Thread: 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

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

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.