Elaborately Minimal

I've sort of been kicking active ingredients out of my lather, and applying them more mindfully to the skin, as layers or in a sequence, for a long time. From the beginning, really, if you count "air." Glycerin was the first conscious ejection, but I wanted it back to deal with this nagging superficial flakiness.

Have you noticed the "Remember This?" sidebar article? That's there for me as much as you, which I guess is a poor excuse for never having it updated in a timely manner, in conjunction with the publishing of the current article. But it engages me in a conversation with myself, a dialogue without a forum, a didactic footing for my extremely dualistic mind. So I found a reference to using glycerin and bentonite in opposition, and that's what I did today.

I also brought back all the #1s around my Personna blade: the Rimei with Schone handle, and Arko. But then, just on a whim, or out of laziness, I substituted vinegar for pumpkin juice. I mean, it's possible I was wrong about the gel aspect being most relevant; it could be the acid.

What I got was a DFS with a tacky NMF finish. The ammonia smell didn't bust out of the Noxzema layer until second pass, giving pass one a nice bite. I shaved it all the way down, believe me; the Rimei, most aggressive of my core cutting heads, wasn't catching anything.

I definitely didn't feel like I needed to rinse anything away, but selected alum as astringent, oiled to seal, POWDERED, then immediately applied moisturizer. It worked! My skin dried down to perfect calm. The skin had nothing to process, in terms of injury or chemicals, but water itself. I figured what the hell, might as well add the cocoa butter right away, too.

I can see some shade and some skin texture, there are still a few chips in the SC, too. But it just looks so... natural. All I really have to show for my effort is perfect comfort.

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