Post by ShadowsDad on Apr 8, 2012 11:20:54 GMT -6
I have my perfect shave towel!!!
A recap of a lot of things already written, but it's been awhile.
Maybe I should preface what follows by saying that I don't really use a "shave towel", but something that is more of a hybrid washcloth/towel. I use one per day because when I'm done with it it's soaked and has been used at the very end of the shave to clean up the cut whiskers from the basin and any lather that got onto the countertop. So one per day and it goes directly into the partially full washer, it's not a washer that uses 1 liter of water per load, but one that has a few gallons in it per load. If a wet piece of cloth is allowed to sit wet it'll mold and mildew, but sitting submerged in water it's good until the next load gets washed.
OK, the towel... I've been searching for the perfect towel for over a year now, not diligently, but I've had my eyes open. Lately I decided it was time to find the perfect towel and be done with it. I bought a dozen towels from the web that really aren't very good for shave towels. My towels before that were the perfect size, but left a lot to be desired for quality. They were white shop towels from Home Depot. Then I bought a high pile terry cloth towel (Canon) and it was simply too heavy in total but I liked the high pile, there was just too much of it. Frankly the way I use a towel there was 2x too much towel there.
OK, so how do I use a shave towel? When I do my hot towel face prep I run a basin of water, and our tankless heater is set to make 104°F water which isn't hot by any stretch of the imagination. So I add boiling water to the basin to get the water to the point where I want to use it on my beard. That's somewhere above 130°F. I could nuke the towel, but that's not trustworthy and the odds are too high of having a towel that's way too hot. So I use my basin method. The towel goes into the basin to warm up and soak up the water. Then I wring it out and cover the entire lower portion of my face. I need to do this a number of times for 3-4x . Then after mopping off my face at the end of the shave, rinsing it out, wringing it as dry as possible to "dry" my face, then I sop up the area around the sink. So while I call it a towel it's more like a hybrid washcloth towel.
So the perfect design would be about 15"x15", highly absorbent to hold more water for more heat against the face, be soft, and high pile.
We were at the local liquidation store and I spied microfiber drying towels for automobiles. The size was 2x what I wanted, but I was thinking "Cut them in half, do something to keep the cut edge from fraying, and I bet that would work.". So I bought one and tried it w/o cutting it. Of course it was far too large, but it definitely showed promise. The softness was almost too much.
The other day we went and saw our wizard with a sewing machine and ultimately got the towel cut in half and the proper stitching down on the cut edge. I used one taday for the first time and the result was what is for me the perfect shave towel. It holds heat far better than any other towel I've used, wrings out almost dry, holds a phenominal amount of water when that's needed, and is close to a perfect size.
After the stitching she left the threads just hanging for me to finish as I wanted. She suggested I tie a knot to prevent the stitching from unraveling. OK, so my stubby fat fingers found that impossible. So a drop of superglue (any cyanoacrylate glue will work) on the stitching where it meets the towel prevents unraveling. After allowing the glue to cure I trimmed the hanging lengths.
The price? I paid $2.97 for the towel and the sewing was free because she's a friend. So now I have 2 perfect shave towels for under $1.50 per. I already told her that I'm going to buy 5 more for an even dozen and she has no problem with that.
One thing I haven't tested with these towels is longevity. But we regularly use microfiber cleaning cloths and in all the years we've used them have never worn one out. I don't know if they can be bleached; I suspect they can't be though.
Here it is. The added stitching is white for clarity and because I told our friend that I didn't really care what she used for thread color. Both sides of the towel are seen here. It may not look like it's high pile but it is.
Any decent auto store or auto department of a big box store should have them. You want to look near the chamois. The package will advertise the towel as being used for drying off automobiles.
A recap of a lot of things already written, but it's been awhile.
Maybe I should preface what follows by saying that I don't really use a "shave towel", but something that is more of a hybrid washcloth/towel. I use one per day because when I'm done with it it's soaked and has been used at the very end of the shave to clean up the cut whiskers from the basin and any lather that got onto the countertop. So one per day and it goes directly into the partially full washer, it's not a washer that uses 1 liter of water per load, but one that has a few gallons in it per load. If a wet piece of cloth is allowed to sit wet it'll mold and mildew, but sitting submerged in water it's good until the next load gets washed.
OK, the towel... I've been searching for the perfect towel for over a year now, not diligently, but I've had my eyes open. Lately I decided it was time to find the perfect towel and be done with it. I bought a dozen towels from the web that really aren't very good for shave towels. My towels before that were the perfect size, but left a lot to be desired for quality. They were white shop towels from Home Depot. Then I bought a high pile terry cloth towel (Canon) and it was simply too heavy in total but I liked the high pile, there was just too much of it. Frankly the way I use a towel there was 2x too much towel there.
OK, so how do I use a shave towel? When I do my hot towel face prep I run a basin of water, and our tankless heater is set to make 104°F water which isn't hot by any stretch of the imagination. So I add boiling water to the basin to get the water to the point where I want to use it on my beard. That's somewhere above 130°F. I could nuke the towel, but that's not trustworthy and the odds are too high of having a towel that's way too hot. So I use my basin method. The towel goes into the basin to warm up and soak up the water. Then I wring it out and cover the entire lower portion of my face. I need to do this a number of times for 3-4x . Then after mopping off my face at the end of the shave, rinsing it out, wringing it as dry as possible to "dry" my face, then I sop up the area around the sink. So while I call it a towel it's more like a hybrid washcloth towel.
So the perfect design would be about 15"x15", highly absorbent to hold more water for more heat against the face, be soft, and high pile.
We were at the local liquidation store and I spied microfiber drying towels for automobiles. The size was 2x what I wanted, but I was thinking "Cut them in half, do something to keep the cut edge from fraying, and I bet that would work.". So I bought one and tried it w/o cutting it. Of course it was far too large, but it definitely showed promise. The softness was almost too much.
The other day we went and saw our wizard with a sewing machine and ultimately got the towel cut in half and the proper stitching down on the cut edge. I used one taday for the first time and the result was what is for me the perfect shave towel. It holds heat far better than any other towel I've used, wrings out almost dry, holds a phenominal amount of water when that's needed, and is close to a perfect size.
After the stitching she left the threads just hanging for me to finish as I wanted. She suggested I tie a knot to prevent the stitching from unraveling. OK, so my stubby fat fingers found that impossible. So a drop of superglue (any cyanoacrylate glue will work) on the stitching where it meets the towel prevents unraveling. After allowing the glue to cure I trimmed the hanging lengths.
The price? I paid $2.97 for the towel and the sewing was free because she's a friend. So now I have 2 perfect shave towels for under $1.50 per. I already told her that I'm going to buy 5 more for an even dozen and she has no problem with that.
One thing I haven't tested with these towels is longevity. But we regularly use microfiber cleaning cloths and in all the years we've used them have never worn one out. I don't know if they can be bleached; I suspect they can't be though.
Here it is. The added stitching is white for clarity and because I told our friend that I didn't really care what she used for thread color. Both sides of the towel are seen here. It may not look like it's high pile but it is.
Any decent auto store or auto department of a big box store should have them. You want to look near the chamois. The package will advertise the towel as being used for drying off automobiles.