Why heat your face?

[Mad Weiland]

Obviously, the title is a little provocative but, allow me to clarify.

Of course, I understand why one would prep one's beard for shaving, however I am curious to know your opinions on the purpose of heating the skin itself, so that the follicles "loosen their grip" on the hairs. It is understandable that one would want the hairs themselves to be more easily cut, thus the heating and moisturising; But why would it be imperative that the hairs be coaxed out of the skin unless one were planning to pull them out, instead of cut them off? Which would be, it seems, counter-intuitive to the goal of wet-shaving.

If one ends up doing more pulling than cutting, one would be approaching a method inherent to multi-blade shaving.

What are your thoughts?

 

[kingfisher]

Your question is a good one, but your reasoning is flawed.

Heating the face actually brings more fluid into the facial tissues, which swell up some, making it harder to cut the hairs short, because when the swelling subsides (as the face cools down) the part of the beard that was below the level of the swelling comes back out.

The traditional teaching is that the heat helps the hairs to become SOFTER, so they are more easily cut.


I'm not a believer in the hot water or the hot towel treatment. I use lukewarm water. Cold water may even be better, but I don't like using cold water.

 

[gearchow]

+1

I'm pretty much a cold water shaver here, but I'm not going to put a cold, wet cloth on my face! What works for me is to be patient and let the lather set on my face for a bit. Maybe a minute if that, just working it most of that time. The lather acts like a wet towel.

-jim

 

[kingfisher]

+1

... What works for me is to be patient and let the lather set on my face for a bit. ...
-jim

Plus, lather is alkaline, which actually does physiochemically SOFTEN the beard hairs.

Letting the lather sit on the face for a minute or so probably softens the beard much more than a hot towel does.

 

[BlackBard]

Partial quote:

Obviously, the title is a little provocative but, allow me to clarify.

Of course, I understand why one would prep one's beard for shaving, however I am curious to know your opinions on the purpose of heating the skin itself...

What are your thoughts?

When you figure out how to get warm/hot water on your beard without heating the skin, let us know.

Too snarky? Sorry.

I should have said that I don't believe there is any necessity in heating the skin, but it is unavoidable when using heat to prep the beard.

 

[JeffM]

Because it feels so good

 

[HoosierTrooper]

Another cold water shaver. It feels so much better I wish I'd tried it years ago!

 

[BladeRunner001]

plus, lather is alkaline, which actually does physiochemically soften the beard hairs.

Letting the lather sit on the face for a minute or so probably softens the beard much more than a hot towel does.

exactly!

 

[rolisrgti06]

because it feels so good

+1

 

[Alacrity59]

Because it feels so good

+ 2

It does not have to be killer hot but heck nice warm lather has that comfort feel to it.

 

[gull]

Warming your face does feel great. Unfortunately, it gives me irritation. I don't know whether heating hair actually softens it, but that seems to be the popular believe.

 

[armykunin]

I'd have to agree with the other cold water shavers here. Why warm your face, it actually does the opposite of what you're going for. It makes the hairs hold water and makes them more flexible. If you actually want your hairs to stand up on end so they are easier to cut, use cold water.

 

[Stubblefield]

Why? Because I get a better shave when I shower and use a hot wet towel.