Thread: coarse heavy beard & hollow

ahh

Originally Posted by hoglahoo

How can you tell if you have a really coarse beard compared to the average shaver? what is the sign? without having shaved different people, can you really tell?

Back on topic, I too prefer the stiff grinds over the extra full hollow razors when it comes to shaving across and against the grain. the bigger they are, the stiffer I prefer them to be. But I find hollows to be a very close and clean one-pass cutter so since I often only shave one pass, I keep a few full hollows around

I can tell I have a coarse beard because:
a) Three hours after I Shave I look like Homer Simpson with a dark shadow all over my face, even if the shave is still pretty smooth.
b) It looks like someone rubbed ashes on my face by 5 O clock and if I touch my face with my palm it feels like sharp pieces of steel are cutting into my hand (If I use pressure)

And that's after a BBS straight shave with a wedge at 6am. Plus, I started shaving when I was 12-13 in middle school due to facial hair to the extreeeeeeeeeeeme.

I can't ever imagine getting a one pass shave with anything, ever. I don't think I have ever been able to do that..

Originally Posted by Disburden

I can tell I have a coarse beard because:

That, I think, is a good point.
An Australian friend of mine (of arab/jewish/indian heritage) has legendary facial hair. It comes in quite like what you described: nearly .5 mm an hour, dark, heavy, covering expansive facial territory, has done so since age 12, etc.
I really don't have a gauge for what type of facial hair I have other than I'd say it's medium, relative to my buddies. And I'm the only guy who uses a straight so shaving isn't discussed much.
Don't have experience with too many razors either, but just about anything sharp enough will shave my face. The stiffer metals and thinner grinds seem to work more comfortably for me so far.

Come to think of it, I don't think I've read a single person here describe their beard (sorry ladies) as anything but coarse heavy thick etc.... if someone has, it's lost in the salt shaker chorus of sandpaper-smooth 5 o'clock faces everywhere. I don't doubt that some men have tough beards (Disburden, my aussie mate), but I do suspect that some only think they have extremely tough beards because:
A) Their razor isn't sharp/stropped enough
B) it's a measure of manliness where tougher is better: "Watch the testosterone bead up on my beard like mountain meadow dew!! RRRAAAA!!!"

I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin'.

That 5 o'clock shadow is probably a good barometer for evaluating how tough the beard is. I have known guys that would look like they needed a shave by midday. Another thing that comes to mind is the amount of body hair. On Monday I did a large tattoo on a 59 year old man's back, a lion head.

When you do a tattoo you have to shave the area first and this fellow had a rug of hair on his back. For most jobs I use a disposable bic type razor but for something like that I get our my Weck replaceable blade straight. Anyhow, I don't know how tough the man's beard would have been but I'm thinking that people with a lot of body hair probably have a coarser beard. I have no hair on my back and the hair on my head is that fine "fly away" type. The only coarse facial hair I have is on my chin and below it on either side of the wind pipe. Those areas are the true test of a blade being shave ready for me.

Another thing that comes to mind regarding hollow grinds is blade flex. When I first started lurking on shaving forums I came across posts where the flexing of a full hollow against the cheek was mentioned and I was surprised. I didn't think it could be. One of the first razors that I tried shaving with was a Puma High Class. Sure enough the blade perceptibly flexed against my cheek.

That particular blade had come from ebay and I was lucky that it wasn't too bad. Not really shave ready by my current standards but not so bad that I couldn't struggle through shaving my cheeks anyhow. Darn good shave once I got it honed up months later.

If you cannot get a close and comfortable shave from a hollow or singing blade, you have not mastered the technique well enough yet.

How do I know I have a coarse beard? Well...because until my hair gets about 1/8 of an inch long, it's hard enough to penetrate the skin. Because when I had a beard, you could hang a pair of sunglasses on it.

I've seen guys with light whispy beards, like the hair on my arms and legs. I've also seen guys with big grizzly adams beards...I'm one of those.

Originally Posted by sparq

If you cannot get a close and comfortable shave from a hollow or singing blade, you have not mastered the technique well enough yet.

I tend to agree with you based on my beard. The fact that I have never shaved anyone else leaves me room to question that though. OTOH, most barbers I've known used full hollows on all comers. That would indicate to me that a full hollow could cut it or they would'nt have relied on them as their main tools.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

I tend to agree with you based on my beard. The fact that I have never shaved anyone else leaves me room to question that though. OTOH, most barbers I've known used full hollows on all comers. That would indicate to me that a full hollow could cut it or they would'nt have relied on them as their main tools.

That is a valid point Jimmy. Other thing is the evolution of razors - why would the grinders bother with pursuing hollower blades if heavy ones were better or good enough? This topic was discussed many times on this forum and I think that the main driver behind most opinions is each poster's learning curve.

Originally Posted by Disburden

I can tell I have a coarse beard because:
a) Three hours after I Shave I look like Homer Simpson with a dark shadow all over my face, even if the shave is still pretty smooth.

Ok so it grows fast. Is that the same as coarse?

Originally Posted by Disburden

b) It looks like someone rubbed ashes on my face by 5 O clock and if I touch my face with my palm it feels like sharp pieces of steel are cutting into my hand (If I use pressure)

Unless you feel other men's beards I'm not sure how to tell if a beard is really coarse (read: difficult to shave regardless of proficiency with a razor) or not

Originally Posted by Disburden

And that's after a BBS straight shave with a wedge at 6am. Plus, I started shaving when I was 12-13 in middle school due to facial hair to the extreeeeeeeeeeeme.

Is fast growing hair going to be more difficult to shave than slow growing hair?

I am curious as what you've laid out describes my beard as well. In fact I always have a shadow even after a close shave. I have thought it's just the way the hair and skin grow and look. I'd really like to be able to have an experienced barber shave me and give me a 3rd party opinion that way - it seems that about a third of the members here have a "very very coarse/heavy/wiry (hard to shave)" beard And I do not doubt that but it makes me wonder if it really should make a difference when it comes to a sharp razor being able to remove such a properly prepped beard from the face

Originally Posted by JimR

How do I know I have a coarse beard? Well...because until my hair gets about 1/8 of an inch long, it's hard enough to penetrate the skin. Because when I had a beard, you could hang a pair of sunglasses on it.

Hmm, I'll have to try that....

This is a common refrain on these forums.

Everybody says their beard is really tough, and everybody claims that they have to use a wedge or some other heavy stiff blade to shave their super-tough beard. And they keep saying this right up until their honing and shaving technique improves sufficiently. Then one day they post here in amazement that they tried a full hollow for the first time in a year and wow what an amazing shave, and gee maybe all they really needed was a really sharp blade after all.