Cold water or hor water?

SpikeyMikey · Post by **SpikeyMikey** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 6:27 am

Ok so I know that you want HOT HOT water to open your pores before you shave....but then I keep hearing you splash on cold water close them when you're finished...but if you're applying moisturizer wouldn't you want to use hot water to keep your pores open???

Exapno · Post by **Exapno** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 7:02 am

Only a newb here (and over there) but I'd say you'd want your pores closed before you moisturize. You want it to soak into your skin, not your pores. Hello everybody by the way.

Post by **drmoss_ca** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 7:28 am

Pores don't really open and close that way. The hot water is to soften the beard, and the cold splash after feels nice and constricts any little bleeding blood vessels.

Chris

EL Alamein · Post by **EL Alamein** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 10:39 am

I prefer "hor" water myself, but don't tell my wife.

Chris

Timpac · Post by **Timpac** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 11:05 am

I actually shave before I shower, so I don't even use the cold water splash. Showering takes care of all the left over shave cream and bits of whisker and gives everything time to settle, so it works just as well that way. The cold water trick is great for giving your face a really fresh, clean sorta shine, though. When it comes to moisturizer or balm, it doesn't make that much of a difference.

final_id · Post by **final_id** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 12:10 pm

Back before I discovered "real" shaving, when I was using a Mach3 and Edge gel from the can and getting razor burn and pimple-rash every time I shaved, I used the following cold water trick to ameliorate the problems a bit:

I brought a few ice cubes in to the bathroom when shaving, and I dunked them into a larger bowl of cold tap water. That bowl was strictly for rinsing the razor. Thus, a warm face with warm(ish) lather would encounter what I (perhaps wrongly) thought of as "hard steel" because the blades were cold. Rinsing the blades in cold water, my theory was, could harden the metal slightly and thus allow less "warp" in any dimension along the blade, thus reducing the likelihood of a minor geometric deviation and improving the chance of getting an un-irritating shave.

It did work, to some small extent, this ice-cube trick. It also added yet another step to the horrible regimen of a million steps necessary to prevent the Mach3-plus-Edge combination from destroying my face.

Now that I am wise to the solution, I only use a decent foaming shave cream or soap or two or three, fluffed with a brush, and a single-edge blade (usually a safety razor). This prevents from arising the problems which the ice cube had been designed to solve. So, I am free to shun the cold water.

I prefer hot water throughout the shave for all facets of the act now.

ticman · Post by **ticman** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 5:24 pm

i use hot water to shave and lather; warm water rinse to clean off soap and brush; hot water for razor; and cold cold spash to close the pores, refresh (more like yikes). I then user thayers witch hazel to tone and follow with moisturizer.

works for me.

Mike

fritz · Post by **fritz** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 9:47 am

I use the same handtowel I used for the hot towel pre-shave to do the WWR and soap cleanup, then soak it in cold water, apply to face and wipe/scrub briskly. Now I'm ready for the alum block and Thayer's WH.

Bargepole · Post by **Bargepole** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 3:16 pm

Gosh. I must be getting sloppy. I just sort of vaguely rinse my face in the basin and towel off. A squirt of Coral and that's me done. Perhaps I should ritualise this a bit more.

bernards66 · Post by **bernards66** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 10:13 pm

Ditto what Chris Moss wrote above. Just a word of caution; very warm water to soften the beard, but not hot, HOT ( as in uncomfortable or scalding ). And yes, Michael, as a experiantially 'senior' member here, you need to tighten up your act a little ( chuckle ). No room for such sloppy pragmatism when it comes to shavegeekery you know.
Regards,
Gordon

fallingwickets · Post by **fallingwickets** » Sun Jun 10, 2007 3:44 am

Michael

Compared to me it sounds like quite an elaborate ritual you have going there. All I do when I'm done shaving is wipe off with a square of paper towel. Done.

Clive

CMur12 · Post by **CMur12** » Sun Jun 10, 2007 1:36 pm

fallingwickets wrote:Michael

Compared to me it sounds like quite an elaborate ritual you have going there. All I do when I'm done shaving is wipe off with a square of paper towel. Done.

Clive

Clive, is that one square for your head and one for your beard?

- Murray

fallingwickets · Post by **fallingwickets** » Sun Jun 10, 2007 5:26 pm

3 Murray. One for the head, one for the face, and one to purse my lips over so that my becks dosn't taste like shaving soap!

Clive

ead · Post by **ead** » Fri Jun 15, 2007 1:14 am

Hot water before
Cold after
This way you can soften the bread enough and after the shave close nicks and so on