Here’s an unusual thought:

Shaving with cold water seems like a hardship, a practice that must be endured in Spartan living conditions. After all, it’s wet shaving doctrine that a man must always shave with hot water. It not only feels nice, it softens the beard and supposedly gives you a more comfortable shave.

But what if that advice is wrong? What if it’s actually better to shave with cold water, even when you’re not fighting the Battle of the Bulge?

Well, according to a bunch of authors in the 19th century, cold water shaving is indeed superior to shaving with hot water.

It seems counter-intuitive at first because hot water is nice and pleasant, but just keep reading. It actually makes sense in a strange, hadn’t-thought-about-it-like-that kind of way.