Thread: Cold water shave is the best & worst ever

Glad you like it. Fifteen months now and I'm still shaving cold and loving it. Not for everybody but it is for me.

Decided to give it another try this morning, not sure if I did it "correct" or not

1) Wash face with warm water and soap
2) Face Lather
3) go make coffee and stuff while lather sits
4) Strop
5) Rinse lather off with cold water
6) Relather and I did not rinse my face off between additional passes.

Originally Posted by Slartibartfast

Decided to give it another try this morning, not sure if I did it "correct" or not

Going by the pamphlet, I think it is linked in the OP, washing your face with warm water first may have skewed your results. I follow the pamphlet's instructions and my only prep is to lather with cold water, rub the lather into my beard, relather and shave. I usually do another relather without rinsing and a second pass. Sometimes only under the jaw, on the neck and knob of the chin, sometimes the cheeks and upper lip as well.

The important point, as I understand the method, is to avoid softening the whiskers with warm/hot water. The stiffness of the whiskers and the reaction of the skin to the cold water, tightening the skin, is , if I understand it correctly, the way it works best.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Going by the pamphlet, I think it is linked in the OP, washing your face with warm water first may have skewed your results. I follow the pamphlet's instructions and my only prep is to lather with cold water, rub the lather into my beard, relather and shave. I usually do another relather without rinsing and a second pass. Sometimes only under the jaw, on the neck and knob of the chin, sometimes the cheeks and upper lip as well.

The important point, as I understand the method, is to avoid softening the whiskers with warm/hot water. The stiffness of the whiskers and the reaction of the skin to the cold water, tightening the skin, is , if I understand it correctly, the way it works best.

Well. it worked somehow I will try it the correct way next shave, probably monday morning.

I have read the pamplet through and have tried several times with mixed results. My routine was

Evening shave prior to Shower.
Soak brush in cup of cold water for minute or two and make lather
Fill sink with cold cold water. and give face a thorough and repeated dunk/splash
Dry face off with dry towel
Lather face well using circualr motions to coat whiskers well
Massage soap into face for a minute
then relather as above but finish with smoothing stroke
Shave
relather and do 2nd pass
Rinse face and apply hot towel to open pours

The first few days this worked brilliantly. incredible results and frankly I liked the feeling of the cool lather on my face.
then something changed, had a couple bad shaves and went back to HOT and shaves got better. So I am not sure if the Cold water was a placebo effect or my technique just sucked and putting the time into thinking and changing the process through solved my tenicuqe issue.

I did notice though that some soaps performed horribly with cold water.

I have tried going back to hot a couple of times over the past year. When I say a couple I mean exactly that, two times. Both times I got a good shave but it took twice as long because of the added prep, scuttle, what have you, and it wasn't "better."

Aside from the time the cold water shave saves, and I love that, I like the process and the results better. I'm not proselytizing, trying to get people to change their shaving habits. It is something that works for me but may not for others. My particular skin and whiskers have adapted to it very well but like everything in this sport, YMMV.

I've been doing a cold, or at least lukewarm shave for about a month now and I'm enjoying it. I have found that my mentholated soaps, in addition to needing more water because of the menthol, seem to need more water than they did when I shaved with hot/warm water and it can take an extra little while to get my lather up to snuff.
That being said, I'm really enjoying how refreshing it is to do a cold water shave with mentholated soap on a humid day. And two passes with some touch ups usually does a good job.

Well now that spring has sprung I guess I'm another convert. Only two cold water shaves so far but with good results.

An excellent addition to the arsenal !

Ok so I have gone with cold water from the tap, and Icy water from the fridge and yes I do seem to get a great shave and with less time due to prep, but I seem to nick my self more frequently with cold. Is this maybe psychological? lol does anyone else seem to have this issue? maybe im just trying to force the shave before my face warms up. I will keep at it for another week and see if things change!

After 18 months, this is still my favorite thread. I would like to thanks again Jimmy and Rob (JimmyHAD and Frankenstein) for their contributions. I'm enjoying Cold Water and Ice Cube prep's even more than when I first took the cold plunge. If any and all of you Gentlemen would like, there is a place where us guys can trade ideas and share knowledge. Feel Free to drop by:The Polar Bear Shave Club - Straight Razor Place Forum