Shaving with only the water

im doing it right now with a shavette , it seems to be a heavy trend in china where they dont use soap.
ive been shaving myself for 2 weeks . thoughts please



second note: ive found a proper razor, but it isnt sharp enough to shave with, and they dont sell strops here; what sort of material could i use?

I use water only on my 3rd pass to pickup any whiskers I might have missed.

You could use a leather belt to strop on.

I tried shaving with just water on my last pass, and it seemed to go fine. It makes sense that it would: the would idea with glycerine based products is that water is what seperates the skin and razor, the lather is just like thicker, warmer water. By using just water, your simply taking away the thickness of the later, but still have the seperation between blade and skin.

For stropping, you can always buy a strop off-line.

they apparently dont sell strops says shaver seller man.
i could use a leather belt i imagine, but id like a no animal alternative
i picked up a cotton belt but that doesnt sem to work too well.. mind you i may not have technique
would linen for clothes do it?

i must add a big up (respect) to this web site in general... i was first intrested because of the vast amount of waste produced with disposables
coming to china has allowed me to experience the shave itself at a price i can afford
lynns strokes on that video make my 1 cm pushes look novell and cute by comparison and ive always gone against the gran on my chin so there is plenty for me to try out tomorrow
even though i really dont have to shave daily i really enjoy it and i liken it to praying it has become such a ritual(now that im not using disposables)
thanks guys

We have a member named Anto who only shaves with using water. He has been successful for quite some time. I think that the beard is softer after washing in the shower and have tried after the shower to shave with only water. Not as nostalgic, but it worked. I have not tried to do this with out any preparation though. Keep us posted and glad you're enjoying. Lynn

Here is something I heard a few years ago about Albert Einstein:

He (Einstein) believed in simplicity, so much so that he used only a safety razor and water to shave. When I suggested that he try shaving cream, he said, "The razor and water do the job. "

"But Professor, why don't you try the cream just once?" I argued. "It makes shaving smoother and less painful. " He shrugged. Finally, I presented him with a tube of shaving cream. The next morning when he came down to breakfast, he was beaming with the pleasure of a new,great discovery. "You know,that cream really works," he announced. " It doesn't pull the beard. It feels wonderful." Thereafter, he used the shaving cream every morning until the tube was empty. Then he reverted to using plain water.

Maybe not as helpful as it is interesting.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. I read a post a while back where somebody was traveling and forgot to bring thier strop. So they used the cardboard back of a notebook as the strop and the jeans they were wearing as the linen. I think he said it worked pretty well.

I can understand the idea to not promote the use of leather but I cannot agree with it. The animal is going to die someday from natural cause's. There are many used leather belts out there and I would suggest using them as a strop. Other than that you will have to experiment. You might try synthetic leather or vinyl, silk, etc. Just make sure it has a fine, smooth ( not pebbly) finish.

Hope this helps,

einstein cracks me up.

I heard the same story about Einstein years ago too. Even though it was heresay to me then I took it to be true, and now can double my conviction. Thanx Doc.

I tried shaving without any soap or cream with my str8 last night. Before using a str8, I used a disposable and never used any cream. I had a 3 day grow and gotta tell you, for the most part, it was a decent shave. I had no nicks and only did one pass -- didn't want to get too aggressive. My upper lip and just below my lower lip were not as smooth as I end up with when using soap or cream, but overall, it was pretty darn good plus no mess to clean up and saved some time. I did miss the scent of using a cream, but the major benefit was I was able to see my skin completely which I think aided in not getting any nicks.

Rob