Thread: Cold water shave is the best & worst ever

Just had my own cold shave. Nice hot shower, a few splashes of cold water (Shut up about the word splash) and I was going to down. Very invigorating and easy to work with. I noticed my shavette was a lot easier to work with and generally was a bit smoother.

I cut myself a bit less, now granted, I have only shaved like 5 times. Still, this is a good way to go.

I like the potential simplicity that comes with this.

Last couple of days for me:

• Splash of cold water in cup - only used when lather gets a bit dry.
• No rinsing of blade, just wipe each time I go to change hands.
• Maybe 1/2 a cup to a cup more water to clean up at the end.

I'm finding that ATG is tougher than shaves where I've poured a little hot water over the blade.

However, I'm going to touch up my blade tonight on the barber hone, so I'll see if that helps. Maybe the cold water shave requires even more attention to the lathering?

Anyway, reducing stuff is attractive to me.

...meanwhile I'm waiting for posts about keeping ice in my scuttle and rubbing ice cube on face, following frozen towel to help prep for shave... I'm sure there's room to fit a few ADs into this style of shaving!!

All the best,
Michael.

man...the moss scuttle I hinted to my wife would make a good valentine's day present arrived today. I couldnt resist breaking the news of the thread to her - softening the edges, a bit....where are the f-ing scientists? shouldn't we have this worked out by now? we;ve had seveal hundred years, even if the last few decades were a dark age.

Monster indeed. Thanks, Jimmy.

It would be interesting to hear what Robin would have to say. Maybe when he has a little more time he'll chime in.

As for me:

Hot shower, dry off, morning exercises and stretches, get dressed, strop, wash face in cold water (don't dry off) lather (as I said before I found TOBS best for cold water - it has more slick, and don't need to rub it in with the fingers. Maybe adding glycerin would help if using another brand), first pass, lightly rinse and second pass.

Rinse, alum, rinse, alum, rinse.

Dry off and leave feeling invigorated and cleanly shaven.

Takes between 5 to 10 minutes.

For me there is no warm water after the shower - but that's just my preference.

And actually, as my bathroom is freezing in the mornings, I've been using warm water lately and really enjoying it. And I think that's the secret here - it's really great to be able to change your routine.

Hi folks! I just tried a cold water shave, and did not like it much. This is in spite of me sometimes using cold-ish water during hot summers. What happened now was that my skin got more irritated than usual. Perhaps I had some (barely noticable) goosbumps that got irritated by the razor?

Although I like many of the features of that old early 20th-century book, I suspect that some of the suggestions in it were not necessarily common practice at the time. For instance, the author suggests somewhere that 4/8 razors are the best. Judging from the sizes of some razors back then, I think that this was not a commonly held view. If we check other sources, I think we will find a very different point of view both on razors and cold-water shaving. Part of the problem is that authors often feel the necessity to present their way as the only correct way (this was even more common back then).

I am not writing off the whole book, but I think it should be pointed out that it is not necessarily indicative of what most barbers/shavers did back then, nor is it necessarily the best way to do things. It clearly worked well for the author, and it may or may not work for you.

Tried it one last time.. really made the shave unejoyable for me

Maybe i will try again when summer hits and it is 90+ with 100% humidity

Wow, I was quite surprised! I took a hot shower and soaked my beard with conditioner, then did a cold rinse and made a batch of cold lather (that took slightly longer than usual). It really wasn't all that uncomfortable, and definitely as smooth as any other shave... I've always had a hard time keeping my lather hot, now I don't need to bother! ANd I just ordered a new Moss Scuttle too... Oh well, it will be on the classifieds soon...

hmmm...I wonder if this is just a big ploy by Jimmy to get yall to sell your scuttles on the classifieds so he can snatch em all up for cheap!

but seriously. I have been having a lot of problems getting infections (razor bumps, folliculitis, not really sure) on the skin between my mouth and chin, and have been thinking about how maybe my pores are getting infected after the shave (perhaps aftershave oil sitting on surface and attracting dirt, etc). So I thought with cold water, my pores would be closed and there would be less chance of infection. I also noticed that with hot water my skin would get very dry afterwards, hence the excess of aftershave product.

And so, with two shaves with nothing but cold water, I've noticed less skin infection in the problem area and also noticeably less dry skin, even with far less aftershave oil. here's my routine:

1. hot shower, wash face with soap, leave face wet
2. a dab of jojoba oil rubbed in wet face as preshave
3. lather directly on face, using brush soaked in cold water
4. rub in lather with fingers
5. rinse w/ cold water, pat dry.
6. relather and shave (rinsing with cold water, drying, and relathering b/w passes)
7. rinse with cold water, apply bit of jojoba oil as aftershave
8. dry face and apply bit of witch hazel

It seems to work pretty well so far. Shaves certainly seem to be closer, but comfort hasn't improved much.

However, I am getting a few weepers each time I shave with cold water! This didn't often happen with hot water shaves. I wonder if it is because the cold water tightens up my skin and causes any bumps (zits, previous razor bumps, etc) to stick out more and get in the way of the razor. Anyone else have this happen?

Also, why do people use witch hazel pre-shave? to help close the pores more?

Maybe I should just buy an alum block to get rid of these razor bumps...but I want to try and limit the number of products I put on my face if I can hep it.

In my very minimal experience, I've found that shower, lukewarm lather (combined with cold water rinsing in between passes, as well as cold water to rinse the razor) works for me. My skin just seems to like it more. Plus it has that Paul Bunyon type feeling.

Take that with a grain of salt, since I'm very new to straights, and technique won't be there for another month or two.

Originally Posted by zuckermania

In my very minimal experience, I've found that shower, lukewarm lather (combined with cold water rinsing in between passes, as well as cold water to rinse the razor) works for me. My skin just seems to like it more. Plus it has that Paul Bunyon type feeling.

Take that with a grain of salt, since I'm very new to straights, and technique won't be there for another month or two.

I thought I should mention that rinsing the razor with cold water at the end of the shave could be a bad thing. If the razor is cold, small water droplets could form on the blade, even after wiping it off (as on a cold bottle). For this reason, I always rinse the blade in hot/warm water before wiping it. Rinsing with cold water while shaving should not be a problem though (or so I think).