Hot or cold water

[Ereinion]

Hi, just wondering, when rinsing a straight razor, do you use cold or hot water. Since metal get softer when warmer, could using hot water would dull the blade faster than using cold water?
I am still with my M3, and using cold water for sometime with it and got better result when using cold water (less irritation, closer shave(BBS on chick)) than when I was rinsing my blade with hot water, and my cartridge last longer so get less expensive. I got to adapt myself for the first few shaves.

Just a thought like that

[suffolksupplies]

I am not a straight user but you would have to heat the blade in more than hot water to affect the metal. Use what works best for your face. Do remember to propery dry & lightly oil your razor after use. Even stainless steel can rust.

Happy shaving,

Paul

[jadren0s]

I find that rinsing the blade is rather ineffective, and now when I use the straight I am carefully wiping the blade on a towel. Otherwise, I would advise warm water: cold could presumably harm the shave (given how the face is supposed to be warm, etc.); too hot could lead to burns with a straight razor: I don't like the idea of a hot piece of metal on my face...

[jadren0s]

Oh, and, even using the towel, I do occasionally 'wet' the blade to add some moisture where it's needed (it takes me a long time to shave with a straight, so the lather on some parts of my face is dry by the time I get there; if it's really bad I relather as well...).
J

[FloppyShoes]

The range of temperatures the blade is exposed to in shaving is so small compared to what it takes to actually "soften" the metal to any kind of noticable degree. Sharp changes in temperature, however, can mess with the alignment. In general, I find that the shave is more comfortable with a warm-ish blade. The heat from my hand and the small amount of friction from the strop warms it a little.

I agree that rinsing a straight is not the best method. I find the cream/soap sticks to the blade so much a simple swish is not enough to remove it (DE's, on the other hand, rinse well for the most part.) So instead of thrashing my st8 around in the sink, risking injury to myself and the blade, I wipe it on a towel, usually the same one I use for my pre-shave prep. In the end, the blade is never immersed in water.

P.S. same goes for shavettes, though I'm not as worried about damaging them.

[rupert87]

I wipe the blade too. Rinsing was less effective and I also had a nasty tendency to hit the edge against the base of the tap which was very upsetting ;)
I do, however, rinse the blade in very hot water after the shave and after wiping it, in order to ensure that any water I don't manage to wipe off, evaporates pretty quickly.

At the heats involved, the metal wouldn't soften at all. I doubt you'd even get noticable expansion.

[_JP_]

I think that the "old fashioned" way to clean a straight while shaving is to wipe it on a terry cloth towel as you shaved. That was because running water was something people didn't have, so using water to rinse it with meant more work collecting the water.