Street tips: How to shave on the street (or maybe while camping or on a road trip)

OK, if you followed the link for the "Homeless Manscaping How-to," you're a sick puppy, you have some serious issues to work out with yourself.  Yeah, I reeled you in with a bit of clickbait, sucka.  Whatcha gonna do?  Heh, heh, heh.

This Street Tip is to show you how I shave on the streets, usually out in the open, without a mirror.  

This, above, is me with a 3 or 4 week beard.  I forgot how long it's been growing.  Dark and a bit patchy up top, and white "old man" hairs down my neck.  I used the last razor I had about a month ago, and money's been tight since.  I'm simple when it comes to shaving, I've been using the basic Bic, single blade razors since I was about 20.  Multi-blade razors always clogged up on my beard, and single blades just worked the best.  But you can't by one razor, or even a three pack, anymore.  You have to buy a ten pack or so, for about $6.  My art income dropped off the last couple of months,  I spent what I made on other expenses.  I finally got a few bucks and bought razors yesterday.  Since I'm doing this blog, I decided to start doing some "street tips."  These are things I've learned to do in a homeless or street setting, that could also be helpful to average people, maybe on a  road trip, or while camping, or something like that.   

For over fifteen years now, this is what I've used for shaving, about half of the time, when I don't have a bathroom mirror ans sink handy.  A disposable razor, a large drink cup from a fast food place, and either shampoo or bodywash as lube.  That's it.  I don't use a mirror most of the time when I shave, crazy as that sounds.  I started doing this when I was driving a taxi in the early 2000's, and was spending all day in my cab, and often living in it.  I would take the last couple ounces of my iced tea, and shave in my taxi, using the rearview mirror to see what I was doing.  In most cases, I didn't even use lube, just a razor and iced tea, and I could get a halfway decent daily shave.  But a little shampoo or bodywash does help a ton, though.  

Step one- put a couple inches of water in the bottom of the cup.  Step two- Dip your hands in the water, and rub it on your face (or whatever you're shaving).  Step three- Put a dab of shampoo or bodywash in your hands, and rub it around your face (or whatever).  Use the water in the cup to wash your the shampoo off your hands.  Step four- grab the razor and start shaving.  Go slow, and just do it by feel if you don't have a mirror.  Apply more water and shampoo/bodywash to face as needed.  

Shaving without a mirror seems crazy to most guys, but you can shave completely by feel if you really need to.  I was sitting at an unused bus stop, on a major street, while I did this yesterday.  It was a hot day, and the bus stop had shade.  Here's my ugly mug, about 1/3 of the way shaved.  Usually I start at my sideburns, work down to my chin, one side and then the other, then shave my neck.  But for the sake of this how-to, I worked on one whole side, and then the other.  It took a long time to thin out my thick beard, but I just kept rinsing out the razor in the cup, time after time.  I did get a ton of whiskers on my shirt, which is pretty normal with street shaving.  It's good to have a clean shirt to change into afterwards.  

It took about half an hour, because my beard was thick.  But here I am, clean shaven at the bus stop, with no sink, and no mirror.  Still ugly, but ugly and clean shaven, which is a step up.  I just thinned each part out.  Then felt for remaining whiskers, section by section.  I'm not really prone to razor burn, so I shave backwards, against the grain of my beard, which helps me get a smooth shave without being able to look in a mirror.  All in all, that one, single blade, disposable razor cleaned off my whole month of beard.  

 Here's the nasty beard water in the cup, after shaving.  The whiskers sink to the bottom.  So I swirl the cup around to get them up into the water, then toss the water, and throw the cup away.  That's it, clean shaving on the street, with minimal cost, minimal items needed, and no mirror.  Once your hands are clean and dry, you can check with your phone to see if you missed anywhere, and do touch ups, if needed. 

If you're a woman shaving your arm pits or bikini area outdoors, or a guy manscaping, you should probably find a more private place to do this, like in a tent, out in the woods, or in the back of a van or something.  So that's it, street shaving, simple and easy, and just a bit more time consuming than normal shaving in a bathroom.