Campbell Lather Machine

Naw. Just slaked lime and/or triethanolamine and/or caustic soda. All of which they'd throw you under the emergency shower for if you got them on your leg at the lab.....AbE: http://www.nairformen.com/This message has been edited by Coragyps, 05-02-2006 04:02 PM

Wow. I had no idea they had crossed the gender boundary in their product promotion.The scary part is, there apparently is a market there...(and I am thinking beyond cycling when I say this)

EZscience: Actually, based on your avitar, I was kinda hoping for a reply from you as well.Yeah, I have heard it both ways as well (some swear by shaving...others say no). Having only had one serious crash thus far, my basis of comparison is pretty low. However, I will say that at that time I did have hair on my legs and I have to admit, changing the dressing was not such an issue...after I peeled off all the hair during change number one (oooooooouuuch!!). Plus, most of the hair on my leg was already "burned off" from the crash anyway. What I have been told is that the healing process is a bit faster if you don't have hair. Why? I'm not sure...it's just that that's what everyone keeps telling me. To me, it does not seem unreasonable to assume that not having all that hair in the wound would be beneficial? Does anyone else have any ideas about this. Personally, if shaving provides no benefit, then I'd be very happy not to do it...especially after reading Trixie's reply.

Hello Omnivorous: I have on numerous occasion been drunk enough for events such as this to unfold. However, much to my benefit, on each occasion, those that would probably do something like shave my legs, or half my face, or do a reverse mohawk, were as bad off (if not worse) than I...so thus far I have been able to avoid "drunken body alterations".Now, as for your three most common next morning exclamations, I can only confess to number one.

Hi Trixie: Not to make you jealous or anything...but I only need to shave every third day or so...and then only cuz I'm getting a bit of stubble The leg shaving thing for bikers is more of a "healing after a crash" thing, than a comfort thing. Hmmmm...I've never thought about the waxing thing. It sounds very painful though. I am somewhat accident prone, so having a razor even remotely close to my "vital area" is not something I'd look forward to. Even if I somehow avoid testicular augmentation, I can virtually guarantee numerous cuts and lots of missed areas. That waxing idea is sounding better and better. Thank god I didn't have food in my mouth when I read that one cuz it would have ended up all over my monitor and keyboard. Sorry to laugh at your pain...but it sounds like something I would do. I recently went for a bike ride with a female friend and for reasons I am unaware if...and completely out of the blue...she informed me that she was going to have her hair removed via some sort of laser thingie. She hates shaving and decided to suffer through the process and then be done with hair for good. And while I'm pretty sure she wasn't talking about her legs ()...is that an option you'd consider (on your legs)?

Not if it's done properly.
My ex-wife used to get 'waxed' once in a while.
It is a bit tedious and tricky to do by yourself - she always swore by a professional job, but it wasn't cheap.
There is also the danger of burning yourself with the hot wax.On the laser thing, I think it would be very expensive to do for legs. It is usually something they try for women with facial hair. And it is not really permanent.
The hair does eventually grow back.

A little research in the canned shaving cream aisle at WalMart reveals the secret: they all have a liquid soap in them, too. (In addition to a synthetic detergent/foamer like sodium laurel sulfate.) The soap probably is what makes shaving foam creamy-feeling instead of "dry" like dishwashing liquid foam. Gillette uses stearic acid, from tallow, and triethanolamine to make theirs. The Coragyps Research Facility is at your beck and call, Percy, if you want me to submit a couple of formulations - chemical suppliers love to send me free samples of their wares."Never tested on animals, except chemists!" - my new motto?

Have you tried Occam's Razor? Seems to work miracles with hairy problems...

I've carried out some experiments (sorry, Trixie, not the ones you wanted) and I have some preliminary results. I've tried two different soaps. One was a Dove shampoo with moisturizer, the other was Ivory Liquid Ultra (the white Ivory Liquid doesn't seem to be available anymore).First, a little more information about the machine. The machine screams like a banshee, so I assume there are some really high speed beaters inside. It can even make foam out of water, and out of a water/alcohol mix.Okay, on to the experimental results. Both Dove and Ivory displayed the same problem. Though both foam up nicely, nicer than the soap provided for the Campbell machine, once applied the lather collapses into soap film. I'm guessing that the bubbles from these products don't hold up as well as the Campbell product. What foam does survive the application phase quickly degrades to soap film over the course of a minute or two.Increasing the amount of soap mixed into the soap solution results in a modestly thicker initial foam (I think - this was a subtle effect), but it doesn't change the final result. The foam just doesn't hold up, and it has a short lifetime.Both Dove and Ivory produced a less close shave than the Campbell product.So there must be something in the Campbell soap product that helps preserve the bubbles in the foam. What could it be?I have three other soap products that I'm going to try, but I don't hold out much hope at this point.--Percy

ROTFLMAO!I am so sorry.I actually have very little trouble shaving my legs, and do it in the shower with a little soap lather.AND I shave against the hair growth as I find I actually get a closer shave that way.

quote:

---

To me, it does not seem unreasonable to assume that not having all that hair in the wound would be beneficial? Does anyone else have any ideas about this.

---

Hair in a wound inhibits healing and acts as an irritant to fragile granulation tissue, and is a possible home for infection-causing bacteria.I'd say trim the edges of your wound if you get one, but don't bother shaving until it appears.

Don't know if you saw Message 39, it got covered over pretty quickly.One additional experiment this morning revealed that even tripling the amount of soap makes little difference to the foam's persistance, at least for Ivory Liquid Ultra. The foam is so fragile that it drips down the razor's handle, making it slippery.One thought occurs to me. Is it possible that anti-sudsing agents are added to things like shampoo and dishwashing liquid? That might make the bubbles more fragile so that they burst more easily and quickly. I know they do it for dishwasher detergent.--PercyEdited by Percy, : Get rid of dumb looking duplicate signature so no one knows I did it!

Try adding a little glycerin? (I have no good reason for this)

I recall from a marketing analysis of shampoo (don't ask) that a rich lather ranks high on the list of factors that determine consumer satisfaction, so I would expect more suds from shampoo than other liquid soaps. I believe the anti-sudsing agents are added to dishwasher soaps to limit "watermarking" type residue, since its presence on crystal snifters, IIRC, alerts one's guests to the fact that one is uncultured scum.So you might try some (other) shampoos in your Infernal Shaving Machine. Alternatively, I think Nosy's idea of glycerin makes sense as it might create stronger bubble walls via greater viscosity, though it might also gum up the works (water insoluble, I think?). Edited by Omnivorous, : One word.

To Nosy and Omni:Where does one find glycerin?--Percy