Getting My Stratum Corneum Back

I concocted the most powerful preshave conceivable this morning, starting with (just like) Noxzema, adding baking soda mixed in water, and, yes, one more time with the carbamide solution. Still a good bit of tugging under Dove cream lather, but it made for a good shave in two passes. More like one, really, with the second lather used mostly for skimming. No "touch-ups."

This week I've been digging into my skin mentally, instead. And today, after one pass, my skin looked smooth and bright, not because the hair had been cut to the root, but because the epidermis had been allowed to completely reform. I value that more because of the study. Eight hours later, it's shady, but not dirty looking: socially acceptable, and not rough to the touch either. It is precisely what Doug Hansford has termed a "standard shave." Sustainable everyday, close enough.

Closing the chapter that began with "Putting the Wet Back in Wet Shaving," I regret that my little jaunt in skin biochemistry has not yielded the effortless, chemically-assisted BBS which is probably the hope of every shaver. I think the attention still accrues to technical mindfulness, though, enhancing my intuitive understanding of the little bumps and leathery textures that appear when I keep with aggressive razors and blades, or dig for BBS all the time.

With new chemicals in my bag of tricks, I will approach these "keratinic" skin defects with "paracellular" carbamide treatment, and lay off the blade. A proper layer of natural moisturizing factor will be maintained with a more aqueous approach to moisturizing. The special "transcellular" weapon is one I already had, pumpkin juice, but it makes more sense now that I have a concept of aquaporin upregulation.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1468-2494.2007.00402.x/full