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Best method for heating towels?

I live in the Northwest and get hot water from the ground in a volcanic geothermal system. One of the good things about living on a volcano. This gives me better than 160 degree water at the tap. I run water in the sink and bathe my face in it then run some hot water on the towel and put it on my face. I do this twice, then lather and it seems to work pretty well. I also float my bowl in the sink of this very hot water and it keeps it nice and warm.
 
Thanks. I guess I have put some thought and research into it!

That is some towel steamer that barber has! Looks kind of scary. The towel warmers I was thinking off look to be like a small microwave and hold a bunch of towels on racks. Must take some time to heat up in the morning though. Also must take up some space.

I tried using a rice cooker at first. Works pretty well. A little small. But the towels got insanely hot. That barber in the video was better at dealing with that than I was. But also, I think things ready to go when I want it. Not relaxing for me to have to deal with getting a towel down to a temperature where I can put it on my face. Also why I like to have multiple towels ready to go. Prep them all at once and it does not take any more time to do.

Haven't tried a face steamer, either the cheaper kind where you bend over forward and put your face in a plastic mask-like thing nor more professional kind that directs steam down at your face. Seems like the towels would do as well or better, particularly if one figured out something to put on top that would retain heat better. The bend forward position does not seem comfortable to be. I like leaning back in a chair with gravity holding the towel down on my face. Seems relaxing.

I guess a steamroom/sauna then straight onto a shave would be ideal?
 
I put a face towel on the sink, then i put boiling water onto it, wait for 3 minutes, lather my face, take the towel, remove a little excess water and lie in my bed for around 5 minutes. It's awfully hot the first 3 times, but you can get accostumed to that. While i'm on my bed i'm listening the tv news with muy eyes closed.
 
I put a face towel on the sink, then i put boiling water onto it, wait for 3 minutes, lather my face, take the towel, remove a little excess water and lie in my bed for around 5 minutes. It's awfully hot the first 3 times, but you can get accostumed to that. While i'm on my bed i'm listening the tv news with muy eyes closed.

Heck yeah! Relaxing, isn't it. For all of these things, if it does not feel good, you probably are not doing it right.
 
Hot tap water works for me. I usually put enough in the sink to soak a wash cloth. Lather. Put the wash cloth on my face. Let the water out of the sink and refill it with hot water again because it's cooled by now. Once the sink has enough water in it again, I wring out the wash cloth, soak up the new hot water and re-apply. Wash cloth's a little small, but generally works.

Not sure about all of these trips to the nuker. Mine's a long way from the bathroom.
 
As an apartment-dweller, I'm not sure if I'm free to adjust the temp of the hot water (which is not particularly hot). As the father of a small child, I'm not sure if it is in my interest to do so, even if I could. I might look into this portable kettle device cstrother has mentioned. Thanks for sharing, sir!
 
As an apartment-dweller, I'm not sure if I'm free to adjust the temp of the hot water (which is not particularly hot). As the father of a small child, I'm not sure if it is in my interest to do so, even if I could. I might look into this portable kettle device cstrother has mentioned. Thanks for sharing, sir!

Let me see if I can be of a little more help on these electric hot water kettles. I would definitely say that you do not want your tap water to be scalding if you have kids around. Kids die every year from that.

Also, as elaborated on below, I really would not want to be using one of the wide mouth hot pot type water heaters anywhere near kids. I would actually not want to use one around me again. The kettles that look like a traditional tea kettle and are made out of metal seem to be quite safe. The other ones, I do not know.

My tap hot water is not even close to hot enough to bother with for shaving.

I think what these really are are what folks such as the Brits use to heat water for tea. (You heat the water in the kettle and then pour it into a usually ceramic tea pot with the tea, of course. No tea ends up in the kettle. It is strictly heats the water.) Anyway, I am told that the American approach of putting a kettle on top of a stove burner to heat water strikes folks used to these electric kettles as bizarre. I guess, in part, it seem like overkill to fire up a stove under a kettle just to heat water, when all one really has to do is put water in kettle, turn on kettle and wait a few minutes. Also, it makes no sense to me at all how a 110 volt circuit can do this, but these electric kettles are blazingly fast. Way faster than my store top, which has some pretty close to professional stove-size gas burners, and really does the best job by far of any stove top I have ever had. Anyone that makes much tea probably ought to buy themselves one of these. We did, based on my experience using it for shaving.

Very handy. Very compact.

Anyway here is a picture of what I think is the brand (Aroma) I bought at Target. I am a little thrown by the fact that it is listed at a 1.5 liter capacity and what I have I am sure is 1.7 liter, and the price is just north of $30 whereas I am sure on sale I paid in the mid-20s. Aroma 1.5L X-Press http://www.target.com/Electric-Kettles-Coffee-Tea-Espresso/b?ie=UTF8&node=13385431
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Here is a photo of the Chef's Choice brand version that is very similar but costs almost twice as much for no apparent reason. I like this photo because it shows off the cordless feature, which the Aroma also has:
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All of these shut off automatically when they reach a boil. They also shut off automatically if they boil dry or I guess really if they are started dry, because that auto cut of when they boil does not let them boil for long.

Here is a plastic covered one for $22.49 that holds 1.7 liters. http://www.target.com/Kalorik-Sunny...eld-browse=13385431&rank=salesrank&rh=&page=2

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How can they sell something like this for so little.

I noticed that this has a large opening top. I would not like this but for the fact that it also says opens with the press of a button. What I would really not want is something with a large opening that did not close down very securely. I want something that if I knocked it over would not send a 1/2 gallon wave of boiling water across the counter or more likely down on me. I assume that this one has a tea kettle type pouring spout. Very useful when you are trying to direct a small amount of water into a lather bowel.

Here's another price mark down at Target for $17.99.

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Anyway, these plastic ones would make me uneasy to some extent. The one I have is all metal around the water. If I dropped it on the tile, it might bend, and the plastic base might break, but the part that hold the water cannot possibly shatter. Also there is not seam between plastic and a metal heating element built into the bottom that can separate. it looks like a regular kettle on the inside. Nothing of the heating element exposed.

Here is the kind I highly suggest you not use. I actually beg you not to use. They are just not safe for this purpose at all.
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$11.69, again at Target. This one is Rival brand. Protor Silex looks and costs identical. These are plastic with a metal plate in the middle of the bottom. Mine started leaking around that plate and down on the counter. These are not cordless and that cord really gets in the way and is prone to catching on things when you least expect it to. The top is huge and not secure at all. Water sloshes around and it is hard for instance to direct water into a lather bowel or a scuttle. Believe it or not, these do not shut off automatically at all and they do not have any temperature control, as I recall. The fact that water is boiling or that the water has all boiled out makes no difference to them they will remain fully on. They hold one liter when filled to the brim, which you are not going to want to do because of the slosh factor. I found that a liter was not quite enough even though it seems like quite a bit, whereas 1.5 liters seems to pretty much do it. Even these crappy ones are fast as the dickens at boiling water though. If you run out of hot water, put another round on.

Anyway, that is way more than you would ever want to know about electric kettles and shaving. Thanks for reading along. And let's look out for our kids and others kids as best we can. What happened to Mike Tyson's kid today just seems so, so terribly sad. I just cannot imagine what that would be like for a parent. It takes a village.
 
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Thanks for the info. I need to pick one of these up. My tea and instant coffee is tired of waiting for the traditional tea kettle to heat up on my electric stove. I did hear about one of the barbers here using a crock pot to heat towels...
 
I am wondering....has anyone invested in the towels carried by some shave product vendors? Cambridge Chemists has one, as does WCS.
To my way of thinking, a towel is a towel. Personally, I use a washcloth soaked in hot water and wrung out just enough to stop drips. My AD is bad enough without getting into "special" towels!
 
I am wondering....has anyone invested in the towels carried by some shave product vendors? Cambridge Chemists has one, as does WCS.
To my way of thinking, a towel is a towel. Personally, I use a washcloth soaked in hot water and wrung out just enough to stop drips. My AD is bad enough without getting into "special" towels!

I like a larger towel than a wash cloth.
 
My bathroom has a heated towel rack. Just need to rinse towel in hot water to get it damp, then put it back on the towel rack for 30 seconds.

Nice and toasty on the skin :)
 
I am wondering....has anyone invested in the towels carried by some shave product vendors? Cambridge Chemists has one, as does WCS.
To my way of thinking, a towel is a towel. Personally, I use a washcloth soaked in hot water and wrung out just enough to stop drips. My AD is bad enough without getting into "special" towels!


I started off using a washcloth which was a little small & didnt retain heat for very long.

Then I moved onto an old worn face towel folded in half which worked much better, as it held the heat for longer.

Finally I am at the stage now where I use a thicker slightly softer old towel and when folded in half retains the heat for even longer than the previous 2 mentioned.

Had a look on the cambridge chemist website but couldn't find any towels there. The one on WCS doesnt seem anything special from the picture & description. I cant truly say as I have never tried it though.

Anyone with more shaving towel experience care to mention if special towels do make a difference?
 
I started off using a washcloth which was a little small & didnt retain heat for very long.

Then I moved onto an old worn face towel folded in half which worked much better, as it held the heat for longer.

Finally I am at the stage now where I use a thicker slightly softer old towel and when folded in half retains the heat for even longer than the previous 2 mentioned.

Had a look on the cambridge chemist website but couldn't find any towels there. The one on WCS doesnt seem anything special from the picture & description. I cant truly say as I have never tried it though.

Anyone with more shaving towel experience care to mention if special towels do make a difference?

These look good at 6 for $12. http://www.rysbarbersupplies.com/andre-color-safe-towels.html

I like this look but they seem a little thin for hot towel purposes. http://www.appletonbarbersupply.com/store/shopexd.asp?id=469

check this video at about the one minute mark. Here is what pro barber is using. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vY46z9I90p0

There used to be a great barbering manual on-line. I do not seem to be able to find it right now. it always seemed to have a very precise idea of exactly what one should have and do in any barbering activity. I bet it had an exact towel size. I have a slight recollection that it said to overlap the ends on the towel on the lower part of the face/chin, in order to preserver heat on that part of the face. Makes sense to me.

I think you want big enough to fold in half length-wise and long enough to wrap around the face maybe not as far as in the video but at least a bit, so that it is not falling off easily. I would love some ideas re keeping the towel warming longer on the face. Two towels I guess even if the one on top was dry.
 
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hot water from the tap.

no point in superheating in a microwave if im then having to wait for it to cool down
 
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