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The Shaving Superthread- All You Want and More....

2 reasons why you have to shave

1. Hygeine
2. You cannot get a proper seal with a god damn gas mask if the hair is blocking it...Hence the reason of shaving.

 
Pte Hopkins said:
2 reasons why you have to shave

1. Hygeine
2. You cannot get a proper seal with a god darn gas mask if the hair is blocking it...Hence the reason of shaving.

Wrong, and wrong again.

Shaving in austere environments LEADS to skin infections, due to dirty water, dust etc.

A proper seal can be obtained with a gas mask and beard - I've done it. And before your 16 year old know it all ass starts arguing - think - the assault pioneers are permitted to grow beards - right? One of their tasks is NBC survey - right? 1 + 1 = stay on the cadet forums and read the rest of the thread if you don't.

Oh, and have a nice day :D
 
Lol stay on the cadet forums, my o my, what crawled intoyour cereal this morning.

Maybe I am wrong, I can't say I believed 100% what I was taught...I just got back yesterday from my BMQ and SQ so that is what I was taught and that is what I knew.  If I'm wrong, so be it.  No need for the attitude.
 
Pte Hopkins said:
2 reasons why you have to shave

1. Hygeine
2. You cannot get a proper seal with a god damn gas mask if the hair is blocking it...Hence the reason of shaving.

Pte Hopkins said:
Lol stay on the cadet forums, my o my, what crawled intoyour cereal this morning.

Maybe I am wrong, I can't say I believed 100% what I was taught...I just got back yesterday from my BMQ and SQ so that is what I was taught and that is what I knew.   If I'm wrong, so be it.   No need for the attitude.

As opposed to your authoritive, end all answer above? Possibly stating in advance, that your qualifications and TI to speak on the subject were somewhat limited, may have helped your cause....and deflected the terse response. In future, you may want to back up the truck, before you unload.
 
It doesn't matter, its the internet, most people have a hard time saying what they want to say and having the right feelings conveyed along with the message, but then again a lot of people are just hostile  :P Anyways I'm pro-beard, as most in the CF probably are I can see reasons for the army to not allow beards but I have my own reasons to why I think they should be allowed. I think the primary reason the Army has for not allowing beards is appearence. If they were allowed then a lot of guys would come in with half *** beards all the time that don't look tough like a good helping of stubble (well I liek to think so anyways lol) they'd just look bad, and there excuse? "I'm trying to grow a beard M. Cpl!" Then when they felt like it they'd shave and it'd start all over, so I'm willing to keep the beard off my face. What I do have a problem though is having to have a beautifullly clean shave, this isn't so much a problem for me being in the reserves on my one night a week, I can just shave an hour beforehand and be good until the end of the night. But while on course I had to shave 3 times a day to satisfy my course staff and thats a pain in the *** when you've got sensitive skin already and you're running around like mad most of the time trying to do everything that needs doing. I know I won't get any sympathy for that, there must be people that've got it worse then me, I'm sure of that but I'm almost sure I heard one of my course staff say that we only have to shave once a day, and I think that would be preferable to 3 times. But I'm sure my skin will toughen up and get used to the blade it never knew before the army, but the hair isn't gonna slow down any...
 
KevinB said:
Honestly I fail to see why shaving is hygenic - bathing yes - but I dont know about you but my face is allegic to Afghan Poo dust w/o at least about a weeks worth of facial hair.
Is it true that the dust in Afghanistan is 60% feces? I heard our Reg Force Mcpl at camp talking about it and I was wondering if it was true.
 
I think our initial estimate was 30%. Certainly seems plausible, it's got nowhere else to go. It dries in the sun and gets gound into the dust, wind comes up.....voila! Although they did testing when we were there and said "officially" don't worry about it, it's not a problem. That didn't help much though when you woke up in the morning feeling like someone had shit in your mouth, and spent all day smelling nothing but shit.
 
I wouldn't wanna slice open any pores if I knew that would be mixing with my sweat and flowing into them  :-X It'd make for some pretty nasty looking ingrown hairs and maybe a nice rash that you'd have to shave over the next day.
 
recceguy said:
We shaved every day
uuhh, yeah! Me too.
And a large percentage of the air/dust you breathe everywhere is fecal matter. Animal, mostly.
 
GGHG_Cadet said:
Is it true that the dust in Afghanistan is 60% feces? I heard our Reg Force Mcpl at camp talking about it and I was wondering if it was true.

Absolutely not true !!!
 
Seamus449 said:
What I do have a problem though is having to have a beautifullly clean shave, this isn't so much a problem for me being in the reserves on my one night a week, I can just shave an hour beforehand and be good until the end of the night. But while on course I had to shave 3 times a day to satisfy my course staff and thats a pain in the *** when you've got sensitive skin already and you're running around like mad most of the time trying to do everything that needs doing. I know I won't get any sympathy for that, there must be people that've got it worse then me, I'm sure of that but I'm almost sure I heard one of my course staff say that we only have to shave once a day, and I think that would be preferable to 3 times. But I'm sure my skin will toughen up and get used to the blade it never knew before the army, but the hair isn't gonna slow down any...

When I first joined I had to get a haircut every six days and shave twice a day.  Now I am completely bald and use a good disposable blade.  Many naval uniform wearers grow a poor excuse for a beard.  Getting a really good shave requires good shaving cream, a good blade and properly moisten face.  Soldiers being clean shaven results from 2 criteria:  1) Hygiene - if you haven't shaved there is a good chance you haven't washed. 2) Gas mask fitting - if doesn't fit tight you will not live another day.  These criteria are the same for the Navy when they sail on ops.

The original statement regarding feces in the Afghan air has been misquoted - it was 60% more feces in the air than in Cda, in both cases the amount is insignificant.  See article at:
http://www.forces.gc.ca/site/Feature_Story/2004/jan04/16_f_e.asp
 
I had a buddy who did Reserve training in Kingston and he used an electric shaver.  Seeing as how it saves alot of time to shave with a machine rather than not I was wondering if it would be also allowed for Reg Force BMQ in Borden.
 
I would advise against using a electric razor as electric razors were a big no no on my basic in Shilo. Not only are they impractical in the field (batteries, noise, recharging, etc) but if you know how to shave properly a razor can be just as fast, if not faster then a electric razor. Also, remember that the vast majority will not bring electric razors so if you decide to bring an electric razor in order to be standardized for inspection you will have to purchase (or bring) a normal razor and shaving cream.

Oh and one last thing, weather or not you decide to use an electric razor ALWAYS shave in the morning. I had a guy in my platoon fined $500 for not shaving properly and not shaving in the morning!
 
And to pull the thread back on topic...

and during those 6 months of the year you were in the field, were you required to shave regularly, if not daily?

The only time we were not required to shave daily was during artic ex, because facial hair helped reduce frostbite. This is the only occasison where we were encouraged not to shave.

On another tangent, why do people insist on growing sideburns down past the middle of the ear? Does that 1/2 to full inch of extra hair really mean you look more stylish?




 
Armymedic said:
On another tangent, why do people insist on growing sideburns down past the middle of the ear? Does that 1/2 to full inch of extra hair really mean you look more stylish?

;)  yeah
 
I remember SR NCO's in the early 70's had great big mustaches, for parades they would wax them to meet regulation, I remember one MWO that had huge handle bars. I think this tradition is a old one. And has is more of a personal mater than mission or any other reason, I know that when I ride my motorcycle it stops the flies from going in my mouth and I get really neat ice hanging off of it in the winter.
 
I always thought "Care and Maintainance of Moustache, Handlebar, 75mm C1A1" was a PO check on the DP7A*/MWO course?




*Or whatever the number is, I don't know, I'll worry about it when I get there.....
 
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