Hi folks. First post, although I've been lurking and using a straight for a good 12 months. I've been absorbing the wealth of info to be found here. So I'll start by saying thanks for that and also thanks to Lynn for his superb DVD.

To the point (sorry if this has been covered before)...

There was recently a post about lather drying out due to preparing it at a high temperature. Of course it was suggested that a lower temperature be used to avoid this. Anyway, I tried it completely cold and apart from the lather not drying out I also found I was getting a much closer and more comfortable shave. Although I was getting comfortable shaves with hot prep, one pass cold was giving surprisingly close shaves. Two passes with the grain cold is giving me the closest shaves ever. I don't even have to think about going against the grain. You can feel a big difference when you apply the alum block too. I get similar results with a double edge, so I'm happy that my straight is in great shape.

I'm not saying one is better than the other, just relating my experience. I'd certainly suggest that anyone at least give it a try and see if it works for you. Obviously everyone's combination of skin type and hair growth are going to vary but it would be interesting to hear how your experiences with hot vs cold stack up.