An Army solution to travel-aftershave.

Anyone that's been in the Army since OIF kicked off knows that we have become a force obsessed with hand sanitizer. If you know a Soldier, call him/her up. Chances are he/she is within 10 feet of a bottle of purell right now, and if they're on duty, it's probably in their shoulder pocket.

When in the field, we tend to keep the hygiene kit to a bare minimum. Anybody who's served knows that you can go months with nothing but a steady supply of baby wipes, a toothbrush, and a shaving kit. There's nothing more brutal than a cartridge razor shave at 4 in the morning with nothing but ice cold canteen water to lube your face. Something my friends and I have discovered is that the high alcohol content and aloe moisturizers in purell make a dandy substitue for a proper aftershave. You already have a bottle on you, because it's always a mandatory part of the uniform, so why not use it on your face?

I can't say it's a substitue for a daily solution, but when you find yourself roughing it, a bottle of purell can go a long way to serve two purposes.

LOL. Iremember when they made it required, like having your earplug case hung from the pocket button of the old BDU's. Then some SGM thought it would be a great idea to put your unit crest on the case. Now I think units are required to carry it in one of the shoulder pockets. I don't know, I've not been in a regular unit for awhile. Purrell seems like it would work though and it is always available.

Purell aftershave and a water only shave with a cart is roughing it for sure!

How about an alum block? They're about the same size as a little box of matches and should last months if not years.

Our easy solution to the problem is...we don't have to shave on deployments lol

I remember one time when I had to renew my OC cert (Master at arms here) I shaved right before (real stupid and I wasn't thinking) and of course this was before my days of using a straight and I was a minimalist who would use the same cartridge for months. Lets just say OC is not a good aftershave.

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Originally Posted by cosperryan

I remember one time when I had to renew my OC cert (Master at arms here) I shaved right before (real stupid and I wasn't thinking) and of course this was before my days of using a straight and I was a minimalist who would use the same cartridge for months. Lets just say OC is not a good aftershave.

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Sweet mother of christ. Do you even HAVE a face anymore?

Yeah it grew back its been awhile now haha

That's a great trick. I'm going to have to try it next time I'm on the road.

Just tried it. It's an interesting feeling once you get past the initial burn.

I became so used to dry shaving with a cartridge razor that It no longer bothered me, I got home and found my shaving cream and gave it a shot and couldn't believe how great it felt! Never did use purell. I find it funny that you deemed it a mandatory part of the uniform! In the Corps all we needed on us was an ink stick, paper, an honor courage commitment card, and you CAC card. Shoot I didn't even wear skivies the whole time in country!

Hell, my team leader made us camo our teeth. He said is was so we would know when to reapply camo to our faces. When we did not feel it on our teeth, we had to reapply on of faces, and again on out teeth. I think he just got his jollies looking at us with our teeth all blacked out. My life in force recon......funny

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Originally Posted by Bricelyn

I became so used to dry shaving with a cartridge razor that It no longer bothered me, I got home and found my shaving cream and gave it a shot and couldn't believe how great it felt! Never did use purell. I find it funny that you deemed it a mandatory part of the uniform! In the Corps all we needed on us was an ink stick, paper, an honor courage commitment card, and you CAC card. Shoot I didn't even wear skivies the whole time in country!

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Now I can only assume that's a word that has a different meaning hear, because I sure as hell couldn't imagine anyone wearing a woollen jumper/cardigan in the middle of the desert during the day, so would assume that to be fairly obvious! Unless you do mean said woollen item and meant at night time, in which case you just toughed out the cold or spent much of your night time in the fart sack :).


Mick

Skivies=drawers or pants or underwear.

If I was down there, then I think growing a beard must be a good idea. Just hope that friendlies don't take you for taliban:-)

Skivies
https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.n...13832839_n.jpg

Purell has become a part of my daily routine now. :D

I never really used any aftershave. I have some Nivea balm that I tried a few times but never used consistently. I never experienced any benefit. With the purell I notice a difference. It may only be to tighten up my skin a little but at least I notice some benefit.

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Originally Posted by Bricelyn

I became so used to dry shaving with a cartridge razor that It no longer bothered me, I got home and found my shaving cream and gave it a shot and couldn't believe how great it felt! Never did use purell. I find it funny that you deemed it a mandatory part of the uniform! In the Corps all we needed on us was an ink stick, paper, an honor courage commitment card, and you CAC card. Shoot I didn't even wear skivies the whole time in country!

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Yeah the Army's all about kit. Even when I was with the Silent Professionals, there was always some seemingly superfluous requirement of something you had to have on you. I think in the long run, the purell requirement was carried over after they made it mandatory in initial entry training to keep recruits from getting sick as much. All the guys who joined up then were just used to it and as they either returned from time on the trail or joined regular units, the practice just stuck. I'll say I got a lot more use out of my bottle of purell in Iraq than I did that piece of crap beretta I always had to carry around.

You guys have it good. When I went into the Corps in '81, we used that useless bug repellent in the squirt bottle for AS in the field. That stuff would set your face on fire!

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Originally Posted by GeauxLSU

You guys have it good. When I went into the Corps in '81, we used that useless bug repellent in the squirt bottle for AS in the field. That stuff would set your face on fire!

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Did you have to wear that BS Bull Dog Cologne upon graduation from Boot? That shit was terrible!