Pressure and Glycerin

My recent, less-than-perfect shave with Stirling marked the final challenge to a future of only-flawless shaves. So I was back at it this morning, using the streamlined double-juice method that was successful with melt-and-pour soaps, and the Rapira with less than a week of shaves on it.

The hair still wasn't softened, strengthening my belief that glycerin essentially diverts fruit acids away from the hair, to excessive reservoirs of "moisture" (humectant and water) in the skin. But it seems that the juice can at least facilitate lamellar reorganization in the skin, preventing what would otherwise be a chemical burn, for me.

How to get that hair, though? Well, with mushy skin, and a sharp blade, the only answer, ironically, is PRESSURE, to strike at the hair root, deep in the follicle, where it can't bend away. But everyone uses glycerin soap, and sharp blades, and they all seem to advocate the policy: "no pressure." LIARS!

Upon further reflection...

I do see how my least-preferred razor designs operate in defense of the accused. Open blades at the lowest pitch, as well as gappy anchor heads, raise skin ahead of the blade, so that forward progress of the edge is effectively directed more steeply as the cut is initiated. Slant razors increase traction by prying the hair away from the face, in addition to the usual cutting forces. (Or seem to... still waiting on that Italian Barber email notice.) And crazy flex razors allow the blade to bend more steeply toward the skin, pursuing the stubble's feint. Sorry for cursing earlier. ;)

In a perfect world, I would have opened my adjustable wider on the final pass, but I think Ruby did pretty well. Nice and even shave, a little soreness in one spot over the jawbone toward evening (intrafollicular damage). I can still try the moisturizer trick.