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Read this before buying Shaving cream warmer or hot lather machine

7 Comments

Shaving Cream Warmer

The fact that you are searching for a shaving cream warmer means you know that there is more to shaving than just slapping some shaving gel out of the dispenser on your face and shaving it off with a cheap razor.

Shaving when done right can be a really enjoyable experience when warming shaving cream prior to shaving. This is done by using warm water and warm lather allowing your whiskers to soften up and make it much easier.

Nobody will argue that Hot Shaves are the defacto standard when it comes to better shaves. Traditionalists using a good shaving soap and others want a different approach such as a heated shaving cream dispenser.

The warm lather also feels great on your face especially during the cooler months, which is when shaving cream warmers really become popular. These warmers are also called hot lather machines and I’ll use both names, so don’t be confused as they refer to the same type of machine.

Before I tell you why you don’t really want a shaving cream warmer, let me tell you how much they cost, what is considered the best shaving cream warmer and then I’ll tell you why you should save your money.

How much is a hot lather machine?

The prices range from around $20 dollars up to over $200. Unless you are a professional barber there is absolutely no reason to drop a hundred or two on one of these things. It’s just not worth it.

Can you use Gel or Cream?

Some warmers are gel only and others claim to use gel and/or cream. It might require an adaptor to dispense the shaving cream or gel canister and these are hit and miss on how well they work. You can also pop the top off of your shaving container and attach it directly to the machine.

What is the best Shaving cream warmer?

This is a very unfortunate product where the best is 3.5 stars on Amazon out of 5, so I’m not going to call it the best shaving cream warmer. It’s the better value because of a combined low price along with a high number of reviews. The overall rating of the Conair lather machine is still not good.

The Conair HGL1NR Gel and Lather heating system at the time of this post is priced at $19.99 on Amazon

Now why you don’t want one of these machines.

I mentioned above, but the reviews are just terrible. Many people complain that the different types of shaving creams, gels, etc don’t dispense the product very well. There are complaints that the machine stops working after just a week, the quality is not good, some have issues with shaving cream squirting all over the place. One reviewer mentioned that rubbing shaving cream between their hands would produce a warmer lather than one of these machines.

You would think that maybe just one company has a bad product, but no. Each and every shaving cream warmer review that I searched for is plagued with the same type of customer complaints.

Don’t let go of that idea of the warm lather soothing your face because there are other options that provide all of the benefits and more of a shaving cream warmer….

Introducing Traditional Shaving Soap

There is an explosion of artisans and traditional companies that produce high quality shaving soap. The best part is that you use a shaving brush with warm to hot water to lather up the soap into thick shaving cream.

The benefits of the hot lather machine, but without the machine. It’s an enjoyable shaving experience with the moisturizing properties of the hot lather that softens your whiskers and provides an amazing shave.

Once you try it, you’ll be hooked and shaving cream or gel in a can will be a thing of the past.

Some additional benefits are the ingredients. Take a look at your aerosol can and you will find ingredients that dry out your skin and you might not even know what some of them are. Shaving Soap is made with age old soap making ingredients and it will protect your skin during shave and you don’t need to lather ingredients that you can’t pronounce on your skin.

Whatever you do put down the idea of a shaving cream warmer and really upgrade your shave.

7 Responses

James Sanders

August 19, 2018

I have been using a Conair for a few years with good luck. I recently bought a new one and the lather was lukewarm. Sent it back. Reordered a replacement. Still lukewarm. Just ordered a $70 lather warmer. Hope it works.

Mike shick

August 19, 2018

What about a hot plate, shave cream bowl, and brush. Seems like I can warm the bowl nicely and get the same effect for 10 dollars with Mr. Coffee plate warmer.

Jim R

August 20, 2018

I have been using the SAME Conair hot lather machine for over 30 years …… that’s right, the SAME UNIT I BOUGHT 30 YEARS AGO!! And when I was working, I shaved 5 days a week, sometimes 6 days a week. That machine is still serving me flawlessly, with never even a small issue. I don’t know what the “guy” who wrote the article is complaining about …… has he used any of these machines? How many times? For how long? And the lather comes out nice & warm, a comfort to your face. This machine uses only the foam-type shaving cream, and it takes ALL canisters. In fact, for some larger canisters, all I have to do is turn the bottom screw-on base of the machine upside-down. This Conair was worth every penny I paid for it 30 years ago ….. highly recommended!! I suggest you try it …… you will be pleasantly rewarded!

Barry

September 02, 2017

I love it…when it works. I was surprised at how HOT the gel was with the dial cranked to max; almost too hot as it hits your hand.

I have discovered though, that some Gel cans have the stem not as part of the can, but as part of the lid (NIVEA) and when you remove the lid to attach the can to the warmer, presto, no stem! I have to carefully snip the stem off the inside of the cap and gingerly seat it into the can or the stem hole of the warmer top where the squeeze clamp is located. Now, the search is on for a gel that has a stem as part of the can rather than the lid. So here I am with a bulk purchase of NIVEA gel, so it’ll be a while using these and adapting each can!

But wait, I’m not done yet! I get a good bit of gel coming out of the warmer nozzle where it connects to the top; an open seam
that goes all the way around, which is wasteful as well as messy. It seems to be a permanent problem. I don’t give up on things
easily and I’m resolved to work out these kinks, BUT I SHOULDN’T HAVE TO!

Aside from the great feel of hot lather, getting a good shave is more a matter of letting lather sit on your face for a minute or preferably more before going to the razor. It would be very nice if this gizmo worked well, but alas, it doesn’t. This is why
Yard Sales were invented and why I will own just ONE of these.

Barry Moyer

July 22, 2017

My Conair is spanking new and the first thing I discovered is that various brands of Gel may not work in the warmer owing to
the type of nozzle on the gel can. Nivea has the nozzle built into the cap, not the can, so you can’t fit the Conair Warmer top onto the gel can and get anything because you’ve removed the nozzle ( that small stem that usually sticks up from the top of a spray can) when you removed the cap. So I guess if I want to warm NIVEA, I’ll need to squirt it in my armpits first! I suspect that NIVEA is the exception as I’ve never seen that cap-nozzle arrangement before. So I think this is a one-time problem and I can then focus on being disappointed with the Conair.

Steven

June 17, 2017

I am on my second conair. for the life of me I can’t figure out why someone can’t get this right. My first unit eventually blew out a small hose (very poor quality construction, I took it apart and it is a little engineering marvel just poorly made). My second unit just spews gel in a foamy mess. I might get another because it is nice to have a nice hot gel to shave with in the cold mornings.

Kevin

March 18, 2017

About 2 years ago I converted to the brush and shaving soap method of shaving. For about a year I only used the brush and shaving soap and what I noticed is that if I didn’t take a long shower to help soften my whiskers, shaving wasn’t very fun. During the week, and especially at night when I usually didn’t shower beforehand, it was quite painful. So now, although I love it when i have time, I use Barbasol aerosol shaving cream during the week.

As for the hot lather thing, I am sure that it is a personal thing but that is the one thing that I truly missed from the brush shave so I purchased the conair hot lather machine. I tried it for the first time today and I have to say it was nothing like your description. It was definitely hotter than body temperature. It was also easy to control and It didn’t make a mess at all. I don’t know if it will last longer than a week, but if not, I will take my chances. The bottom line is I love how I can hit the ON button and have warm my shaving cream after washing my face. It is a nice way to end a day and I think it was great money spent.

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