Cold Water Shaving

A little over a month ago I started shaving with cold tap water with surprisingly good results.
I have had consistently smooth shaves with ZERO razor burn.
My prep concisest of washing with a face cloth (no soap) period.

A couple of things to be aware of...
You need a Sharp razor!! At least a 1/2 hollow if not a full wedge to start.
You haven't heard noise until you try a full hollow on a cold beard!

Finding a soap or cream that will stand cold water. The best combo I've found is a brush of Mama Bear's Awakenings with a pea of C.O. Bigalow cream mixed in. If you like menthol this combo is for you.
I lather on the face and work well into the Beard. Use a little more water than normal. The lather has a tendency to dry out.

Give this a try. You might be surprised.

if your face get used to it you will be fine. it is just training .our great great grandfather's i assume used some stones to shave and they never bleed LOL.have fun

What prompted you to start using cold water over hot?
My aim before a shave is to get the stubble as soft as possible, & hot water is part of that process.

Water will act as a lubricant and a beard softener regardless of temperature .. as long as it's in a liquid state that is. Hot water will do the job better than cold water, but cold water will still work.

X

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by xman

Water will act as a lubricant and a beard softener regardless of temperature .. as long as it's in a liquid state that is. Hot water will do the job better than cold water, but cold water will still work.

---

I'm sure it will. I find that the softer the stubble is prior to the shave, the better in my case. As you say yourself, hot water is more effective if that's the desired result.

I wasn't faulting the use of cold water, merely wondering what prompted it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ben.mid

I'm sure it will. I find that the softer the stubble is prior to the shave, the better in my case. As you say yourself, hot water is more effective if that's the desired result.

I wasn't faulting the use of cold water, merely wondering what prompted it.

---

Summer? :D

In the army and the great outdoors it pays if you can shave with cold water. They used to say that Vergulde Hand shaving soap is the thing to use. I don't like the stuff particularly as it dries out on the face.

VERGULDE HAND SCHEERZEEP - eBay, Overige scheerproducten, Scheerproducten, Gezondheid en verzorging. (Eindtijd 11-jul-09 21:59:50 CEST)

If all I had was cold I would be fine with it but as long as I have hot water I'm staying warm:-)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ben.mid

What prompted you to start using cold water over hot?

---

A small steamy bathroom after a hot shower.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by FloorPizza

Summer? :D

---

Exactly!

Thank You Kees for the link. :tu

You have to love some of the translation programs!
This is Dutch translated into English.

GILDED HAND SHAVING SOAP - eBay, remaining scheerproducten, Scheerproducten, health and care. (end time 11-jul-09 21:59: 50 CEST)

:thinking:

Yes water is fine however the problem people have is they wet their face and don't realize how fast it evaporates and that spells trouble. If you do use the water route you need to keep wetting your face constantly.

I have read several times of guys using cold water with positive results.

I think for me, I have seen how effectively cold water can close small weepers, the tightening of the skin and closing of the pores is probably not indusive to a close shave. I quite enjoy the warm water as well.

What ever works, for you, I guess.

Oh please, Gentlemen,

The last time I attacked my Hollywood face with a cold water shave was in the soldiers' favorite vacation spot: the jungles of Vietnam.

My sink was a grungy steel pot helmet that had been shot at, rained upon, sat upon, slept upon, and doubled as washing machine for rotten socks. My razor was an Army-issue plastic guillotine manufactured by a heartless vigilante against the human race. My shaving cream was a vile foamy substance excreted with much force out of a can by pressing the finger upon a vengeful button.

My aftershave was a splash of warm 3.2 beer, if I had a can in my rucksack along with a few essentials for a U.S. Army combat correspondent, and if not, the rivers of salty sweat usually did the job.

Now, many years later, on the shores of Lake Michigan, in America, in the peace and grace of my little kingdom, if anyone thinks I will allow such dark forces to invade my daily shave again, I will show you a howling savage leaving a trail of bodies and blood behind him.

Well, maybe I would not go that far.

Today, the only cold water I use during the shave is to close the pores. Also today, I shave at the gym during the week, after a workout and a 15-minute steam, with rivers of hot water, as hot as I can stand, using the best of the wet shaving products I can afford. Finally, my shave is topped with an aftershave made by the gods. On weekends, since I don't work out, I shave at home with all the wet shaving pleasures accorded me, including a scuttle.

Please, gentlemen, don't call on me for the next war. If I fear getting zapped by the enemy, it's nothing compared to my fear of facing another cold-water shave with an arsenal of cruel weapons.

Regards,

Obie

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Stagehand

Thank You Kees for the link. :tu

You have to love some of the translation programs!
This is Dutch translated into English.

GILDED HAND SHAVING SOAP - eBay, remaining scheerproducten, Scheerproducten, health and care. (end time 11-jul-09 21:59: 50 CEST)

:thinking:

---

If you need any help with translation let me know.

I have shaved with cold water in a pinch, but it would not be my first choice. What ever floats your boat, however.

I like a cold water shave (with shave cream!) if it's particularly hot outside and I want something refreshing and that will beat the humidity.

The strange thing I've found is that the shave is often as good, if not better, than with hot water - my reckoning is that the skin stays tauter and helps the whiskers to stand up a little better (which may speak more to my skin stretching than to anything else).

Good to mix it up once in a while though - never know what you might find! :tu

Mark

The past week in the UK has been a heatwave, and I switched to cold water shaves. Or rather, cold water to make cold lather.

It has made no difference to the quality of my shave, but that might be to do with my prep. I rub hair conditioner into my beard. (Let me tell you, out of all the preps I have tried: oil, preshave balms, hot towels, soap, etc. nothing even comes close to using hair conditioner -- two minutes, re-wetting as necessary, strop while your beard hydrates, and even cold water can't ruin the experience!).

On Thursday I went one further: cold water lather using Proraso. It felt like putting ice on my face. The shave was fantastic.

Despite that "heatwave" it just wasn't hot enough to tempt me over to cold water prep, or lather. I hadn't thought of a hot environment, coupled with a hot bathroom. I guess it could be refreshing & you only have to browse the threads to find that there are varied preferences & techniques.

Milton Man Mark, it was recommended to me that i try alum before the shave once. That made the skin taught & the stubble stand like crazy. I found it passable with a DE. Not sure how a straight would react.

Four or five years ago when the hurricanes came one after another and I didn't have electricity for 10 days after the first one and 12 after as a result of another I was compelled to give cold water shaving a try. Not for this old man. YMMV :)

If you can get the water cold enough, it will freeze your beard hairs and then you can simply break them off your face with a couple of hand motions

Like that old saying goes, there are a million ways to cook a cat. Or is that skin a chicken? I forget.

You haven't seen "The Dirty Dozen" don't you? :nono:

I’m glad I’m so old that cold showers and cold shaves are just, not very fond, memories. :gwh:

I tried the cold water approach on my second pass with just the side burns ATG as I didn't want to chance a disaster and it worked. Next go around I will try a bigger area as I am curious about this.

Pabster