I've been shaving with a scuttle for about a month now and love the warm lather - especially as the seasons get colder. But I have noticed that some soaps seem to
have a tough time lathering up when warm and do better cold. For example, today I built up a so-so lather with some Dapper Dan's on my warm first pass. But on my third, I just went cold, out of the shaving bowl and built up an incredible lather.
Does temperature affect performance in your experience?
Don't use a scuttle so have no practical experience.
A temperature decrease would decrease the size of the bubbles. The colder lather would be more dense.
Some soaps definitely don't seem to like hot water, some don't like cold....I think it's one of those experiment things...try it and find what works best. I do a fair number of cold water shaves in the summer, and see no difference with the lather from the soaps I use.
Most of the soaps and creams I use definitely deteriorate with hot water. Some more than others. I try and keep the heat down so it stays in the warm not hot category.
+1 as Harold says, I see very little difference and I'm shaving exclusively in cold water now the hot weather is here.Quote:
Originally Posted by Haroldg48
Yeah, this was my suspicion, because I haven't had any soaps perform better warm that cold, only the opposite. Very interesting.Quote:
Originally Posted by thebigspendur
I have tried quite a few soaps and found that most have been unaffected by water temperature. In my rotation, it is Tabac that seems to get funky in cold water. It just doesn't seem to lather right for me unless I use at least warm water.
I use cold water for all my shaving for the past couple of years. None of the creams/soaps I use, including Tabac, lather badly with cold water. If I were to go with hotter water for shaving, I think I would follow Spenders advice and go with warm not hot water. I think there have been far more complaints on here with soaps/creams not performing well with very hot water than with cold.
Bob
I use a scuttle only in the winter months but have found that some soaps don't perform or lather as well in the heat. Typically it was usually a cheaper soap I tired or a small home production batch someone had asked me to test.
In those cases the lather seem to collapse as soon as it hit your face or would not seem to lather up into anything thick or rich.
I think major producers probably add something knowing it needs to work in both hot and cold conditions.
Any soap that doesn't perform ends up as hand soap in the shop sink.
I have found that MWF performs better in warm or cold water. My other soaps don't seem to care as much. ;)
I usually face lather and then put the brush in a scuttle. I find if the scuttle is really hot the lather is really reduced while the initial face lathered product is really thick and the is plenty of soap still in the brush. If I keep the heat down I don't have that issue at all. I'm talking top of the line soaps here like MDC and Castle Forbes.
I think the heat just leads to break-down of the bubbles making up the lather.