Thread: Cold Water Shave

I took Jimmy's advice and tried a cold water shave today. I used the water from my water cooler which is 52 degrees. I soaked my brush and a hand towel in that water and then made my cold lather. I noticed right away that the blade moved a lot easier and smoother than with hot water. After I finished and rinsed my face with more cold water my face was a lot less irritated. I think I will be using cold water from know on.

Your results sound promising, Mark. I've been [slowly] incorporating cold water into my shaves after reading Jimmy's post. I usually rinse my face with cold water before my last pass, and have been getting good results. I guess I'll take the plunge (pun intended ) and try my next shave with all cold water!

Cheers,

Larry

with the hot summer weather here i figured now was a good time to try the cold shave. i jumped right into it one shave and i have to tell you it was awesome, the blase slides across my face no problem and the coolness of the steel feels refreshing.

While hot water is nice and relaxing i think they both have their uses. Warm water i tend to use at night to relax and help me get ready for bed, and cold water is in the morning/afternoon to give me that nice refreshing feeling

Glad you liked it Mark. A word about prep. I followed the book and all I do for prep is lather with cold tap water on my unwashed dry face. Rub the lather in vigorously with my fingers and re-lather without rinsing. I run hot tap water over the blade and shave rinsing the lather off of the blade with the hot water. Sometimes I do one pass and others two passes. If I do two I don't rinse in between but re-lather and go for it. My final rinse is with hot water. The pamphlet said to do a hot towel but I'm not into it. I dry and do an AS splash.

If a person is softening their beard with hot water before the shave they are defeating the whole purpose by softening the whisker rather than stiffening it with the cold water/lather. Note that the latest shave book recently posted also recommended rubbing the first lather in with the fingers. I didn't see any mention of water temp in that book but I may have missed it. BTW,all this is as the 1906 pamphlet directed and not of my invention. It is working well for me but YMMV.

I tried cold water shaving twice; that was enough for me.
Congrats to those of you that do it successfully... It leaves more hot water for me!

whether or not you shave with cold, one should rinse the razor in cold for less irritation..

Cold water prep will result in piloerection (the whisker stands up) and constriction of the lymphatic capillaries. This constriction will cause the tissue to recede from the base of the whisker (making the hair seem longer) as well as reduce fluid loss in the event of a nick or cut. Capillary constriction from cold water will be more evident first thing in the morning when our faces tend to be puffier from having been in bed for several hours. Evening shavers may not notice as much effect assuming they’ve been semi-vertical all day.

Cold water will also affect the way fats and oils lay on and/or are absorbed by the skin.

Hair is expanded (softened) by the absorption of water. The conventional wisdom is that soap allows more water to be absorbed- something about surface tension or its hygrophylic properties. I’m not sure if the temperature of the water makes a lick of difference.

Or maybe I just made all that up.

Semper circa,
LG Roy

Originally Posted by Library Guy

Or maybe I just made all that up.

Sounded good anyway. In the tattoo biz the saying is,"If you can't dazzle them with brilliance baffle them with B/S."

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Note that the latest shave book recently posted also recommended rubbing the first lather in with the fingers. I didn't see any mention of water temp in that book but I may have missed it. BTW,all this is as the 1906 pamphlet directed and not of my invention. It is working well for me but YMMV.

It mentioned it. It said the same thing you just did, and added that whiskers soaked in hot water are much more difficult to cut - the lather serves to remove oil from the beard making the whiskers stand up stiffly. I suppose I should pull up the quote

edit:

A hair, as is well known, is a tube composed of a hard fibrous substance, growing from a bulb or root, which secretes an oily matter. This oil works its way up through the hair, and by permeating all parts, renders the hair soft and pliable. Now in this natural oily condition, it is very difficult to cut the hair with a razor, and it becomes even more difficult if the beard be made still softer by the application of hot water. Many do this, and it is no wonder they find shaving difficult. When this is done, the hairs become soft and limp, and the razor will either slip over them entirely, or else cut partly into them, bend them back and slice them lengthwise, all the while pulling and straining them at the roots, and making the process of shaving most painful.

Library Guy your post was very informative and fact filled . I look forward to more of your posts and replies. Great Job

Mark