, do all the prep, or the, "shave parade" as I came to call it, and would end up with red, irritated skin.

Finally gave in and tried a simple cold shave, sometimes I'll use pre-shave, but most times I forget, and just splash the cold water on, two passes for a DFS, the alum block and I'm done, with little or no irritation.

With the hot, no matter what I did, I get a big red blotch of irritated skin on my lower right neck area. Would ease up more and more in that area, and still come away red. With the cold shave, all that's gone.

For me it works, lesson I learned was always be open minded enough to try different things. That's how you find out what works best for you.

Just like after a year I'm starting to find that the Thiers-Issard may be my Holy Grail of Razors...YMMV!

Cheers and enjoy!

:D

One way to economize or focus experimentation is to notice/remember other shavers who's preferences or sensitivities are similar to your own. On soaps & creams, I pay alot of attention to Obie. On stropping - afdavis & recently Randydance. On stones (this can get excitable) - someone who's honing style, preference in feel is like your own. This is a place where pet rocks are sacred :)

You likely have other shavers nearby you. Germany has several razor sites with a strong German membership.

For those that are irritating their skin with hot water shaves: just HOW hot is the water you're using? It's supposed to be hot, not scalding :rofl2:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ryan82

For those that are irritating their skin with hot water shaves: just HOW hot is the water you're using? It's supposed to be hot, not scalding :rofl2:

---

Darn!! That explains why some of my skin was falling off in sheets and my face swelled up....

Gotta love SRP...learn something new every day!!

:shrug:

LOL, well you know, different strokes and all that :)

All joking aside, I'll occasionally get a bit of redness on my neck after shaving, which is probably a combination of hot water and many passes. But after my post shave routine it disappears in short order (well less than 5 minutes), so I really don't have an answer for that.

As for lathering techniques, yes I could understand how aggressive face lathering could cause redness in some skin types. It is technically exfoliation. Though this seems like a good excuse to buy a nice expensive silvertip brush there is a cheaper solution: bowl lathering. Get the lather to the perfect consistency and apply to your face with minimal aggravation.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ryan82

LOL, well you know, different strokes and all that :)

All joking aside, I'll occasionally get a bit of redness on my neck after shaving, which is probably a combination of hot water and many passes. But after my post shave routine it disappears in short order (well less than 5 minutes), so I really don't have any answer for that.

As for lathering techniques, yes I could understand how aggressive face lathering could cause redness in some skin types. It is technically exfoliation. Though this seems like a good excuse to buy a nice expensive silvertip brush there is a cheaper solution: bowl lathering. Get the lather to the perfect consistency and apply to your face with minimal aggravation.

---

I know your comments are for the forum....but you just said something that caught my ear.

Sheesh, must have been almost a year ago, I bought a nice scuttle when I was brand new into str8's. After putting an entire puck of Col Conk in it and melting it completely, used some old Gillette canned lather I had for my second shave.

After that, yes, I'd watched lots of video's of people using the scuttle, looked pretty elegant, but I thought, my Proraso comes with a bowl, I wet my brush, swirl in the bowl, lather the face and bingo!!

Have some Proraso creams as well (including the new Blue which is quite nice), and would just use a small mug.

Maybe now, I can see a reason for the scuttle, fill it with the hot water, do the lather in that, and then apply to the face....huh...something new to try!

Would you simply "paint" the lather on your face, or really work it in with the brush like I've been doing?

I gather that I'd have to grate my puck of MWF if I wanted to use the scuttle then??

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Phrank

Maybe now, I can see a reason for the scuttle, fill it with the hot water, do the lather in that, and then apply to the face....huh...something new to try!

Would you simply "paint" the lather on your face, or really work it in with the brush like I've been doing?

I gather that I'd have to grate my puck of MWF if I wanted to use the scuttle then??

---

That's how I use my scuttles. With soaps I load the brush in a separate container (like Proraso, for example) and then make the lather in the bowl of the scuttle, adding water by sight until I get my desired consistency. With creams I'll just put a dab in the bottom of the scuttle. For application I paint, swirl, whatever - the lather will continue to develop even though the bulk of the work was done in the scuttle. Now here's the tricky part: it IS possible to over-process your lather by working it too much. What I mean is if you "overdo" it in either the bowl or on your face you'll prematurely break your lather down and it will disappear quickly. I know it sounds more complicated than it is - I have a habit of doing that sometimes :rolleyes:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ryan82

That's how I use my scuttles. With soaps I load the brush in a separate container (like Proraso, for example) and then make the lather in the bowl of the scuttle, adding water by sight until I get my desired consistency. With creams I'll just put a dab in the bottom of the scuttle. For application I paint, swirl, whatever - the lather will continue to develop even though the bulk of the work was done in the scuttle. Now here's the tricky part: it IS possible to over-process your lather by working it too much. What I mean is if you "overdo" it in either the bowl or on your face you'll prematurely break your lather down and it will disappear quickly. I know it sounds more complicated than it is - I have a habit of doing that sometimes :rolleyes:

---

Thanks a lot Ryan82 - well, learned something else here again today....so, here we go, off to shave number 3 today!!

Maybe I can hit E-Bay later and BIN another face...hopefully a better looking one....:D

I tried some careful face lathering this morning and my face still feels prickly. And the lather was bad. Then I worked it up in the bowl like I normally do and 'lo and behold, perfect lather and a pretty fine shave. When it's worked up in the bowl, I use only painter's strokes and do it gently enough to barely feel the hairs of the brush. I don't know if that helps lifting the whiskers off my face, but it certainly helps keeping the latter intact.

I think the brush does make a difference when cold water shaving. I face lather with a Horse hair brush, It's softer and does not irritate my face. I've tried experimenting with Badger, and Boar but for some reason Horse hair works the best. Also I read somewhere that hot water shaving brings more blood to the surface of the face causing a possibility for greater irritating in some people. This could be folklore and legend, but speaking from personal experience whenever I shaved with hot water I get irritation, the same exact shave with cold water and I have no irritation. So there must be some truth in there somewhere.

Remember also...Just as Ryan made the jest of scalding hot water, a cold water shave does not have to mean icy. I use a lukewarm temp, but if you like it icy cold then that's your thing. Cold vs. hot can mean warm vs. lukewarm. Just sayin is all.:)