Time efficiencies in routine?

[abies]

There's a guy on YouTube I like to watch who married a woman while he lived in China. They actually had to flee from China, as the government there finally had enough of his YT posts.

But he and his wife had different opinions on when is the best time to take a shower.

Americans favor the morning shower. But she argued that it made more sense to shower before bed, so you do not carry the grime of the day into bed with you.

I think the Chinese have a point on that one. There is just some culturally American thing about the morning prep before going out to face the world.

I think he might have married my ex.

She thought as you're pointing out, best to shower/bathe before bed so your bed is cleaner. Also saves time in the morning.

But to me, showering before going to bed is kind of "wasting clean state": you're getting yourself in an optimal hygiene state for no one but your bed, or whoever is in it, which is (hopefully) a much smaller number of people than whoever you are interacting with professionally.

I can see both perspectives. It's probably just habit but I think the morning shower helps me wake up. I noticed something similar when I started swimming in the morning; it's the only type of exercise I like to do in the morning.

 

[tejolot3]

I also sometimes shave *before* getting in the shower so I can just rinse off my face in the shower, but that's something I don't usually do.

My shave and shower rarely occur at the same time of day. But, on the rare occasion they do, I often do the same thing. Trouble is, by the time I've rinsed out my razor and brush, the lather on my face has started to flake off and fly around the bathroom.

 

[user9]

Just wondering what, if any, time efficiencies people build into their shaving routine. Multi-tasking sorts of things, or a specific order in which you do things.

For example, before I shower, I let the sink faucet hot water while I bring in my shaving gear for that session. It gets hot, then I put my brush in to soak and add hot water to the soap to let it steep.

This also insures that when I turn on the shower, that water is already hot. No waiting.

I rub on hair conditioner into my beard just before getting out of the shower, and I leave it on while I build lather. This is my cheap version of a pre-shave oil. My first lather goes right on top of the conditioner.

I like to give each stage of the post shave time to do it's thing. The alum goes on before I use the toothpaste and mouthwash, and I let it work while I put away my gear and wipe down the sink area. I rub on the witch hazel next, just before getting dressed. That gives it time do do it's thing. I do not rinse off the alum. After I'm dressed and the witch hazel is dry, then I do the aftershave.

But I'm curious if others have adjusted their routine for any perceived efficiency.

I love the idea of using the conditioner and will give that a try. I fill the bowl with hot water from the shower and drop the brush into it to warm up while showering. After applying shaving cream, I apply my deodorant to give the shave cream a moment to settle in.

The biggest efficiency if I'm in a hurry is to grab the 5-blade cartridge, Hydro, Fusion, Jack Black or Bic, whatever happens to be handy. That speeds thing up by a factor of 5-10. Maybe more of a cheat than an efficiency.

 

[Wgg2017]

I bowl lather and with firmer soaps like MdC, I’ll press a small amount of soap into the lather bowl and add a few drops of water prior to getting in the shower. I’ve found it speeds up the lather building process.

 

[EclipseRedRing]

If I were short of time then I would not resolve that by reducing the time spent doing something I enjoy. As I am getting older and my time is beginning to run out, that truth is becoming more apparent.

 

[Mitzie]

There's a guy on YouTube I like to watch who married a woman while he lived in China. They actually had to flee from China, as the government there finally had enough of his YT posts.

But he and his wife had different opinions on when is the best time to take a shower.

Americans favor the morning shower. But she argued that it made more sense to shower before bed, so you do not carry the grime of the day into bed with you.

I think the Chinese have a point on that one. There is just some culturally American thing about the morning prep before going out to face the world.

If you sweat at night, in bed, especially if you wrap the sheets around you to get and keep warm, living in a cold climate, a morning shower is preferrable

 

[Alex Jr]

I find it interesting seeing how cultural this shower thing is and what is the “normal” in some places.

It’s funny reading “OR” because over here it’s both. And sometimes another one in the middle of the day to freshen up.

We take a lot of showers over here (culturally speaking as a country).

I can’t imagine getting out of bed in the morning and not taking a shower. No way, simply no. Unimaginable.

And I can’t imagine preparing for bed in the evening without one too.

That’s the absolute minimum. Summer or winter, non negotiable.

 

[Tomo]

Stopped using pre-shave, alum and witch hazel. Strop razor and set things out the night before.

 

[OkieStubble]

If you sweat at night, in bed, especially if you wrap the sheets around you to get and keep warm, living in a cold climate, a morning shower is preferrable

There is dirty sweat and then there is clean sweat.

 

[Mitzie]

There is dirty sweat and then there is clean sweat.

Is that why men only sweat, but women only perspire ?

 

[OkieStubble]

Is that why men only sweat, but women only perspire ?

I think so….

 

[Wgg2017]

I find it interesting seeing how cultural this shower thing is and what is the “normal” in some places.

It’s funny reading “OR” because over here it’s both. And sometimes another one in the middle of the day to freshen up.

We take a lot of showers over here (culturally speaking as a country).

I can’t imagine getting out of bed in the morning and not taking a shower. No way, simply no. Unimaginable.

And I can’t imagine preparing for bed in the evening without one too.

That’s the absolute minimum. Summer or winter, non negotiable.

Just curious, where is “over here”?

 

[RAD patient]

I find it interesting seeing how cultural this shower thing is and what is the “normal” in some places.

It’s funny reading “OR” because over here it’s both. And sometimes another one in the middle of the day to freshen up.

We take a lot of showers over here (culturally speaking as a country).

I can’t imagine getting out of bed in the morning and not taking a shower. No way, simply no. Unimaginable.

And I can’t imagine preparing for bed in the evening without one too.

That’s the absolute minimum. Summer or winter, non negotiable.

And I always thought Italians only showered with a bottle of cologne....
At least that's the saying here in Holland..

 

[Alex Jr]

Just curious, where is “over here”?

Sorry, forgot to mention. Brazil.

And I always thought Italians only showered with a bottle of cologne....
At least that's the saying here in Holland..

My family (father and mother side) are fairly recent Italian immigrants but I’m not Italian.

My parents live in Italy though.

 

[Quaznoid]

I shower when I’m dirty.

 

[Lane101]

Just wondering what, if any, time efficiencies people build into their shaving routine. Multi-tasking sorts of things, or a specific order in which you do things.

For example, before I shower, I let the sink faucet hot water while I bring in my shaving gear for that session. It gets hot, then I put my brush in to soak and add hot water to the soap to let it steep.

This also insures that when I turn on the shower, that water is already hot. No waiting.

I rub on hair conditioner into my beard just before getting out of the shower, and I leave it on while I build lather. This is my cheap version of a pre-shave oil. My first lather goes right on top of the conditioner.

I like to give each stage of the post shave time to do it's thing. The alum goes on before I use the toothpaste and mouthwash, and I let it work while I put away my gear and wipe down the sink area. I rub on the witch hazel next, just before getting dressed. That gives it time do do it's thing. I do not rinse off the alum. After I'm dressed and the witch hazel is dry, then I do the aftershave.

But I'm curious if others have adjusted their routine for any perceived efficiency.

For me the most important benefit of DE shaving is that it provides a relaxing 10 - 15 minute Zen like break from the rest of the day. My normal routine is to wash my face, build my perfect lather and complete a 2+ pass shave. My only efficiency is to soak my brush when I use the boar instead of my two synthetics before I wash my face. I don't have other pre or post shave activities as part of my routine with the exception of an alum block or styptic for the rare weeper.

If I'm really strapped for time I'll go to plan be where I use my canned foam for a socially acceptable one pass shave that takes around 5 minutes. For travel or extremely tight scheduling situations out comes my Norelco for a two minute shave.

 

[Lane101]

Trial and error to find better pre-shave products. my current favorite is VdH soap. It doesn't work better than any of the other products I've used, it just seems to work a little faster. I leave it on while I make lather which seems to be enough time.

Improved my technique so I could reduce the number of passes from 3 to 2 and still achieve the same closeness of shave.

I enjoy shaving at a leisurely pace, so far my improvements have only shaved off a few minutes.

By VdH do you mean Van Der Hagen Luxury Shaving Soap?

 

[Eben Stone]

By VdH do you mean Van Der Hagen Luxury Shaving Soap?

The one I'm using is the Van der Hagen "Deluxe" shave soap that came with their Basics/Traditional shave kit. Not sure what the difference is between it and the luxury. It's the only VdH soap I've tried. It works great as a preshave. In my experience, even better than taking a shower.

 

[Lane101]

The one I'm using is the Van der Hagen "Deluxe" shave soap that came with their Basics/Traditional shave kit. Not sure what the difference is between it and the luxury. It's the only VdH soap I've tried. It works great as a preshave. In my experience, even better than taking a shower.

Thank you.

While VdH has evolved its formulation over the past few years the main difference between the "Basics" Deluxe and Luxury is that the Luxury pucks have glycerin that is not in the Deluxe version. This gives the larger 3.5 oz Luxury pucks much better slickness when uses as a primary shaving soap. I've found that the Deluxe version lathers well but has less than my preferred amount of slickness. While I don't use Deluxe alone it works well as an ingredient to my custom blends with slicker tallow based shaving soaps like Williams or Arko as it works well as a superlathering ingredient with the tallow soaps that supply plenty of slickness. Additionally as a melt and pour soap it acts a an excellent binder to the grated tallow soaps.

Your use of VdH Deluxe as a pre-shave that you leave on prior to lathering may have a similar effect to how I use it in blends where it enhances your lathering ease and quality while your primary soap provides needed slickness.

 

[Wogus]

Is that why men only sweat, but women only perspire ?

Horses sweat, men perspire, women glow.