Cold water shave is the best & worst ever

Thanks to this 1906 pdf posted by LuckyCynic in this thread here and to forum member Frankenstein pointing out the instruction to use cold water to prep I gave it a try and got the best and closest shave with the least effort that I have ever had.

At the same time it really was a drag doing all of this with cold water. Still the results were so great that I am going to suffer though it and put my scuttle away making cold water shaves my default. It really is unbelievable but truly superior. :shrug:

You know, I noticed that if I do my touch ups with cold water I can get really close, but I never thought of doing the whole shave with cold water. I'll have to try this for my next shave. Thanks for pointing this out Jimmy!

For now, I will keep with the hot shave, just because I like the feel of heat on my skin, and not the chills down my spine, but the cold water way is verified by all of my bald headed buddies, who shave with plastic. If they can get great no bump shaves on their entire heads, they must be doing SOMEthing right! Apparently the chill makes the muscles contract, and the hairs stand straight up. Once the skin warms back up they relax and the hairs return to normal "grain" positions (ever so slightly below surface, but with no ingrowth)

I'm kinda sad I read this. Now I'm going to have to try shaving with cold water. I don't think I'm going to enjoy it, but now I have to give it a shot.

Here goes nothing...

Phillip

Another plus to this: I like to run the cold water at the end of my showers, but skip it on shave days. Now I won't have to!

I think Magpie's idea of the muscles contracting could be the reason it works. I think the Robeson prep (Bay Rum splash before the lather) works similarly: Tightens the skin while the whiskers stay wet and easy to cut.

We have had members over the years that shaved only with water. I have been shaved by a barber where the water was cold and obviously the lather and it was a great shave. My problem is that from using the Moss type scuttles the last few years with good suds like Castle Forbes or Caraceni (thanks Robin!) or Al's Da Bomb, I have become so spoiled with the nice hot to warm lather, that I actually look forward to it daily. Truly a creature comfort for me.

Have fun,

Lynn

I gave cold water a try for the first time. I think there's something to this idea. You can actually feel the hairs stand up more when you splash your face with cold water. The shave seems to be smoother and less irritating.

That said, I think I'm going to wait until summertime for more experimentation. Like Lynn, I really enjoy the feeling of warm lather on my face. In the summer, I bet it will be quite refreshing to shave cold.

I read this the day it posted and tried it this morning. For me, the razor needed a little boost, but the results were excellent and I used the same basic two passes. Thanks for sharing this idea Jimmy. I don't have a scuttle to keep lather warm anyway, but none the less the cold works just as well for me.

The razor scraping your mug doesn't hurt in cold water? I remember many a morning not being able to light an indian fire and having to shave in the snow. I was a wake up...Only because it hurt like hell! I haven't tried it in a controlled environment yet....Also, my razors back then weren't as nice as the ones I use now...Maybe that is a factor?

I did my second one this morning. What I didn't do today that I did yesterday .... per the instructions in the pamphlet.... was lather and rub it in with the fingers real good and then re-lather. It was good today but better yesterday. I will do the lather rub thing tomorrow for sure. I'm not sure if I'm going to stick with this or not. More experimentation needed before I decide. :)