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For the Hindu festival of Dashain, we strip the hair from a sacrificed goat with hot water.

I was told that the water should be constantly heated. If it is allowed to cool before reheating, it becomes useless and it can't be used to strip the skin.

Is this true?

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    Could you link to an example of this claim so we can understand it better? – Sklivvz Oct 3 '14 at 9:56
  • Not to question your customs, but "we strip the hair from a sacrificed goat with hot water" What on earth for? If that is supposed to DO something, I suspect that could be made into a skeptical claim as well! – JasonR Oct 3 '14 at 13:44
  • A lot of this depends on whether you're looking for a) a religious interpretation, in which case the claim probably doesn't belong here, or b) a physics/biology interpretation, in which case we might be able to address it, but it might be better addressed in a more specialized forum with leatherworkers, possibly the Outdoors SE. – Sean Duggan Oct 3 '14 at 14:47
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    I am not an expert on the subject, but my impulse is that reheated water will generally be no different. Possible counterpoint, boiling is probably going to leech out oils and fats which might congeal when cooling, creating localized areas of gunk. That said, I'm not certain I can think of how that might affect removing the hair. – Sean Duggan Oct 3 '14 at 15:03
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    How is heating up water, letting it cool, and heating it up again any different than starting with cool water and then heating it up once? Pretty much all water on the planet has been cold at some point. – KChaloux Oct 7 '14 at 15:18

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