Quote Originally Posted by adbuett View Post
I would suppose then, if this explanation holds true, that cold water shaving is harder on an edge than hot water shaving? From what I understand cold water is making hair more "brittle", thus allowing the edge to bite into it easier.

I think though that edges are a lot tougher than some people give them credit for. You're going to have to do something serious to really hurt an edge to the point where stropping or a quick couple laps on a barber's hone wont make the edge right again.
Well, there's many advocates of cold water shaving here, and many theories as to why it works. I'm not sure if it makes whiskers "brittle", but the most common belief is that the cold water makes whiskers stand on end, making them easier to cut. Remember, lather is also being employed, so whisker softening is still happening. And yes, I have tried the 1905 cold water shaving technique, and it works very well. To be fair, I didn't do it long enough to asses its effect on edge longevity.

As for your second point, I think the opposite holds true - too many people think a razors edge is less delicate than it is. Edge damage is happening all the time (some gentlemen with particularly heavy beards are touching up their razors every few shaves because their whiskers are literally tearing the edge up). Of course, stropping and honing will fix any problem, but you would be putting a lot of unnecessary wear and tear on your razor by having to do touchups every couple shaves due to dry shaving and other abuses.