Hot Towel

I've been trying to get the hot towel/warm compress into my routine and I'm grasping at straws. What seems to work best is a washcloth pressed to my face with both hands, but I need to re-heat it a couple of times and, of course, my hands aren't free for stropping/whipping up a lather. Yesterday I even soaked an old t-shirt and tied it around my face -- hangs too loose and has the same cooling problem.

My current plan is to buy some yarn this weekend and adjust a washcloth patter into a wash-scarf, then knit.

Before I go through that, I was wondering what, if anything, other people do? It seems the sheer amount of water to soak a towel would be excessive, and take forever to dry. But I could be wrong.

I tried it a few times, and just used a wet washcloth.

I've since dropped the idea of a hot towel out of my routine, and I don't think the shaves have suffered at all for this omission. Too much trouble for what it brings to the shave, in my opinion.

I wouldn't waste a whole lot of time trying to make it work.

IMHO, the hot towel routine is a guilty pleasure to be enjoyed at the barber shop while lying back and getting a professional shave!

I think the hot towel has it's place and works well, but I use it a little different than most. No pre-shave hot towel for me. Instead I do a POST-shave hot towel for 1 minute over some Proraso Pre/Post that I've rubbed in, then just wipe off the excess cream...works wonders to soften, soothe and cool skin.

texquill said:

IMHO, the hot towel routine is a guilty pleasure to be enjoyed at the barber shop while lying back and getting a professional shave!

Click to expand...

If its a guilty pleasure then why not use it at home considering most of us here are already using "guilty pleasure" creams, soaps, razors etc. I use hot and cold towels especially when I shave a night. If it is a "guilty pleasure" then please send me to a Gulag.

falkor27 said:

I've been trying to get the hot towel/warm compress into my routine and I'm grasping at straws. What seems to work best is a washcloth pressed to my face with both hands, but I need to re-heat it a couple of times and, of course, my hands aren't free for stropping/whipping up a lather. Yesterday I even soaked an old t-shirt and tied it around my face -- hangs too loose and has the same cooling problem.

Click to expand...

- Build your lather (and strop) first. A modern scuttle would come in handy here, but I just set the lather bowl in a sink partially filled with hot water. I take out the lather bowl when I want to refresh the towel with hot water.

- Then apply your hot towel (especially if you use Kyle's Prep which uses some of your lather to help condition the beard with the hot towel).

I use a hand towel and just lay it on my face and hold it there with my hands. Yes, you have to refresh the towel every minute or two. No big deal, as long as you can do it fairly quickly to keep your face from cooling off too much. You don't need to soak it, just wring it out until it's not dripping (or barely dripping).

falkor27 said:

I've been trying to get the hot towel/warm compress into my routine and I'm grasping at straws. What seems to work best is a washcloth pressed to my face with both hands, but I need to re-heat it a couple of times and, of course, my hands aren't free for stropping/whipping up a lather. Yesterday I even soaked an old t-shirt and tied it around my face -- hangs too loose and has the same cooling problem.

My current plan is to buy some yarn this weekend and adjust a washcloth patter into a wash-scarf, then knit.

Before I go through that, I was wondering what, if anything, other people do? It seems the sheer amount of water to soak a towel would be excessive, and take forever to dry. But I could be wrong.

Click to expand...

I wear a hot balaclava.





























...just kidding.

Hold the towel in place has always been problematic for self shaver.
I use a face towel (face flannel) which I soak in the hot water (my sink taps are pretty hot), then I fold a hand towel in half lengthwise and lay the face towel on that.
I then wrap the whole thing around my beard with the face towel on the inside. It is tucked in at the back and I can then lathers etc.

Hope this helps

Tmax

i get everything ready, work up my lather then do my hot towel.

RicTic - you almost had me there (it's no more strange than tying a t-shirt around my head, though that was to test the properties of the fabric vis-a-vis heat retention).

I do have a scuttle, so I could prep everything beforehand — just trying for maximum efficiency. I'll step up to a hand towel tonight and go from there.

Oh, and thanks for the responses, everyone!

falkor27 said:

I've been trying to get the hot towel/warm compress into my routine and I'm grasping at straws. What seems to work best is a washcloth pressed to my face with both hands, but I need to re-heat it a couple of times and, of course, my hands aren't free for stropping/whipping up a lather. Yesterday I even soaked an old t-shirt and tied it around my face -- hangs too loose and has the same cooling problem.

My current plan is to buy some yarn this weekend and adjust a washcloth patter into a wash-scarf, then knit.

Before I go through that, I was wondering what, if anything, other people do? It seems the sheer amount of water to soak a towel would be excessive, and take forever to dry. But I could be wrong.

Click to expand...

You have multiple issues/questions here. First off, I consider hot towels a wonderful thing: as shaving prep, as aftershaving skin treatment, and as a relaxing luxirous thing about from those practical benefits. So bottom line, figuring out what works for you with towels is worth some effort.

I will give the short version here:

Do the lather before putting on the towel. Youo should really have lather on under the towel. You may want a layer of some other agent, such as a moisterizer on under the lather, under the towel.

Either lie down on your bed, if convenient ,or have a place or a chair in the bathroom where you can lean your head back, and relax. That keeps the towel in place and gravity should push it against your skin! This is supposed to be relaxing. It should not feel like you are trying out for the Ed Sullilvan show as a plate spinner!

You can search for other posts by me as to how to get hot water, and how to heat up the towels, and how to keep them warm. Again, a lot of my "technique" around this stuff is trying to make things easy and relaxed for myself. I suppose like some wag said about sex, "if it seems like work or hurts, you are doing it wrong." (Unless, I suppose, "hurts" appeals to one. Not to me in either, but particularly not as to anything associated with shaving.)

A terry cloth towel about 15 by 25 inches seems the best compromise size, for lots of competing reasons. Read old barber's manuals available various places on line including around here about how to drape it over/around one's face. (They knew what they were doing back then.)

Now, final piece that I hesitate to share because I am afraid that someone is going burn the crap out of themselves one way of the other trying this. Be warned. You can really hurt yourself. I have given myself mild facial burns more than once, and it would be real easy to give oneself a substantial facial burn to burn one's hands or other parts of ones body, or to fall down or other or whatever. (Also, for God sakes do not shave or so any of this stuff in the nude!)

Anyway the final piece is how does one keep the towel hot enough, long enough to be satisfying. (When a barber does this it is a little easier. He can manage the placement of the towel easily, refresh it when neceessary, etc., without getting up out a chair and "breaking the spell," etc.

Anyway, this is what works for me. Again, I beg folks not to burn themselves. I would feel very bad but assume no liability! You have been warned! Be careful. I have a number of 15 by 25 inch folded and rolled towels over which I have poured very hot water from an electric water kettle standing by on end in a small plastic cooler on the edge of our Jacuzzi type tub, next to the equivalent of a small lawn chair. I grab one towel, makes sure it is not too hot, sit down, lean back, and wrap it around my face. Then, blindly, with the first towel around my face I reach over and pull out another towel and add it in similar fashion over the first towel. Two towels used one on top of the other are going to keep things warmer much longer, and their combined weight pushes toweling nicely down on the face/skin. if you wanted, I suppose you could for yet another towel on top of the first two.

Now the part, I really hesitate to share, as I consider this probably too dangerous to doing, but if one really wants things to stay very hot for a long time, pull the first towel out of the cooler and make sure it is the right usual temperature, but dose a second towel in the cooler with a new round of very hot water, and make sure part if it stays cool enough and is sticking out of the edge of the cooler so that once you get situated and leaning back in the chair with the first regular temperature hot towel on your face, you can grab the a relatively cool part of the second extemely hot towel and add it carefully over the towel already on your face.

The second towel would be way too hot to appply directly to your face, but if done properly, the first towel will provide enough insulation from the seond towel so that the hear is too much. But the additional high temperture of the second towel, combined with having two layers of toweling will keep things hot for a very long time. PROCEED WITH CAUTION! Even if you are just using two regular temperature towels!

Have fun!

The towel cools quicky as the moisture in the towel evapoates. If you had a layer over your hot towel to retain the moisture, the towel would stay be warm for a longer period of time.