So, I like to have a nice warm/hot lather experience when shaving, so I'm experimenting with techniques and wondering what other heat aficionados do to get their stuff hot.
I went online and found out that 125 degrees Fahrenheit (51.7 C) is the scalding temperature for humans, and since I've also read that brushes shouldn't bee exposed to scalding hot water, I decided that the optimum temperature to shoot for is 100-120 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8-48.9 C).
I am currently using our electric tea kettle (an earlier model of this, I believe). After I make tea in the morning, I fill it back up and let it boil again. Then I take it down to my den in the basement, which is quite cold in the winter (don't know whythe furnace is down there, but they never put in a heating exhaust anywhere in the basement), so I figure it will cool quite quickly.
This morning, I decided to be scientific about it, so I dug out my instant-read kitchen thermometer to track. Obviously, once the water boiled, it read over 200 degrees F (93.3 C). I didn't wait to see what the maximum reading would be (obviously, it's going to be somewhere around 212 F (100 C), way over the scalding point at 125 F/51.7 C).
So I took the kettle down to the cold den and filled up the following items: My Art of Shaving scuttle, which I put inside my shaving basin (basically a cheap, large plastic pho bowl that I got at the Vietnamese supermarket nearby),* my brand new Art of shaving pewter/ceramic combination mug,** my large blue shaving mug (essentially a large coffee mug, which I think I got from eBay 10-15 years ago). The 1.5 liters from the kettle was pretty much enough to fill up all these items.
I used the thermometer to test the temperature, and indeed, it was falling pretty quickly. I dunked my razor and brush in the mug and hopped in the shower. By the time I was done showering, all the water had gone down below 125 F/51.7 C. Surprisingly, it was the large plastic pho bowl that had held the temperature the best while I was showering. I thought that the smaller ceramic vesselsboth because of material and because of the much smaller surface touching the ambient airwould have been better at retaining heat.
I proceeded to shave, hoping that the water would hold at 100 F/37.8 C, but by the time I got halfway through, it was down to 98-99 F (36.7-37.2 C), and falling.
I have order this Proctor-Silex hotpot from Amazon, hoping that using it will be better at holding the temp at 100-120 F while I'm showering and maybe helping it stay above 100 F to the end of my shave. The only problem is that I don't really have a place to put it. I know I shouldn't set it up in the bathroom itself. But I need to set up a table or something in the narrow passage outside my shave den to put it on and then run an extension cord to a power point.
Anyone else dealt with this problem? How have you handled it?
______________________
Notes:
*I use the basin instead of my bathroom lavatory/basin/sinkwhich is right there, of coursebecause I prefer cleaning hair and soap scum out of a bowl rather than out of my sink. I can clean it in the kitchen basin, where I don't have to worry as much about clogging the drain with hair (which has happened to me), or I can just put it in the dish washer.
**I've had this thing for a couple of days and I quite like it. My only criticisms are that (1) my shaving brush handles aren't quite long enough for me to lather up without getting my fingers into the mug (not a huge problem), and (2) there's no room between the pewter base and the ceramic insert to put hot water in.
I went online and found out that 125 degrees Fahrenheit (51.7 C) is the scalding temperature for humans, and since I've also read that brushes shouldn't bee exposed to scalding hot water, I decided that the optimum temperature to shoot for is 100-120 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8-48.9 C).
I am currently using our electric tea kettle (an earlier model of this, I believe). After I make tea in the morning, I fill it back up and let it boil again. Then I take it down to my den in the basement, which is quite cold in the winter (don't know whythe furnace is down there, but they never put in a heating exhaust anywhere in the basement), so I figure it will cool quite quickly.
This morning, I decided to be scientific about it, so I dug out my instant-read kitchen thermometer to track. Obviously, once the water boiled, it read over 200 degrees F (93.3 C). I didn't wait to see what the maximum reading would be (obviously, it's going to be somewhere around 212 F (100 C), way over the scalding point at 125 F/51.7 C).
So I took the kettle down to the cold den and filled up the following items: My Art of Shaving scuttle, which I put inside my shaving basin (basically a cheap, large plastic pho bowl that I got at the Vietnamese supermarket nearby),* my brand new Art of shaving pewter/ceramic combination mug,** my large blue shaving mug (essentially a large coffee mug, which I think I got from eBay 10-15 years ago). The 1.5 liters from the kettle was pretty much enough to fill up all these items.
I used the thermometer to test the temperature, and indeed, it was falling pretty quickly. I dunked my razor and brush in the mug and hopped in the shower. By the time I was done showering, all the water had gone down below 125 F/51.7 C. Surprisingly, it was the large plastic pho bowl that had held the temperature the best while I was showering. I thought that the smaller ceramic vesselsboth because of material and because of the much smaller surface touching the ambient airwould have been better at retaining heat.
I proceeded to shave, hoping that the water would hold at 100 F/37.8 C, but by the time I got halfway through, it was down to 98-99 F (36.7-37.2 C), and falling.
I have order this Proctor-Silex hotpot from Amazon, hoping that using it will be better at holding the temp at 100-120 F while I'm showering and maybe helping it stay above 100 F to the end of my shave. The only problem is that I don't really have a place to put it. I know I shouldn't set it up in the bathroom itself. But I need to set up a table or something in the narrow passage outside my shave den to put it on and then run an extension cord to a power point.
Anyone else dealt with this problem? How have you handled it?
______________________
Notes:
*I use the basin instead of my bathroom lavatory/basin/sinkwhich is right there, of coursebecause I prefer cleaning hair and soap scum out of a bowl rather than out of my sink. I can clean it in the kitchen basin, where I don't have to worry as much about clogging the drain with hair (which has happened to me), or I can just put it in the dish washer.
**I've had this thing for a couple of days and I quite like it. My only criticisms are that (1) my shaving brush handles aren't quite long enough for me to lather up without getting my fingers into the mug (not a huge problem), and (2) there's no room between the pewter base and the ceramic insert to put hot water in.