Prison shaving - First hand account!

Discussion in 'General Shaving Talk' started by JBSharp, Nov 3, 2014.

  1. JBSharp

    JBSharp Well-Known Member

    Shaving in prison seems to a recurring topic of interest. How do they shave? What kind of gear and wetware do they have? I wanted to know so badly that I went to prison myself and brought back this first-hand report! (DO NOT try that at home.)

    I suppose there's a natural sort of curiosity about a side of our hobby/lifestyle which we most of us won't encounter. I was curious, myself, even before it became a point of personal concern. I was only incarcerated for a short time, so this is really more of a review of the gear and cream I had, than an expose of prison barber-ism. Sadly, no Psychos were encountered during the "research" portion of this article.

    First, the mechanics. I was at a minimum security camp, which is the least prison you can have, so my experiences are surely atypical and boring compared to pretty much anyone else. I'm certain that a low- or medium-security institution is a different environment. I was also only there for a few months. Having said that, we were did have razors. You get necessary toiletries for free (soap, toothpaste, etc.) including disposable razors and shaving cream. Every Friday, you can walk up to the goody closet after lunch, where one of your fellow inmates is handing out goodies, and ask for what you need. If you ask for razors, you get a handful (well, a few.)

    Side note: You can have a razor, but don't be ridiculous. Removing the blade from the razor for whatever reason is definitely a no-no. Don't get caught with a liberated blade.

    You also get to shop at commissary once a week, if you have money in your account. You get money on account by working for sub-menial wages and by deposits from gracious persons on the outside. In terms of items for sale, commissary is basically a convenience store. For the purposes of this discussion, that means you can buy a limited selection of brand-name cartridge razors, better disposables, some canned gel or cream, some after shave, etc. Sadly, DEs weren't available, so I stuck with the free disposables and cream. I was sure I could get it to work.

    The razors are your basic traditional Bic-style disposables, provided by (presumably) the lowest bidder. The supplier could change with each batch. I didn't feel a need to bring any home, but this picture (scarfed from the internet) is typical.

    Prison-Razor.jpg

    I didn't see any branding or marking of any kind. Initially we had clear handles and then got the orange ones, which I assumed meant a change of supplier. The razors gave good shaves, once I figured out the creams. I did two passes, two or three times a week, and got a couple of weeks' use out of each razor. Even then, the blades weren't really tugging at my bed, but I changed pre-emptively, because I could. Not bad.

    While I was there, we had two different creams. I did bring two tubes home, for the express purpose of sharing photos with you! I put a small dollop of cream in a bowl for these pictures so you can get an idea of the texture. I only put a SMALL dollop because that's all I had left in the AmerFresh tube, and I wanted the comparisons to be fair, because science.

    FULL DISCLOSURE: I usually use soap at home and haven't used a cream other than Cremo, so the following review is limited by my experience; I'm essentially a cream newbie. I almost always shaved after a shower and finished with a cold water rinse, as per my usual practice. The only thing I was missing form home was my Thayer's witch hazel.
    IMG_20141028_212510_019.jpg IMG_20141028_212350_402.jpg

    The delightfully named "Dawn Mist" shave cream was the first cream I had. It's very smooth but also very thin, and will literally pour out of the tube if you let it. My first couple shaves were NOT NICE. After making some adjustments, I learned to leave my face pretty wet, use not quite a quarter-sized dollop of cream, and spread a good layer. That gave me great shaves. It has lots of glide but no cushion, which is fine by me. I would have killed for a brush (not literally) but they weren't available. If I'd been in for a longer time, I would have come up with something.

    The appropriately institutional sounding "AmerFresh" cream was very different, at least in texture. It's more like a lotion, and you have to shake it down if you don't leave it standing on end. naturally, this cream was harder to spread. With the Dawn Mist, you pretty much just use your fingertips to push it around where you want it to go. The AmerFresh demands that you work with it. I used, again, about a quarter-sized portion or more of this cream but with more water, often taking a little more water in my hand as I spread the cream.

    Ingredients, if you're interested. The Dawn Must seems to be pretty basic stuff, but sometimes that's the best. The AmerFresh is a little more complex.
    IMG_20141028_212818_904 (1).jpg
    The two creams shaved very similarly, giving glide but no cushion. Neither has much of a scent to speak of. Once I got in a groove, I actually preferred the Dawn Mist. I guess "creamier" is the best way to describe it. I had an unopened tube when my time was up, so I smuggled it out with me. ("Smuggled" here means "I brought it out with the rest of my stuff and no one cared if I took the free shaving cream anyway.")

    So there you go. One day I'd like to find a reasonably-priced Psycho razor to commemorate my stay, but it wasn't part of this story.
     
    Last edited: Nov 3, 2014
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  2. Darkbulb

    Darkbulb Cookie Hoarder

    Great write-up. I must admit I have wondered from time to time how it's done in there.
     
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  3. RaZorBurn123

    RaZorBurn123 waiting hardily...............

    Nice review! Was shaving mandatory?
     
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  4. JBSharp

    JBSharp Well-Known Member

    Thanks, and by no means. There's a vague stipulation, I think, that hairstyles have to be neat, but I saw no one whose personal style was being infringed upon. A couple of handlebars, full-on Duck Dynastys, many billy goat-style goatees, you name it.
     
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  5. gorgo2

    gorgo2 geezerhood

     

    Attached Files:

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  6. Jayaruh

    Jayaruh The Cackalacky House Pet

    Supporting Vendor
    Welcome back. Nice review.
    upload_2014-11-3_18-19-49.png
     
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  7. JBSharp

    JBSharp Well-Known Member

    Open-mouthed speechlessness: the reaction with which I am must familiar.
     
  8. GDCarrington

    GDCarrington Burma Shave

    Joey, excellent review and we are happy you are no longer in that situation!
     
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  9. celestino

    celestino Friendly Neighborhood Wetshaver

    Thank you for sharing that part of your journey with us and for the review.
     
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  10. Mr. Shaverman

    Mr. Shaverman Well-Known Member

    Thanks for sharing that experience with us. Glad you're out.
     
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  11. macaronus

    macaronus Sir Nice-a-Lot

    Glad you were willing to share your experience with us. More glad that you can again experience 'normal' shaves (DE, straight, brush, etc)! :happy088:
     
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  12. david of central florida

    david of central florida Rhubarb Rubber

    thanks for sharing
    have you used those creams with a brush, since you've been home?
     
  13. JBSharp

    JBSharp Well-Known Member

    That's a great question. I haven't, yet, because I wanted to enjoy the comfort of using my regular gear for a while. I'll do that on tomorrow's shave and report back. I expect it to work about like Cremo - the brush will definitely make spreading easier, but I don't expect lather.
     
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  14. 178-bplatoon

    178-bplatoon Well-Known Member

    Interesting article :)
    Are those creams available to people on the outside?
    Where brushes simply not provided or were they banned completely?
     
  15. JBSharp

    JBSharp Well-Known Member

    I think brushes just weren't available, and it's probably more a matter of demand than anything else. If there's enough demand for a given item, commissary will probably stock it. You can even order some things in; I know of one guy who orders beeswax for his mustache. He may have placed the order through hobbycraft, but it's delivered through commissary. If I'd been there for an extended period I would have tried to get a brush or, failing that, get desperate and repurpose a paintbrush or something. With time to experiment, you can get mighty creative.

    Short answer for the creams: Probably not.

    All I know about the creams is what I've learned since I've been back. I suspect that they focus on institutional business, only sell in bulk, and probably only sell wholesale. AmerFresh is distributed by AmerCare, (www.amercare.com) a disposable glove manufacturer, but I can't find much information online about non-glove products (there's a phrase I didn't expect to use today.) They seem to have a wide-ranging glove business, including a lot of government sales, and outsource production of other items which they win bids for.

    Dawn Mist actually has a website, dawnmist.com (listed on the tube), that seems to show all of their products, but you have to contact them for sales information. Looks like they sell "to the health care and correctional industries" but would probably do business with anyone who presents a tax ID number.

    So, no -- no easy way to get your hand on it.
     
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  16. Dapper-in-a-can-man

    Dapper-in-a-can-man and Dad-on-hand

    Seeing as how you went to a "white collar" place, I hope you were in a ponzi scheme and came back rich. Welcome back!
     
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  17. JBSharp

    JBSharp Well-Known Member

    Hardly, but thanks for the thought! The ill-gotten gains went to my company, which went out of business before my conviction, but I'm blessed with restitution payments! By the way, I just found this: :char039:
    Not to be a Debbie Downer, but something interesting I learned: To whatever extent the camps were predominantly white-collar, that changed when drug laws tightened up beginning in the 80's. Drug-related convictions account for probably 90% of the guys in my camp.
     
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  18. Dapper-in-a-can-man

    Dapper-in-a-can-man and Dad-on-hand

    Yeah, I'm an advocate for lessened drug laws and more TRUE rehabilitation. Unless it's something less harmful than alcohol. I.e. Cannabis.
     
  19. JBSharp

    JBSharp Well-Known Member

    I agree, although that's easier said than done, to do it right. One thing that surprised me "on the inside" is that no rehabilitation is required, for drug use or other behaviors. I mean to say, you're not forced to do anything, although there is plenty of opportunity to be productive and better yourself. It's incentivized, but not mandated. I don't suppose you can force that kind of thing, other than making someone go through the motions.
     
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  20. RaZorBurn123

    RaZorBurn123 waiting hardily...............

    I applaud you for being open and courageous enough to share your experience in the open forum.
    Kerry
     

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