As The Blade Turns

With guilty pleasure sometimes, I dramatize the interplay of the various shave elements on my face. I know these journal-like entries must be terribly boring to most, with no emotional investment in the characters. But from this shaving soap-opera I am able to glean many morals.

For one: asymmetrically ground edges are not safe. Almost as soon as I realized the Rapira SS had crossed the line from new blade sharpness to being broken-in, I sliced my chin on a steeply pitched, oblique stroke, for a nice, embarrassing injury on flea market day. I could feel the edge flop over on some other forceful strokes, too. Otherwise, the blade would just be getting good.

I tried to string out my skin with witch hazel solution on top of jojoba oil, wiped off with a hot towel as a preshave oil cleanse, then re-inflated the tissue with PdP No. 63. I could still feel some irritation from that, but it seemed less penetrating or inflammatory. The hair seemed pretty well erected before the soap arrived, too, and not so hard. Glycerin soap may be harsh on me, but it is good for digging deep. I basically wanted the oil to be more penetrating, to match its depth. Imagine the cells shrinking, and jojoba flowing in to the intercellular space.

Alum declared success (with the cut sealed in ointment), its momentary burn limited mainly to the concavity of the neck. From the way the blade wasn't hitting anything, I thought I was in for BBS, but the skin actually deflated with aftershave to reveal a comfortable velvet!