Know your own face!

I know this has been covered before but I'm hoping that by posting this in beginners I can help to prevent others making the same mistake that I did.

My mistake, apart from not taking up the straight about twenty five years sooner, was my "I've had this same face for nigh on forty years, of course I know my own face" attitude. Well I knew my face but not my beard growth pattern. Twenty five years with a progression of gillettes from sensor through fusion power meant that I didn't really have to.

So using the tips of your fingers have a really good rummage round your face and really pay attention to the direction that your whiskers are growing. Probably advisable not to be doing this in public though, but before the shave, during the shave and even after the shave keep on searching - there is gold at the end of this rainbow.

Shaving heaven awaits!:angel:

Good point. It is imperative to know your beard growth.

In the wiki, there is an image of a male face, with arrows indicating the pattern of growth. I saved it, and then manipulated the arrows according to my own face. For the first couple of shaves I referred to the picture to help me out.

It was a good aide in the beginning process of understanding this art.

Great advice for beginners. I was surprised at how the beard changes direction.

In my case:
Cheeks- grows downward, EXCEPT one and a quarter inches from the ears, the beard grows towards the nose.
Mustache - grows downward
Chin - grows downward EXCEPT the "soul-patch" grows upward
Throat - In the dead center the beard grows downward but the rest of the chin line and the first inch below the chin line grows inward towards center EXCEPT one inch from the ears, it changes direction towards the ears, the rest grows downward.

The transitions can create difficulties. I agree that knowing the beard pattern helps to solve a lot of problems. When I first started, I used WTG to mean north to south. At the transitions, I got a poor shave along with frequent razor burn. Now razor burn is seldom part of even my closest BBS shave.

Thanks for the reminder.

The more experienced you become with your St8, the better you get to know your face. As the two progress together, your shave will get better and better. I am always running my hand over my face to make sure I know which way things grow. You'll also find that the more you learn your face, the better you will stretch your skin which will also make your shave better.

Enjoy the day!