Cold Water Shaving

From the spaghetti standpoint softer noodles cut easier, and I think personally softer stubble cuts easier too, unless you are having to use pressure, as that would let the guard bar push the stubble down letting the blade skim over the stubble. As for irritation I think it comes from people without good technique and thinking they have to have water so hot that they're steaming themselves like a lobster and making the skin red, which too much heat dries the skin out excessively leading to irritation. I say comfortably warm is where the best of both worlds are. YMMV.

 

"spaghetti standpoint".. you guys really crack me up.. Think we're gonna have to start calling this metaphor the spaghetti principle ..

 

There are some people who's capillaries lie so close to the surface of the skin, they look like they have constant razor burn, AKA rosacea. Using cold water helps the capillaries retreat from the surface of the skin, reducing the liklihood of razor burn.

If the spagehtti analogy doesn't demonstrate cutting a soft whisker try the lawnmower. A blade of grass that lays over and is wet is more difficult to cut than a blade that is drier and stands up straight. It's the same principle used for electric razors. I'm not advocating one way or the other when it comes to shaving. It's just physics, but as always, do what makes your bladder gladder.

 

So far all these arguments are great and logical, but the trouble with shaving is that it's seems to be more of a quantum science than a Newtonian one and YMMV. Personally I've needed to take a sort of middle ground bit a this bit of that approach to make things work out...

 

I tried cold water showering and shaving for a while because I found it was really touching to the masculine and almost primal side for me... then I stopped to this, "these items are supposed to be more luxury than functional for me, so why opt for cold water when I enjoy warm so much more?" At that point, I decided that living in the US and enjoying the luxury of warm water, it would nearly be an insult to my body to refuse it something it enjoys so much.

I think there are other things that can be changed to avoid irritation and skin drying than to use cold water, but that's just my take.

 

I have not noticed any reduction in irritation when shaving with cold water, and somewhat prefer a shave with hot water. That being said, cold water shaving is just fine. Heck, way out in the boonies it is often the only option.

 

The soft vs. brittle stubble debate is a very old one. In Shaving Made Easy, published in 1905, the author notes on page 51:

"The popular impression is that the soap is used for the purpose of softening the beard, in which condition it is supposed to be moist easily cut. This is a mistake. The soap is used, not to soften the beard, but to produce exactly the opposite effect — namely, to make the hair stiff and brittle, so that they will present a firm and resisting surface to the razor."

I agree with you. Perhaps theory is a distraction rather than a help in this case. Using a quick and easy empirical approach, a fellow can try hot water, cold water and warm water shaves and thereafter use whatever works best for him.

 

'Nuff said.

 

You may be on to something there. I get WAY better shaves if I don't shave every day. The stiffer, longer stubble gets cut shorter and the skin feels smoother afterwards. I know I'm the one who tried Fels Naptha soap as an experiment but cold water shaving I'm going to have to work up to! My natural inclination is to warm water. I even use warm water to lap hones.

 

Are ypu CWSers showering first and then splashing cod waters on your faces or just shaving with cold lather and then shpwering?

 

I tried taking a cold shower and I live in Florida so the water isn't that cold any way but, I couldn't breathe. It was just too much of a shock to my system.

 

can't bring myself around to trying it. just the thought of CWS gives me chills

 

Gentlemen. Soap is used as a lubricant that your blade slides over. Cold or hot; soft or hard; try shaving with only cold or hot water and no soap.
Look at those that only use a 'shaving oil' . It's neither cold nor hot yet the good oil shaves. It's a lubricant.
We all talk about the virtues of Tallow and Glycerine ! Lubricants. We don't talk hot or cold tallow(yes, one would be a candle the other a lubricant.
Temperature is there only to make the lubricant work!!

 

Maybe so, but I know that for me, starting with a hot shower then using hot water to shave with is a WHOLE lot more comfortable than using cold water. I'll stick with the hot, thank you.

 

Soap's a lubricant alright..it does help bring bring up the whiskers for cutting and it provides moisture to help soften the beard and yes.. some do like it hot ..

 

It is your shave, enjoy it cold or hot as you prefer.

I'll stick with hot whenever possible. That is my preference.

 

I tried cold water shaving for 2 days. First day with my Futur and some brushless shave cream and got BBS with a WTG and XTG . This was done without showering first.

The second shave was with my Knack head with Cooncat Bob handle and TSD shave cream and got BBS with 2 passes as well. I used no pre shave or glycerin soap warm water wash. This was done after a quick shower.

I am totally sold on this now. My face feels better than with the warm water. I was afraid there would be lots of tugging, but there wasn't.

Then add a little menthol after that and go out into a cool spring day. Now that feels good!

 

I take a nice and warm shower first and wash my face and apply a little conditioner just to soften my beard up. Sometimes I do a quick rinse with very cool or totally cold water on my face and head to wake me up when I'm all done, but not always. When I get out of the shower I splash as cold as I can get out of the tap on my face and go from there. I also soak my brush in cold water and haven't had any later problems with VDH Deluxe, Bigelow, KMF Lime, or face lathering Arko.

I spent last week in California in a house where the tap water was significantly warmer than home. I didn't notice a huge difference in the quality of my shaves, but what I noticed was when I got a nick, it bled a bit longer than at home with my COLD water.

 

Cold water shaving is the way I've always shaved so it's normal for me. I've tried the hot towel preps etc., it just seems to dry out my skin. I've got a system that works for me - cool, cold and a little north of tepid. It doesn't have to be ice cold. The important thing is that your enjoying your shaves. Of course the ice cold rinse at the end of the shave is not optional.

 

How cold is cold? When I lived in Florida, my cold water was fairly warm. Here in northeast Wisconsin, cold water is right at 32 F in winter and about 42 F in the summer, which is too cold for me.