Phase III: Integration

Having abandoned the "blade silence" criterion, and being in the final stages of Personna blade life, I'm relying on very subjective variations in cutting angles and drag to asssess the refinements that I hope will produce "the perfect shave."

I was not entirely pleased with the level of exfoliation in trial #10. I think I would have seen the rice-paper effect if I had not shaved it all away. It wasn't SO bad -- usually I put a casual, "standard"  shave in between trials. But my skin felt chemically off, as if I had overapplied glycerin. It looked pretty leathery. The Egyptians also used natrium to prepare mummies, as I recall.

Trial #11 therefore brings oil and carbamide back as a primary, hopefully skin-focused preshave. Hot towel on the oil, followed by simple "splash" (though my motions were considerably more gingerly than usually implied by that term). And on the hair side, less baking soda, just a sprinkle of micrograms, in the pumpkin juice.
As expected, the latter did not sink into the skin so fast this time.

So as not to deprive the lather of enrichment, KMF-VDH croap was employed. The oil and urea certainly decreased the cushioning, but in a good way. The lather performed like Stirling or Dove Expert, with the classic progression from cushion, to crema, and a final slick residue.

The hair was noticeably harder to cut, however, so I will want to increase the soda back to a small pinch tomorrow. But my skin looks much better. Moisturizer practically bounced off my beard area afterward, despite having used the Veg as primer. So I spread it all over my face, which I guess I ought to be doing on a regular basis anyway.