Headed to the lake today, I hit my face with some inadequately labeled witch hazel "solution," followed by Kiss My Face moisture shave, lavender and shea. That apparently negated the feeling of congestion I've come to expect from KMF.
Though the day was overcast, I nonetheless applied pumpkin juice very strategically, as is my new habit: following the oil cleanse AND a preliminary smear of lather, backed off with a wet cloth. This seems sufficient caution, as I did get some color late in the day, and the shaving area was not burnt inconsistently compared to untreated areas. This blade wouldn't have shaved without it.
Then I finished with Humphreys. And on our way to the water I commented to my wife what a good shave I had, as it came into a natural feeling after an hour, seemingly from the dry side. About that time in the morning I would have headed to the lav and washed off my goo residue, as an office worker in the old days. That scenario is known to the cosmetics world:
https://www.themotley.com/magazine/de-slick-your-skin-tips-for-shaving-with-oily-skin/
But they blame alcohol where I blame glycerin. Then again, glycerin is an alcohol.
But no, I still don't know what to make of this, uh... peak humidity experience? I did find some interesting reading, but the state of the science seems pretty poor.
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3f4599hx#page-36
If I'm reading that right, they define "wettedness" (also referred to as relative humidity of the skin) as heat transfer efficiency. That may be a well established correlation, but it seems circular when it comes back to studying comfort.
Even so, the 25% number "feels" right to me. When I say that KMF feels unpleasant in application, even though it doesn't penetrate and burn, like many other moisturizing soaps, I know we're talking about the same mechanoreceptors. If nothing else, this reference shows that intelligent beings, somewhere in the world, wouldn't consider me a disabled freak for complaining about pro-moisture formulations in cosmetics. I am not an animal!
(Ok, well, we are all animals, but you know what I mean.) It's interesting that being born in a temperate latitude takes away some of our sweat glands permanently, under the "use it or lose it" principle. I wonder if our male Olympic runners would have a chance against the Jamaicans, if they could bathe in Humphreys before the race, or something stupid like that.
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