Thread: Cleaning off the lather

wipe it on my hand

Originally Posted by cagiva905

I just use a moist washing cloth on the edge of the sink that I rinse off afterwards and than use to wipe the remains off my face. Depending on how the shave went, I could be wiping the remains of my face off my face..

I started by putting a half sheet (comes that way) of paper towel on the sink but I quickly found that even with very little pressure I was damaging the edge. I was wondering why the shaves got so bad so quickly so I took a good look at eh edge and found it to be wavy, a result of my wiping on the edge of the sink.

I still use the half piece of paper towel but I hold it in my hand when I wipe it off. I don't want to take the chance of bumping the blade when I run it under water and I don't want to clean up all of the hair from the sink by swishing it in a sink full of water. I do rinse it off when finished that way and then wipe it dry, keeping the water out of the pivot area as best as possible.

I wash it off with water, if my hand is not steady enough to keep from banging the blade against the sink, it is not steady enough to shave. I see no environmental benefit for not rinsing the blade, how does mixing water with soap and hair impact the environment. The water does not go away, and it is being put to a beneficial use so there is no "waste" involved.

I have a tall spigot that comes well up out of the sink. I rinse the blade under it (turn water on and off each time) several times during the shave. At the end of the shave a final rinse, wipe with a soft towel I used during the shower, wipe with the alcohol wipe I used to clean the oil off the blade before stropping and the shower (premoistened wipes in a large round container from the local CVS), and then oil up the blade with a stip of old cotton t-shirt that I have saturated with a CLP I use on my weapons, Break-Free. I figure this way my blades will NEVER stain or pit and they have not so far.

Cheers,
Mitch

Rotation: Dovo 'Bergischer Lowe' buffalo horn, Dovo 'Bismark' white bone, Dovo 'Black Star' red pakkawood, Thiers-Issard 'Flying Tudor' snakewood

Originally Posted by fccexpert

I see no environmental benefit for not rinsing the blade, how does mixing water with soap and hair impact the environment. The water does not go away, and it is being put to a beneficial use so there is no "waste" involved.

If you are in fact being serious, I will answer this.

If you are using cold water, then the issue is only as below. If you are using hot water, then the issue expands to the entire problem of the environmental impact of essentially committing deficit spending for our energy resources. We are burning, in the form of coal, oil, and natural gas, the products of millions of years of solar energy converted into carbon rich energy resources. Burning those products is creating an obvious problem for our environment. You either get it or you don't.

If you are using water that has come from a municipal water treatment plant, then there is most definitely an environmental impact. "Clean" and relatively "pure" water comes to you after going through a long process of physical, chemical, and biological treatment of that water. That water is going to become an increasingly scarce resource in the next century.



If it matters, I do what I can to avoid wasting water. I live in an area, like many others, that obtains part of its water from surface (river) water and part of it from deep underground aquifers. Every aquifer in the country is being depleted. That means that more water is being removed than is being replaced and the obvious result is a gradual reduction in the levels of those aquifers. The obvious implication is that, like carbon based fuels, we are on borrowed time with our water usage.

If you really care about this, and you are not squeamish, I strongly suggest that you try googling and reading an online book called the Humanure Handbook. If you don't like the concept, please don't bother criticizing it. You may consider it to be gross, but in my opinion, it is nowhere near as gross as sh*tting in your drinking water.

I use one of those ceramic 'scuttles' (?) type mug that you fill with hot water on the outside and it keeps the brush and lather warm then on the inside, saving water that way.

@fccexpert-

I live in an area that is now experiencing water rationing. If I can't do my small part by showering quickly and not running water when I don't need to, how could I expect others to do so?

I rinse the razor under a short burst of water from the tap. I tried wiping it on a towel for a while, but didn't like getting my towels smeared with lather & stubble and having to wash them. I think a wet washcloth would be a good compromise, though. I'll have to give that a shot.

I usually use two barber towels to apply hot towels to my face as part of my shave preparation. I then use one of the towels on the edge of the sink to wipe off the razor. With each pass I like to see the amount of whiskers I am removing.

PWS203

For my STR8s, I use a towel made of virgin Himalayan yak fur ( joking, only joking) and gently rub the soap off as I stope the blade between strokes. For my DEs, I just run it under water.