January 22 - Special Head Shave Edition
Well, after two weeks it was past time to do a head shave again. Last time I did anything with it I cheated and did a quickie Heisenberg in the shower with a disposable. It was now at the length where I would normally use a pain stick to make it go quicker and all that. However, I've done enough pain stick head shaves to be a bit bored with them. Yeah, they were exciting at first and a bit daring and all that, but now.........meh......been there done that. Didn't really feel like doing a full lather anyway, so there's that. Lazy day off and all that.
An idea popped into my head. What about using my Merkur 23C, which is my usual head shave razor, in the shower instead of a sink shave? It would clog a bit from the extra hair but would also rinse easily enough to keep going. But....I don't feel like messing with a lather. Hmmmmmmm. Well, I also have Stirling bath soap. My favorite, in fact, which is Pig Trail. Lard based and has the scent of Ozark Mountain. It's slick, of course, because it's Stirling after all. Just not a lathering shave soap.
Level of risk doing it this way? Mmmmm......out of a 1 to 10 scale where 1 is no danger of anything going wrong and 10 being my bloody death and puking EMT's trying to remove my body - I'd put it at about a 5. I wouldn't have a mirror to use to help out so all of the angles and set downs would be by muscle memory and sheer technique. And, if the soap didn't provide enough slickness, or I allowed it to dissipate too much, a drag problem could occur. Acceptable risk so off I went.
I normally use the Astra SP blade for my head but didn't want to dig out a new tuck. Told you - lazy day. There was an open tuck of Sharp Stars there. (Imagine that, right?) So, I took the razor, a Sharp Star and my bar of Pig Trail to the shower and went to work. I have to say, it went better than I thought it might. I had no trouble setting the angle or holding it even across the less level areas. The Pig Trail kept things nice and slick although I did allow it to dry out a bit too much at one point. Noticed a slight drag and skip and added some more. Fixed that. When I was done I did a quick Heisenberg finish pass with the disposable but it really wasn't necessary. Cue ball smoothness restored - a "no-look" shower head shave with bath soap and safety razor completed and no blood or sick EMT's to be found. Makes me think maybe I should try the same thing with a pain stick at some point. Oh wait - isn't MAYhem getting closer?
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