Thread: Water Shave

After a few weeks getting used to this straight razor shaving i decided i was ready to modify my routine. Before straight razor shaving i was a "just shave with water" type guy so i thought id give it a try with my freshly stroped razor. Amazing, i used 0 cream or soap and the results were wonderful. Two tries later and i have for the first time succesfully shaved my entire face without even one little nick. No razor burn either. Im not sure if this is a common thing to do but it works for me and as i am allergic to most soaps this will be my prefered method from here on out!! If you know of anyone else doing this or any tricks to make it smoother let me know.

james

Wow, all I can say is you are a braver man than I! I'm getting razor burn just thinking about that .

I do the second pass without cream, but it makes a big difference using cream on the first pass, so its not the same.

Glad it works for you though. Straight razors are much smoother than other blades so its pretty easy to do.

The blade catches the hair better too, you notice that?

That's something I would never do! I have very sensitive skin, and the thought of just using water makes my skin hurt... But hey, if it works for you, that's fantastic! It'll also be cheaper, since you won't have to buy any shaving cream ever! That reminds me...I am getting low....a problem you'll never have to deal with now. Congratz,

Dave

Try some LUSH shaving creams if you get the chance.

The real problem with water only is that it dries out much faster than lather and you'll be prone to have problems. Keep moisturized and you should make out okay.

X

I used to know a guy who just used water. He said he got his razor as hot as he could get it with hot water. Then shaved. Seemed to work just fine for him.

I also tried couple of things as I still don't own a brush or a good shaving soap.
I noticed most soaps I tried leave my lips "burned" a pretty strange and unwanted feeling...
Tried a Luch shaving cream and can't see this as being good for me... not slippery at all on the skin and it sticks to my blade requiring removing it with fingers under running water (i will defintely cut myself once if I contionue that)
Tried some luch shaving soap: nothing special, theare are better and defintly cheaper "sensitive skin" soaps outhere.

Right now just running my soapy hand over my face works fine. makes the skin slippery, and makes the blade move easily. When it feels dry just wet it up a bit.

Originally Posted by R420R

... not slippery at all on the skin and it sticks to my blade requiring removing it with fingers under running water (i will defintely cut myself once if I contionue that)...

Sounds like you don't have enough water in your soap Also, if it's drying out so fast on your face I would bet that your soap-to-water ratio is a little lean on the water. I've never had a soap/cream lather stick to my razor that water couldn't remove (I've used only a few different kinds). I would guess that that not having a brush would make this hard to incorporate more water. I wonder if a whisk would work somewhat...

Originally Posted by jameshathaway

After a few weeks getting used to this straight razor shaving i decided i was ready to modify my routine. Before straight razor shaving i was a "just shave with water" type guy so i thought id give it a try with my freshly stroped razor. Amazing, i used 0 cream or soap and the results were wonderful. Two tries later and i have for the first time succesfully shaved my entire face without even one little nick. No razor burn either. Im not sure if this is a common thing to do but it works for me and as i am allergic to most soaps this will be my prefered method from here on out!! If you know of anyone else doing this or any tricks to make it smoother let me know.

james

You may want to try a light coat of shave oil to keep the lube factor up if using only water.

+1 on the shave oil...or any lubrication. What I'd fear is that after a certain amount of time of shaving with no soap/oil/etc., you may start to irritate the skin by removing too many layers (excessive exfoliation?).

But in the interim, keep doing what's working! If you like it this way, then you're good to go

Mark