What's new

For the first time I felt my beard soften during prep

Been DE shaving for about month and today was the first time that I felt my beard soften during preparation with my fingers. My preperation is as follows,

1). Heat shaving brush in mug with hot water.
2). Once brush is warm and soaked place some baking soda (sodium bicarbinate) in the water to soften water and brush, let brush soak, (tap water is incredibly hard where I live).
3). Use "softened" water from the mug to rinse face.
4). Prewash face with olive oil soap and softened water from mug, work the olive oil soap into beard with fingers until you feel your beard go soft, this was quite astounding.
5). Empty Mug of softened water and create standard lather, apply and shave.

shower after shaving.

The razor simply just glided over my three day old beard.

Merkur Progress, setting 2.5.
Gillette Silver Platinum Blade, ( not swede).
Nameless olive oil soap
Speick shaving cream
 
Very interesting - water hardness - when it is a factor must be addressed or you spend countless adjustments trying to "make up" for it.

Good on you for staying focused and solving it.
:smile:
 
I too have hard water. How much making soda did you put in how much water?

Have you tried the olive oil soap with your regular water and it was really the softened water that made the difference?

I need to try this!
 
Last I checked, baking soda doesn't soften water. I use baking soda for my African Cichlid fish take that requires hard alkaline water. I use aquarium salt and epsom salt to harden the water and baking soda to rasie Ph. It has little effect on hardness.
 
Last I checked, baking soda doesn't soften water. I use baking soda for my African Cichlid fish take that requires hard alkaline water. I use aquarium salt and epsom salt to harden the water and baking soda to rasie Ph. It has little effect on hardness.

Interesting you bring that up, don't hairs respond by softening in the presence of alkaline stuff? I think that was part of the science in Kyle's Prep.
 
4). Prewash face with olive oil soap and softened water from mug, work the olive oil soap into beard with fingers until you feel your beard go soft, this was quite astounding.
+1 on the massage. Massaging with olive oil soap is even better.
:thumbup: on Speick SC
 
I'm learning more about the pre-shave ritual myself. For what it's worth, these factors are essential:

1. Softening the beard in the shower under hot water dramatically improves a shave. From what I've read, a beard will absorb a lot of water this way, and this in turn weakens your whiskers.
2. Massaging with oil (a la Dharion) improves the smoothness of the shave perceptively.

I can't speak to how the water impacts your shave.
 
Top Bottom