Do-It-Yourself Scalp Care and Hair Cutting With Stainless Steel Small Folding Scissors

For many years I had a full head of long hair, then a mohawk, though in recent years, once my life became fully dedicated to remote wilderness survival, I felt that it just got in the way, and even with just a small strip of hair relative to the whole scalp, it tended to trap pathogens that irrigated the scalp so I decided to start shaving it to a very low point all around. It was the best decision because maintain scalp hygiene in austere settings with no shower is a must, and it's difficult with any more than just a quarter inch or less of hair. I find that with natural soap and water I can immediately neutralize any itching or degradation from microbes. Also, it's critical to wash the scalp as soon as possible after any working up of a sweat, as I've found that even a few minutes of sweating of the scalp results in a major opportunity for funkiness to occur. So I've very diligent about keeping my hair cut so I both prevent a lot of issues, and if issue occur, I can treat them quickly, easily and effectively.

I was just plugging in a pair of hair clippers to my solar panel and battery bank with an A/C inverter. However eventually the clippers wore out and died so I had to improvise. I've found it to be a very delicate mindfulness meditation to use these small folder stainless steel scissors to get the job done. At first I would use a web cam to cut my own hair with the clippers, but I later evolved to just go by feel. It's a simple process but requires full and very careful attention. I basically just use my left hand to pinch a small clump of hair, then slowly with the right hand towards my left hand, and before making any cutting action, make contact with both hands so guarantee one side of the scissors is touching the left fingers, this calibrates the cutting action to be flat against my fingers and not pointing any an awkward or dangerous position. Once I've made the safety point of contact, I carefully make the cut and only take the exact clump of pinched hair. It takes about 30 minutes, but I've gotten it down to where there are only a few missed spots that are easy enough to identify and cut with a mirror. I don't bother with a mirror until the very end. Thus it becomes self-care ritual that can be as needed. Just repeat the process again and again until there starts to be almost nothing left to pinch, and then the few missed spots are easily to find and to cut at the end. Of course I collect all the hair and add it to the compost. I doubt I'll ever go back to any other method. This to me represent the epitome of stripping away all of the excessive technology I can, and feeling good that now that those clippers which are destined for a landfill, will never need to be replaced. One more non-biodegrable object out of my life. One less single purpose item as well. The same scissors I used for my hair, can be cleaned, sterilized, and used for another other purpose. I even sewed a pocket onto the shoulder of my long sleeve shirt and the every-day-carry item that's always in that pocket is one of these pairs of scissors. It's interesting what you discover to be your most used tools in survival situations. You have hear about various people's mantras of what they have in their survival kits. For me, it's not the only thing I have or use, but the scissors have turned about to be what I used more than anything.