Hot or Cold Water?

H-Man

Member
Joined
Feb 19, 2011
I am relatively new to all this, trying to read around etc - most people say to use warm water when shaving to open pores etc but I came across this from a famous Melbourne barber who works in an upmarket mens clothing store:
"The secret is to get those stiff peaks of foam and to ONLY use cold water. Don’t shower first to soften the beard." - I was surprised by this as it goes against what most people say?
 
The plain truth is that if you don't soften the bristles, it will most likely be a painful shave.

I've done it without showering first, with a dry face and applying the cream and it felt like the blade was pulling at the bristles, not gliding through them.

BUT: the most consistent fact about DE shaving is this: what works for one person will almost certainly not give the same result for another person.

You should try it both ways, if only to see for yourself what is the best method for you.

I prefer to shower first, scrub my face with Nivea Young face wash and then NOT drying off my face, but allowing the excess water to run off while I prepare my lather.

While I am in the shower, my Semogue 830 sits in the sink immersed in warm water. Not hot; warm.

I shake off the excess water from the brush with precisely three shakes and then start working the lather in the bowl.

So the brush is warm, I add maybe three or four drops as needed to the bowl as I work it.

This is what my brush looks like then:

IMG_1746.jpg

After three passes I have still got enough in the bowl to get this sort of lather left over:

IMG_1748.jpg

That's using warm not hot water, and using an almond sized nugget of cream.
 
Barbers are full absolutes and hard and fast 'rules'. Surprising really, if they still actually shave lots of different faces for a living.

IME, hot or cold water makes no differences to quality of lather. But stiff peaks can suggest one that is far to dry and 'sticky'.
 
You know, I was thinking about this just now and I reckon that the barber is using that rule because that's how HE has shaved for years. Obviously it has worked for him, but as my esteemed colleague has mentioned in the above post, stiff peaks sound dry.

A dry lather is going to be like glue on your face. You want it moist, to the point where it sticks to your face but is still obviously a liquid not a solid.
 
I seem to like a warm-ish lather. I did shave the other week at a friends place with cold water (had run out of hot water), and although it was ok, I didn't like it.

Lately I think I've had a little too much water in my lather - making the blade kind of skip rather than glide. Will have to work on it.
 
I've never used a bowl. Bowl lathering and problems with lather has to be one of the most mentioned aspects of shaving for new comers. Why don't you face lather? Give it a try.
 
I've only bowl lathered to date, and I have not had a problem with it.

A common error would be too much cream in the bowl, and secondly not adding water properly - a drop at a time.
 
I think I'm just adding water too quickly. I'll go slower tomorrow morning though.

I've never had much success with face lathering. I just don't really know where to start.
What's your tricks and tips?
 
No tricks really. Load your brush, take it to a wet face and way you go. Keep dipping (not dunking) the brush in water as you go, til you get that yogurty goodness.

Best way to soften the beard up IMO.
 
Soak the brush while you shower. Get the bristles nice and wet.

Then take the brush out of the water (warm water) and shake the excess off.

Dig a small nugget sized bit of cream and smear it onto the bottom of the bowl. The size of an almond is about right.

Then you start working the cream with the brush, swirling around the bowl in one direction, every fifth or sixth circle I tend to go the other way and so on. As you work it, dip a finger into the water and let a drop fall off into the bowl. Just one drop at a time, then back to swirling with the brush. Take as long as you need but only add one drop at a time.

Never use the tap to add water, the output can't be controlled and you will add too much and if you do add too much, chuck the lot and start again.

It's really hard in my opinion to try and recover from too much water, and a waste of time.

As Drubbing and Razormonsta have told me in the past, you want a yoghurt consistency.

Experiment with it and spend some time getting it right.

I don't really have any experience face lathering but bowl lathering I seem to have worked out pretty well.

I had the TOBS samplers and the Proraso cream so I have a lot of creams, I made up maybe five or six bowls of lather just to get the mix right.

TLDR:

drip the water in one drop at a time, spend a few minutes making up lathers until you find one that works for you.
 
Was definitely too much water. Has been a little tricky 'cause I swapped from GF trumpler to P.160 Morbido. Lovely soap. Feels great on my skin.

Now another question - do you rinse between lathers/razer passes?
I have and I haven't. Not entirely sure it makes that much of a difference.
 
Now another question - do you rinse between lathers/razer passes?
I have and I haven't. Not entirely sure it makes that much of a difference.

I do, I like to keep the moistness in the lather and a wet face does that. If I don't, sometimes the lather can be a little dry - by my standards.
 
I do, I like to keep the moistness in the lather and a wet face does that. If I don't, sometimes the lather can be a little dry - by my standards.

spot on.

Otherwise if the face dries off too much you end up having to drag the razor through the cream.

You don't want that.
 
spot on.

Otherwise if the face dries off too much you end up having to drag the razor through the cream.

You don't want that.
No, but if the lather's well made to begin with, some like that extra creaminess they get with each later pass. I sometimes work my chin without adding water, and the lather's still nice, creamy and slick. New players can often make their lather too thin or too thick, so rinsing advice would only help the latter and make the former worse.
 
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