Cold water shaving and blade reviews

[Bengal Tiger]

One of the conditions of winning this PIF: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/290530-Blade-Sampler-PIF was that I try cold water shaving and write about my experiences and review the blades. I've created this thread and will add posts here as I go along. Feel free to join in with comments or questions or whatever.

I started wet shaving with a brush in January of this year, started with the double edge razor in February, and joined B&B on March 31.

My razors: Edwin Jagger DE86 and Gillette Superspeed.
My brushes: Semogue 1305 boar and Art of Shaving genuine badger
Shaving bowl: ceramic bowl I found at Pier 1 for $2.
Aftershaves: Thayers witch hazel with aloe vera, Every Man Jack unscented lotion, Fruit of the Earth pure aloe vera gel, Indian alum block
Soaps and creams: too many to list here

Blades in the sampler pack:
Gillette 7 O'Clock blues and greens
Feather SS
Astra SP
Derby Extra
Shark SC and SS
Blue Bird SS



Cold water shaving:
brr..... May in DC is actually a great time to start doing cold stuff. The days have been getting warm and humid lately. After our mild winter, summer is probably going to be hot. Those who have read my previous posts know that I am big supporter of proper prepping of the beard by taking a hot shower or using lather or something to soften the hairs. For this experiment, I was feeling a bit scruffy in the evening so I decided to skip all that and just go cold. I soaked my Semogue 1305 boar in a bowl of cold tap water and then used it to wet my face. Definitely a cold feeling, but I had been sweaty from walking outside so the cold water felt good. Then I rubbed a stick of Arko soap over my face and lathered it up with the brush. I can def get into this soap. It lathers up so easily. I normally keep warm water in the bowl to dip my blade. I saw in a shaving video that you should always keep your blade warm because a cold blade will cut you. This is simply not true for me. I was worried but tried it anyway. A cold blade on cold wet skin with cold lather is just cold, but not bad. I didn't get cut. The shave was good, much better than I expected. The hairs did seem stiffer, yet they still cut just fine. My skin also felt soft and fine afterwards, not dry at all. To keep with the cold theme I keep a bottle of witch hazel in the fridge and I used that after shaving and it was totally awesome. No burn or irritation. We'll see going forward...

Shark Super Chrome:
I like these blades. I did this with the cold water shaving and it worked out well. Very smooth and sharp, no tugging on my hairs. We'll see how long it lasts and I'll report back.

Derby Extra:
This was the first blade I used when I started DE shaving as it came with my new jagger razor. Its very smooth but not very sharp. That was a good thing for starting out as I would have hacked up my face even worse and gotten discouraged. I got decent shaves from this but it certainly required 3-4 passes minimum to get it all. There was a little tugging. I kept using a few more of these before moving up the sharpness ladder to Merkur, which performed about the same. I may try these 2 brands again later with cold shaving, but I have so many other brands that I need to try first.

I plan on progressing up the sharpness ladder and keep feathers for last, maybe...I'm very curious. I think I'll probably try the Shark Super Stainless next and compare it to the Super Chrome. I'll switch after a few more shaves with the SC. I think all of these blades have reviews on this board if you're curious about other people's experiences. http://badgerandblade.com/reviews Blades are said to be the most variable part of shaving. You might get great shaves from blades that others can't stand and vice versa.

 

[Bengal Tiger]

I started wet shaving from reading the art of manliness blog. It's been said that feminine women like manly men so I'm always interested in finding new manly things to do and finding manly ways to do things. So their blog post on the case for cold water shaving is good read: http://artofmanliness.com/2010/03/24/cold-water-shaving/

I may try the ice cubes once just to see how it feels.

 

[Bengal Tiger]

So I started off today with my normal routine of a nice warm shower. Then I remembered the cold water shaving, and I went for a James Bond shower: switch the water to cold right at the end. http://artofmanliness.com/2010/01/1...a-shot-of-cold-water-for-health-and-vitality/ Brr... that will wake you up real good. I focused on having cold water on my face. Then soaked my brush in cold tap water for a minute or 2 as I put in my contacts and brushed my teeth. I was surprised that cold water still softens the bristles as well as warm. Its a top quality boar brush.

Used the brush to apply cold water to my face, and it felt good. Lathered up my puck of mystic water lime, this soap is unbelievably amazing. And the cold lime lather felt great too. I kept the same Shark superchrome from yesterday. The shave today felt better, the hairs were cut very easily. I suspect the warm shower softened up the whiskers real good as usual and the cold water stiffened up my skin and closed off pores or something. It was a different feeling than what I was used to. Not sure if the cold water had any effect on the whiskers, just the skin.

Finished it off with a splash of cold witch hazel from the fridge. I have noticed that I don't need any moisturizing facial lotion. My face isn't dry after the shave. Maybe the cold water is good for this. I use tallow soaps, but I think its probably the cold water.

Waiting for a very hot humid day to whip out the ice cubes. Until then, I am enjoying the cold tap water shaves so far. Those soldiers out in the snow might be on to something.

 

[warhawk]

Hi Bengal Tiger: Thanks 4 the cold report. In your opinion... do U think that you will be a cold water shaver convert after your experiment?

WARHAWK

 

[Bengal Tiger]

Hi Bengal Tiger: Thanks 4 the cold report. In your opinion... do U think that you will be a cold water shaver convert after your experiment?

WARHAWK

Too early to tell. I like it so far. I might feel completely differently on a cold winter day since our western culture values contrasting temperatures. There was a time when I searched for stuff to use as scuttles and other ways to keep lather warm, like microwaving water in the bowl. The cold tap water significantly shortens my shave time.

 

[tech.addict]

Cold water works wonder for me too. I've to shave everyday and cold water (with ice cubes added to water) gives me shave with least irritation. Also, it is very hot and humid here. So no wonder cold water feels great on the skin.

 

[California Cajun]

I started cold water shaving a month or two ago and initially liked it, but found I nicked myself up a little more and went back to the hot water. But if I were in a situation where there was no hot water I'd have no problem with a cold water shave. Once I tried doing it with ice cubes to make the water extra cold and it was just fine.

My shaving skills are constantly evolving even though I've been "retro shaving" for a little more than two years so there's no doubt I'll try it again.

There is a 1905 book online called Shaving Made Easy that teaches cold water is the proper way to shave. Here's the online book (which can be downloaded): http://archive.org/details/shavingmadeeasyw0020th. I'm primarily a straight razor shaver and it has been helpful to read this once in a while. It was particularly helpful to me in presenting honing as doable.

 

[Bengal Tiger]

Things were hot and sweaty last night, but not in the way I wanted. My air conditioner died.

But I have other tools for keeping cool. So back to cold water shaving. Soaked the brush in cold tap water in a bowl. Then took out a tub of Proraso soap and lathered up a storm with Marco's method. Big puffy white clouds of lathery goodness. I love Italian soft soaps and Proraso is expecially good for hot days because of the menthol.

Face lathered it and decided I could totally kick this up a notch with more menthol. So, I grabbed my tube of Indian Dettol Cool, now this is a menthol kick in the face. I superlathered it on my face right on top of my Proraso lather. This made for some interesting sensations as the stronger menthol got mixed in and got down to my skin.

That cooled me off pretty good. I did find that the menthol did some drying out of my skin. It was much drier this time than with my Mystic Water lime soap yesterday, and I used cold water both times, so I think it must be the menthol. Anyway, because of the heat I went with the frosty cold itch hazel instead of lotion. Feels so good. Ahhh....

 

[00Seven]

Glad to see that you are enjoying it. Have you noticed your shaves any closer or with less irritation?

 

[Bengal Tiger]

Shark Super Stainless-
Popped one of these in to compare against the super chrome. The cutting was OK I suppose but it didn't feel like a smooth cut. I could feel/hear scraping against my face, yet no tugging on the hairs. I used light pressure, but it certainly felt a bit different than the super chromes. The shave was fine but I did need a solid 4 passes to get as smooth as I like. I'm glad I tried these but like the super chromes better.

No weepers or nicks, but I suspected there might be some irritation. So I wet the alum block and rubbed it on my face and it passed the test. Not much burning, and the cold water and alum felt good.

 

[Bengal Tiger]

Glad to see that you are enjoying it. Have you noticed your shaves any closer or with less irritation?

I have noticed less irritation and more importantly its much less drying. Most of the times with cold water, I don't need any lotion. With warm or room temp water I would usually need some moisturizing aftershave lotion. I suspect there are other variables involved here such as the humidity of the air and the type of soaps/creams I use as well.

 

[Bengal Tiger]

I wanted to be wide awake before using feather for the first time, so got up and went outside for some exercise before it got too hot. The sunshine felt nice and got lots of good vitamin D on my skin. Then had a james bond shower to shock me awake so I would be nice and alert. Whoo! I'm almost glad that my tap water doesn't get frigidly cold here as it had in other places I've lived. Meanwhile my brush had been soaking in cold water. So to keep with the cold theme, I used marco's method on some proraso soft soap and superlathered it in the bowl with Dettol cool. Damn that was a cold superlather on top of some cold water on my face. Brr.... The lather was a bit thin, meaning too much water, so I lathered up my face for a good bit til it got thick enough to shave with. Not my proudest moment, but didn't want to start over. I was a little too aggressive starting out on the soap, should have gone much lighter and slower first.

Anyway, it was good enough.

Feathers:
I had psyched myself up for this moment for a long time coming since these blades are legendary for being the sharpest. Even Mantic says they are ninja sharp and not for beginners. So I had certain levels of expectations. They certainly were sharp and cut very cleanly, quickly, and felt smoothly too. I had my styptic pencil and alum block ready for nicks but it never happened. Just a nice smooth shave. Did 3 passes as usual although I could have probably gotten by with 2. It was a very nice shave. I did the alum block test and passed, not much stinging. I was really surprised with how well it cut my coarse hair under my jaw. This area usually requires extra passes but the feather handled it like a ninja. I think I must have mastered my technique and got the angle and pressure just right for me. I'm feeling pretty confident of myself. I think I want to try a straight at some point.

I like the blades. Not sure if I would get a 100 pack yet because of the cost. I have lots more blades to try in my sampler packs. Maybe Astra next. I think I prefer sharper blades over the milder ones I started with. Although if you are a newbie reading this, I do recommend starting with very mild blades like derby or merkur as you learn technique.

 

[Bengal Tiger]

Cold Irisch Moos. I like Irisch Moos and will miss it when its gone. Fortunately a 100 grams should last me quite a while. I wanted to see how it handled cold water and predictably it needed to be wet a few times to soften after each pass of the shave stick. This was the case with Arko too. It seems like warm water is better for softening soaps but cold works about the same for softening brush bristles. Had my boar brush soaking in cold water and it was nice and soft in just a couple minutes. The shave was fine. Having cold Irisch Moos lather on my face was nice, as was shaving with the sharp feather blade.

No nicks yet. And the shave was very nice and smooth. I generally skip the ATG and just go for 3: WTG, XTG, XTG the other way, and touch ups. I still got very smooth with this blade.

 

[gus1942]

I guess that I am one of the biggest advocates of cold water shaving on B&B, but I avoid extreme temperature, such as ice or very hot water. It is not necessary. Pick your own temperature, use good sound technique, and good shaves will happen. I always feel good moisturization is the key to proper prep.

 

[Bengal Tiger]

Astra Super Platinum:
Was in a bit of a hurry this morning and could have gotten by without shaving, but I wanted to try the Astras that are so popular around here. Soaked the 1305 in cold water, lathered up some mystic lime and tried it. The blades are sharp, but I'm not sure about smoothness. Maybe I got sloppy with blade angle but I did get my first nick of this experiment, on my chin. Not sure if its the blade or my technique, will try again tomorrow. First impression was OK, but not amazing. The alum block test yielded some burning, so probably due to technique. The alum and cold witch hazel helped a lot.

I'll give these a second chance to make sure. I got a bad shave my first time with Dorco and Derby too, but subsequent shaves were better. With Dorco especially my second shave was better than the first. Maybe the blade got smoother. Maybe I adjusted the angle or pressure or something.

 

[BlackBard]

Astra Super Platinum:
Was in a bit of a hurry this morning and could have gotten by without shaving, but I wanted to try the Astras that are so popular around here. Soaked the 1305 in cold water, lathered up some mystic lime and tried it. The blades are sharp, but I'm not sure about smoothness. Maybe I got sloppy with blade angle but I did get my first nick of this experiment, on my chin. Not sure if its the blade or my technique, will try again tomorrow. First impression was OK, but not amazing. The alum block test yielded some burning, so probably due to technique. The alum and cold witch hazel helped a lot.

I'll give these a second chance to make sure. I got a bad shave my first time with Dorco and Derby too, but subsequent shaves were better. With Dorco especially my second shave was better than the first. Maybe the blade got smoother. Maybe I adjusted the angle or pressure or something.

I have been following and appreciating your reports. Good work.

Astra SP is now my one and only blade. I do find that the first shave on a new blade, while good, is not quite as good as the second and several subsequent shaves. Stick with any blade for at least several shaves (unless it is obviously bad) before a final judgement.

 

[Bengal Tiger]

Didn't shave yesterday morning so I decided to do it in the evening. No prep, just soak the brush in cold water and use it to wet my face. I used Al's shaving cream, a custom scent that was piffed to me. The cream performed very well, nice thick lather. It's a woodly scent with oakmoss, sage, and some other stuff so it didn't match as well with the cold theme. I face lathered, and did that for a generous amount of time both to thicken the lather and to prep my face and beard since I didn't shower.

Tried the same Astra SP blade and it was much smoother this time around. Sharpness was about the same, but I could definitely appreciate a smoother feel against my face. I like these blades and glad I gave them a second chance.

What's left to try from this sampler are Gillettes and blue bird.

 

[Bengal Tiger]

OK, it was a nice hot memorial day so I decided to whip out the ice cubes. Damn this is cold! I don't think I will be using ice cubes in the future. Soaked my brush in ice water and made superlather with Old Spice Lime and Dettol Cool. Very cold. My skin felt noticably tighter than before. I did rinse the blade in tap water since I dumped out the ice from my lather bowl.

Gillette 7 O'clock blue:
What an awesome blade. Very sharp and smooth, the cutting was very easy. I had a very nice close comfortable BBS shave with 3 passes and no irritation. Once in a while Gillette gets it right, in their foreign markets. Too many American companies have decided that Americans don't deserve good stuff. I wonder how much of this was the blade vs the ice cold water. I'll have to try it again with normal tap water and no ice.

I'll use this blade once or twice more, then compare it with green. I also have yellow from another sampler pack I purchased.

 

[Bengal Tiger]

I just had a great shave with modern Williams. It produced nice creamy lather without much effort. It wasn't Cella or Irisch Moos levels of richness, but it was totally not bubbly at all. It was perfectly acceptable shaving lather.

Steps to reproduce:
I dunked the bar into my shave bowl where my Semogue 1305 is soaking and let them both soak for a minute.
Pulled out both and held the puck in my hand while loading the brush. Did this for about a minute. It was longer than a typical good soap, but not much longer. It looked a bit sudsy, but a lot of the watery suds fell into the sink.
Then bring brush to face and face lather.
The lather was thickened up very quickly
I had a great shave, using only the williams lather, and a gillette 7 o'clock blue in my jagger de86 razor. My face feels great.

Now, folks following this thread have seen what I've received and given out, so you know I've tried the good stuff. Williams is a totally decent shaving soap. So if you've been curious about what you've heard, don't be discouraged. I'm glad I tried it, and will keep it in the rotation along with Arko. Its cheapness and availability means I don't mind wasting or losing it.

 

[D.W.B.]

Great stuff here. I have also started cold water shaving a few weeks ago and enjoy it. Especially since the temperatures have started to rise. Thanks for sharing your experiences.