Cold water rinse BEFORE last pass & ingrowns

[Agouti]

Hi!

I thought about the following:

My skin is prone to ingrowns, therefore I try to avoid shaving ATG at the moment. However, since my beard is quite thick and dark, the residue is clearly visible. That is not very satisfying, but I can live with it.

Now, ingrown hairs are caused by a too "BBS-esque" shave, cutting the hair below the skin surface. It is obvious how to avoid that: don't go ATG, don't stretch the skin and live with the stubble left.

What if we were to try and shave against the growth pattern while taking care of not shaving too close? Warm water causes the skin to relax, the hair to move out of the skin, thus allowing it to be cut off easier and nearer the skin surface. Agreed on that one, we therefore just prep as usual, hot water, towel etc, first and second pass as usual.

On the other hand, cold water causes the skin to contract, the hair might be "pulled" back into the follicle and won't stand out of the skin in a way as it would if soaked with hot water.

The suggestion is simple: cold water rinse before the last ATG pass. The hair has been softened and shortened by the preceeding passes, while the cold water might prevent that the hair might get cut somewhere below the skin (since it is already contracted).

Any ideas this might actually work?

[zclake]

try it, could be pretty helpful. let us know the results

[dpmtherrien]

Nothing wrong with giving it a try. If it proves to you that it doesn't work there's no harm done, and at least you know. If it does work for you then you have a nice addition to your shave routine.

I'll second the let us know how it works quote. Give it a shot, and post your results.

[heat sink]

It might work for you. I've done that a few times, although it wasn't planned. After rinsing with warm, and then cold water, occasionally I will find a small patch of stubble on the chin that needs attention - and I'll give it a quick dab of leftover lather and hack away. I've never found that to irritate me any more than doing so when my face is still warm, with warm lather. For my skin, it actually seems to help the hair rise up to be cut.

[kingfisher]

You can try it, but I don't think it's going to work.