Cold water shaving, how the heck do they do it?
- Thread starter zanxion
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Two thoughts on this thread:
1) I'm always puzzled that some guys are unable to make a decent lather. 70% of the actual Youtubers shave with suds, not lather. As for me, at the age of 58, I can make lather out of anything (a stone, for example).
2) The worst shaves of my life were with warm/hot water. Every time! Only cold tap water for me (including in the winter, when it's ice cold).
1) I'm always puzzled that some guys are unable to make a decent lather. 70% of the actual Youtubers shave with suds, not lather. As for me, at the age of 58, I can make lather out of anything (a stone, for example).
2) The worst shaves of my life were with warm/hot water. Every time! Only cold tap water for me (including in the winter, when it's ice cold).
Cold water works best for me. I think that a lot of steps that I take with warm water shaving are to offset the adverse effects of the other steps. Softening the hair before shaving (warm water, conditioners, etc.) I think makes it more flexible and easier for individual hairs to duck the blades, for example, so I need to do additional things to ensure a closer shave. Shaving before showering, with cold water, stiffens things up and and sets the hair up for falling quickly to the blade. I usually use cartridges (Hydro5, Jack Black Closer and the now discontinued Schick Original sold through Walmart). I haven't tried it yet with DE though. I still shower first and use warm water/lather for that.
"Better" is of course a function of how you define that, but the observable and repeatable difference in cold shaving for me is a consistently smooth shave without multiple passes.
I don't know whether the mineral content of water makes any difference, but where I live (Northwest USA) the water supply is utterly devoid of minerals. We used to joke that we couldn't make decent beer unless we gouged out the drywall to get some gypsum to toss into the brew pot.
I use both. But prefer the coldest that come out of the tap. Either at home or shipboard. And that can vary by which ocean I’m on. And in what part of the world, at a given time.
I regularly shave with cold water, the colder the better (icy is best) -- if nothing else, my third pass (and 4th touch-up pass) is always preceded by ice cold rinses.
Two things to note in regard to what OP brings up:
__ I find that cold (icy) water makes my skin contract, and so my stubble "stand up" a little more, or something ... makes it easier to find and shave off the remaining stubble
__ what is important with lather in the first place (I find) is glide and slickness above all. And for that, is doesn't matter how hot or cold the water is.
And in fact, contrary to what someone claimed above, I think this is not about "using plenty of product".
I actually find the slickness for a third and fourth touch-up pass better if I use less product. Just 'a touch', is just what you want ...
Two things to note in regard to what OP brings up:
__ I find that cold (icy) water makes my skin contract, and so my stubble "stand up" a little more, or something ... makes it easier to find and shave off the remaining stubble
__ what is important with lather in the first place (I find) is glide and slickness above all. And for that, is doesn't matter how hot or cold the water is.
And in fact, contrary to what someone claimed above, I think this is not about "using plenty of product".
I actually find the slickness for a third and fourth touch-up pass better if I use less product. Just 'a touch', is just what you want ...
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I live in Florida, so my cold tap water shaves may very well be a warm water shave to others.
@zanxion , if you're determined to try cold water shaving, you might try gradually lowering your shave water temperature over time, or try with another soap. Test lathers (lathering up without shaving) are fully allowed as well.
@zanxion , if you're determined to try cold water shaving, you might try gradually lowering your shave water temperature over time, or try with another soap. Test lathers (lathering up without shaving) are fully allowed as well.
Same here. I can definitely tell a difference between “cold” water in Florida compared to “cold” water elsewhere (Kentucky)
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That's what I did. In another discussion I accidentally bumped on a comment that somebody could not do in cold water Mitchell's Whole Fat. Then, it crossed my mind that LPL Oud - Santal and MWF are both tallow based soaps. I tried again with Savon Mystere Invenio and the lather as perfect. Where I live, during summer we get constantly 35 to 40+ deg C, and the cold water shaving now fits perfectly to it. I use water from the refrigerator and the feeling after shaving is phenomenal.
Being in AZ the summer cold water is still about 90+ 
but in the morning if I lightly use the hot water I can get the coldest as it comes through what was sitting in the pipes under the slab and is most likely only about 70-80 for just long enough to shave then back to my 90+ degree cold water hahahaha
cant wait for Oct to get cold again
upside is the Grill is always pre heated for steaks here
but in the morning if I lightly use the hot water I can get the coldest as it comes through what was sitting in the pipes under the slab and is most likely only about 70-80 for just long enough to shave then back to my 90+ degree cold water
hahahahacant wait for Oct to get cold again
upside is the Grill is always pre heated for steaks here
It's warm lather for me, regardless of the season. Tried cold water shaving a couple of times, and didn't like it. 
To each his own.
To each his own.
I think if you just give it time you might like it , if you don’t at least you gave it a chance. My father taught me how to shave around 1971 he said only warm water in the winter and cold water the rest of the year. I have been using cold water all year round and love it, sometimes in the summer I put ice cubes in the sink. I tried the hot water method when I joined B and B and it’s not for me. As they say ymmv.
For what it’s worth I read a few articles on Ben Franklin who only used cold water because it makes the hair stand up for a very clean cut as opposed to hot water which makes the hair soft and harder to get a clean cut, for me it works but everyone is different
Very good points
Love history stuff like this
Canadian military, 45 years ago. I remember shaving in a hole in the snow with water in my helmet. No soap, and an ambient temperature of about -20. You had to use lots of water, or else it would freeze too fast. We seldom got a chance to warm the water up first. Fun times.
Being in AZ the summer cold water is still about 90+
but in the morning if I lightly use the hot water I can get the coldest as it comes through what was sitting in the pipes under the slab and is most likely only about 70-80 for just long enough to shave then back to my 90+ degree cold water
cant wait for Oct to get cold again
upside is the Grill is always pre heated for steaks here
Yes, I used to live in a place like that too.
What we did was switch the hot water boiler (in the house) off and after a few days used that water as “cold”, the “cold” water tank on the roof then became our ”hot” water supply (with day temperatures around 42ºC/108ºF and night temperatures around 36ºC/97ºF).
After a few years it became part of the seasonal routine.
Even BBQs during summer evenings were out of the question; you could not drink enough beer to cool down and stay sober at the same time…
BBQs were for fall and spring.
B.
Yes, I used to live in a place like that too.
What we did was switch the hot water boiler (in the house) off and after a few days used that water as “cold”, the “cold” water tank on the roof then became our ”hot” water supply (with day temperatures around 42ºC/108ºF and night temperatures around 36ºC/97ºF).
After a few years it became part of the seasonal routine.
Even BBQs during summer evenings were out of the question; you could not drink enough beer to cool down and stay sober at the same time…
BBQs were for fall and spring.
B.
Can relate
I still grill almost every day but its HOT but I HATE cleaning inside mess so do the outside kitchen thing plus for me keeps the kitchen heat down
the roof thing is interesting how big were the roof top tanks and was it for water pressure ?
Reason I ask when I lived in the Caribbean the homes had these cement tanks above roof height and they would pump the water from a cistern under the house
but the tanks were for water pressure
So the water was one temp
the showers had these coil heaters you would plug in and the plug was in the shower which for me was odd freaked me out as I kept thinking I would get shocked so only took one temp showers the whole time I was there hahahaahhaalso the kitchen had these water heaters on the wall that you could run the water through for heat and they were run by electric or gas depending kinda like a super small instant water heater I see today
Based on my (internet) research, water temperature has no real purpose in the wetshaving process. Warm water helps with pre-shave cleansing (but it isn't mandatory as a soap can do that). Otherwise, water temperature appears to be more about the feel, the experience of wet shaving. A true YMMV.
I spent a few summers in NY, and most didn’t even have window unit ACs. We’d average three odd weeks in the low to mid 90s, 70-80s shouldered on either side. That tended to be hard on people because by the time they acclimatized, it’d cool back down to comfortable then the inevitable slide to frozen again. I cooked outside as much as possible once it got up to the 80s because of the way it’d heat my no AC house. And I love bbq/grilling. Didn’t care how hot I got outside cooking, cause I needed the Vit. D and a cool shower was waiting.
People seem to make do with what they have
