Is it fine to shave with cold water on face?

Interestingly enough, Col. Schick first designed a razor to be used dry. Then came along the repeating razor.

 

I shave with hot water and rinse with cold. Used to be hot for both.

 

No, you can not! And if you do I will turn you into the shaving police.

Do whatever works best for you.

 

Was he Australian?

 

Same here. Love hot water on my face before I lather, love the cold water as a rinse.

 

Yes Paul Hogan was born in Lightning Ridge, New South Wales, Australia 1939

 

The only real differences between hot and cold is

1) The pores open up a bit more for hot water. It might make a difference for a multi-blade razor, but makes not much of anything for DE or SE. It makes more of a difference in comfort.
2) The _soap_ tends to care about hot vs cold. It's easier to lather up in hot water - things dissolve better.

So, run your water into the sink for rinsing, until warm. Use the warm water to lather

 

Standard disclaimer: I am a redneck who has seen some stuff, not an MD or anything like that.

Not to be argumentative, but "opening pores" is a myth that won't die.

Hot water may cause the surface of the skin to absorb water faster, enlarging the surface area and changing the look of pores, but no physical body mechanism (muscles, ligaments, nerves, etc) exists to open or close the pores of the skin. The pores, by necessity, are always open, and are not inherently sensitive to temperature. Temperature can affect surface blood flow, changing the appearance of skin. It's also thought that very hot water speeds inflammatory processes and can exaggerate irritation. Warm and lukewarm water probably have little effect on the skin. Very cold water is thought to slow inflammatory processes, and will cause increase blood flow to the skin in the minutes after the shave, as the body tries to reheat the cooled tissue. This increased blood flow could be beneficial to skin recovery. Hot water can also remove more oil from the skin surface than cold, increasing dryness and the need for things like balm.

You're right about temps not meaning much with razor styles, and right on about soap. Making cold lather takes a few seconds longer, but I've found that cold lather doesn't dry on my face the way hot lather does. Reasons probably obvious.

My take on temps:

Very hot water, say greater than 110f, is probably not a good idea.

Otherwise, use the coolest water that is comfortable. If that's pretty warm, then ok. But if irritation is a persistent issue, try cooler. Water that is around body temp, say 95-100f will feel warm to the touch, and is probably almost neutral, in a sense. Water that feels neither hot nor cold, like 80-85f is easily tolerated by most people.

I live in CO and use the unheated water supply for my prerinse, lather and rinsewater. It's running about 36f right now due to snow melt, and it's, shall we say, brisk!

 

Hm.. Let me adjust my word choice. I think most people think of 'open' as being the same as 'widen'. I was using 'open' in the sense of 'allowing movement', or perhaps 'not clogged'. Warm water (warmer than skin temperature) loosens sebum and increases viscosity of oils. This allows the hair to move a bit more, and creates a bit more accessibility to the keratin scales in the hair. It's the difference between spreading cold butter, or room temperature butter (That's just an illustration. It's nowhere near as radical) The brush then also can help knock crap out of the non-follicular pores. I suspect that's why the original 'hot towel' idea. It warmed up the oils, which were then drawn into the fibers as the water evaporated.

Me? I either shave in the shower, or I use a warm washcloth for a minute on my face - mostly just to hold water against the skin a bit. It helps the lather process (to me). Then I rinse the razor out in the hot water, and when done, use the same washcloth to rinse my face off (wipe off soap, rinse washcloth, wipe face). Cold or warm doesn't matter other than personal comfort for the 'rinse'.

 

We agree!

For comparison:

Wash face, very mild soap and cool water and bare hands. I don't often scrub, I let the razor exfoliate for me.
Lather up with cold tap and do pass one WTG.
Cold rinse, then lather and pass two XTG/ATG hybrid.
Wipe off all soap with sopping wet cloth, then rinse in cold until face is chilled.
Alum if desired for any hot spots.
Alcohol Splash.

 

But you did stay at a Holiday Inn Express right?

 

I agree. Without wanting to appear as "teaching" or anything, besides, all this talk of hair or shaving, isn't taught in any medical school, it's more cosmetics than medicine. In medicine you learn skin anatomy and diseases. The rest might be the turf of dermatologists and one can only make educated guesses, based on principles that he knows.

It's funny how the "open/close pore" urban legend is so international. The pore is just a "flower pot" for the hair (helps hair have the same growth orientation) and a draining tube for the sebum, like a sewer system. It's also true that when you have an inflammation, you want cold water, not hot. Because the inflammation by itself, is a hot process, so adding heat to something hot, is like adding fuel to fire. This is why if you strain your ankle, you are supposed to put ice on. Or, why if you burn your skin, you must pour cold water, not hot. Cause burn is also a form of inflammation, just more destructive. It's also true that making the skin hot, causes skin blood vessels to dilate (vasodilation), while cold, makes them contract (vasoconstriction). The reason, is that in winter for example, the organism, feels the cold and tries to preserve the noble organs first, so prefers to contract the superficial blood vessels, to bring more blood to the core of the body, rather than the extremities. This is why you can have frostbites on your skin, but you are still alive. The organism prefers to sacrifice your skin, rather than your internal organs. So, it's actually:

- Hot water: vasodilation (more bloodflow near the skin, more bleeding if you cut yourself, more drying of the skin, higher chance of skin irritation).
- Cold water: vasoconstriction (less bloodflow near the skin, less bleeding if you cut yourself, less drying of the skin, less chance of skin irritation).

See here for quick proof of concept.

What the hot water might have that is better for shaving, is that it might have an effect on the hair, making it easier to cut. But i have no idea how or what that is. Like i said, you don't study such things in medicine. You can only do educated guesses at this point, but hair does seem to be easier to cut with hot water and the brush itself seems to soften in hot water. So, i think that this is pretty much the only advantage when shaving. Another thing, is that in extremely cold water, you might get contraction of your hair muscles and get "goosebumps", which might make your shaving a bumpier ride. Otherwise, i think moderately cold water has all the skin advantages. Hot water has a haircutting advantage (probably). If you have a very sharp blade, cold water i don't think would be a problem. On the other hand, with a dull blade, i don't know, cause it might pull more on the skin and cause irritation from that.

About whether it's easier to make lather with hot vs cold water, i have no idea. I still can't make decent in hot water.

 

@Shave Fu, I'm still working on lathering with a brush on anything but Arko and Williams, and I've DE shaved for decades. I just didn't break out the brush until a year ago. So don't feel that you aren't making progress. Hair is a keratin construct, like fingernails, and like fingernails, it's built in layers. in fingernails, they're relatively smooth layers. In hair, they're scales. That's why you end up with 'curly' hair - stiffer or thicker on one side. Keratin softens in water, and softens faster in hot water. This will allow the razor to penetrate and catch for the cut. I've even used my old razors (before tossing) to trim off a bit of fingernail or callus.

So, to me, I just like warm water shaving better. More comfortable, and I'm not slicing and dicing myself anyway, so what's it matter?

 

Great post! Evidence based answers help us all to understand the subject of shaving methods more thoroughly. I really appreciate the most thoughtful reply!

As far as lather goes, temp is not a big deal, and there is almost no such thing as too much soap. Not joking! The idea is to work air into water that has been thickened with soap. Try thinking about it from that perspective next time, and we can talk about what is not working out on the 30 Day thread.

It's nice to have you amongst our forum members. The thirty day thread you've posted on was started by me, and it was an attempt to get people to analyze their shaving problems in an almost scientific way. That's the point of the 30 Day Rule, where the human is the only big variable in play, except for the dulling blade. I've even encouraged new converts to traditional razors use canned shave foam to eliminate the "lather skill" and water ratio variables. Though I am not a scientist or doctor, some of my college education was heavy in physics and math, and old the principles are still true. It's easier to see cause and effect in a controlled and isolated system. Science research, good medicine, and physics all approach problems the same way. Please jump at any time when you think something is contrived or against the science. The only good information is reality.

 

Oh, no, an objective realist!

 

I feel like making keratin pliable is a detriment in shaving. Keeping it brittle by applying an alkali solution like soap, and using cold water in combination with low blade angle causes the hair shaft to snap. This action is similar to the way a maul splits wood. If the hair is softened and slippery, it stretches more when the bevel catches, delaying deep blade penetration. This makes the hair definitely easier to cut, but will not cut as cleanly as with a bevel induced fracture at angles approaching perpendicular.

However, your last sentence hits an important point. All these things we discuss work together as a system. The idea is to form a personal system that is comfortable at the desired level of closeness. So long as the outcome is acceptable, and the process isn't accompanied by actual problems like possible infection, the process is by default acceptable and correct.

 

Oh please, sophisticated redneck is the technical term....

 

Re: Williams

Do you have high mineral content in your water supply?

 

Makes sense! There had to be a reason for hot water preference, other than sensation of comfort... I also found that the razor dipped on hot water cuts easier compared to my "cold water cartridge days". But i also see that i get irritation way easier. But i am still a newbie...Time will tell...

I hope that with the dog bowl i will be able to whip the cream around better. Instead of whipping the cream, i am most of the time hitting my fingers around the coffee mug until now. The brush handle is huge. Tomorrow the smaller syntetic brushes should arrive and with the dog bowl having 13cm diamteter, i should at least be able to handle the whipping of the cream better. We will see...

Yeah, i saw Mantic's video where he used almond size cream. This is what puzzled me. I couldn't make nearly enough lather in the coffee mug. I don't know if it's a problem of the mug being small and not being able to whip the cream in easily or it's a matter of cream property, but i always ended up with twice the almond size to make enough lather. I still have 3 canned foams here, but to me honestly, the most fun part of wet shaving, is the lather. The shaving itself, i can't say it's anymore fun than the cartridge. What i like is the lather. Making it and brushing it on the face. So, if i were to use foam, i might end up back to cartridges... The other thing i like, is variety. I am SURE that i will be rotating everything after some time. That's all the fun i can see me having about this. I will probably not rotate the cream/soap, cause, once you opened one, better finish it, before going to another. So creams will have longer rotation, but i can see me changing razors and blades every week... You are of course right that the less the variables, the easier to develop a technique. "Standardization" of process. In fact, i was thinking today "if only i had the exact quantities needed for amount of cream and water, i would make the perfect lather!". Alas, this is impossible...However, i don't intend to take shaving too seriously, as to try to become "blade ninja". All i care about is being able to shave without bleeding and make rotations... For example, with cartridges, it was always way too boring, cause all cartridges cut pretty much the same. You press on your cheek and drag down and they cut. And i had the usual "sensitive skin" canned foam, which was good against irritation, but it feels very "fake". It feels like a chemical foam. It's not the same thing with real lather.

The only thing that i am starting to really HATE with shaving cream lathering, is that anything it touches, it leaves an opaque, white film, that won't rinse off. I have to manually wipe it off. I am not sure if this is only a brand related thing or happens with all creams or soaps too. But it's annoying.

Anyway, see you later.

 

No, and I lather Williams just fine. Don't understand those people who fight it tooth and nail. It's just a hard, dry, soap. I added water to the top of it (tiny bit) every day for a few days, soaked the brush, then went to town on it. It wasn't Yogurt, but it was a good, lasting lather that coated my face. It appears that Williams doesn't like being completely dried out. If you use it every day, it won't dry out, and it'll get easier and easier to use each time - especially since the previous days' lather is still there to be stirred back up.

If you let it sit, soak it in hot water while you take your shower, or 10 minutes, whichever is easier. (cold water, for probably longer). Then dump out the excess and use it.

VDH is giving me more trouble, and I've had it the longest.