I get great shaves with the same routine. A nice hot shower, washing and moisturizing the face as much as possible with lots of contact with direct jets of very warm water. I will sometimes apply hair conditioner to my beard during the shower and let it sit here for a while.

After, I spend a good deal of time lathering up. The results have been fantastic shaves that only seem to get better.

One problem though... I live in an area that gets pretty hot in the summer, and I don't have central air (yet, hopefully by next year) So as you can well imagine it can get very uncomfortable to take a hot shower before shaving, not to mention the fact that everything just gets so steamed up.

A far more comfortable shaving routine for the hot weather is to have a cool or even cold shower after the shave.

So I'm wondering what some tips would be to get things set up well for my shave without taking a shower beforehand? Also, I would hope that such preparation would not take too much time, although I am not adverse to lying down with a hot towel on my face for 10 minutes or so.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Any tips would be really appreciated.