Thread: Cold water shave is the best & worst ever

Originally Posted by Frankenstein

Well this might be a good time to invite members to join the new 'Polar Bear Shave Club'.

Straight Razor Place Forums - The Polar Bear Shave Club

Once everyone has tried the routine a few times and have found a few tips or tricks for getting the best shave with cold water we'd love to hear your thoughts.

Cheers,

Rob

Rob; How does one join this club and what is the initiation process?

Originally Posted by paco

Rob; How does one join this club and what is the initiation process?

Click on the link that Rob provided and there will be a tab within the page that opens to click on to join. The fastest growing club on SRP.

Ok, I tried this today with my injector razor.
It worked great!! The feeling isn't nearly as nice, but the results are really good. I'll give it a shot with a straight the rest of the week and see how it goes.

I've enjoyed shaving cold so much this past month or so that I crave cold lather and a cold blade.

Tried this earlier. Maybe not quite the same as recommended, but close. I have been doing the rubbing the lather in thing since my DE days with hot water and always got better results. Did 2 passes with cold lather and a touch-up pass with just cold water. I'll sum it up with this: you bastards. My entire perceived reality is in question now. Ain't fully converted yet, I still like my heat, but it went very well. Will surely be nice when the Mississippi summer sets in.

Okay, it's been nearly 24 hours since my first cold water 'vintage' shave, and.......

No ill effects to report at all, at least for me. When I woke up my face was still incredibly soft, not to mention still fairly smooth. Can't complain.
I did have a couple observations I thought I'd share. Keep in mind YMMV, and this is what I found:

My initial passes went well, a very squeegee-like shave, but I did notice some extra resistance on my ATG touchups just as some other members have reported. The resistance did not equate additional irritation though, so I guess I can't gripe too much.

The overall comfort factor, I felt, was a little lower than with hot water prep/lather/shaving, but my face did feel a bit better in the end after the cold water shave. The hardest thing to get used to, other than the cold lather, was a cold blade on my face.

And of course the closeness and smoothness factor. Like others before me have stated, the shave was equal, if not superior, to a hot water shave. And no irritation is always a bonus.

Although I won't be abandoning hot water like Jimmy (I still love the feeling of hot lather and a hot blade) this is definitely a technique I will be experimenting with. I look forward to seeing if the results will be consistent for me.

Cheers,

Ryan

Ryan and others who've been giving the cold water shave a shot, just for the heck of it, going along with what the pamphlet recommended and for the sake of experimentation, try a couple of shaves without an ATG pass.

The booklet said to only do one, or if you want bbs, two wtg or xtg passes. That an ATG pass could lead to ingrowns and bumps. I tried this and it was alright. I went back to doing some ATG if I do a second pass. Since switching to cold it isn't always necessary for me.

Seems to depend on how sharp I've gotten the particular razor. Also, I always run hot water over the razor before beginning and to rinse during the shave. I also do my final facial rinse with hot water and for sure my brush and lather bowl with hot water. I'm afraid that cold water wouldn't completely rinse the soap out of the brush.

[QUOTE=JimmyHAD;561650]I am still enjoying the cold water shave but couldn't get with the new grip. I did take a brief stab at it .... no pun intended. [/QUOT

Same here, I didn't have any success mastering the grip also. Plus, how the hell do you shave with one hand?..

Hi,

I have been trying the 'cold' shaves for the last couple of weeks, with good results.

One thing I did notice was a subtle change in the way the lather builds, and its final consistency - I was using three (3) tallow based soaps (Cella, MWF & Tabac).

The 'cold' lather seemed to be better; has anybody else noticed this, or is it in my imagination

Have fun !

Best regards

Russ

Russ, I completely agree. That's one of the main reasons for me. Plus the cold feeling is addictive.

I still think TOBS gets the best results in cold water. Is anyone else able to confirm that?