Thread: Thick facial hair.

I had no idea there was a special term for shaving the under nose area. Strangely enough that is not the area I have trouble with but just to the right and left of this center area. Both razors seems to shave smoothly on all other place but tend to tug at these locations.

You may already be doing this, but I think it helps to attack the sensitive areas first- when you know your razor is at its sharpest. I always do under the nose first bc that's a sensitive area on me too. Also be sure you're getting a good stopping on the toe (since you're likely using lots of toe for under the nose). With stops 2.5" or under it can be easy to neglect the toe a bit if you're not careful.

I've been on a beard prep kick the last few weeks and have been pretty pleased with the results. I tend to give little thought to prepping my moustache area, and always have a little more stinging there with the aftershave than the rest of my face. Now that I'm thinking about it, my advice to both of us is to really focus on massaging water into that area. Try a shave oil or hot-towel over lather treatment for your moustache. Massage in the lather with your fingers for a bit before attacking.

Just some things I would try for the same issues (which aren't bad for me, but I do experience less-than-perfect results there as well, so I will be trying these things myself over the next few days).

Also, make sure you're stretching your lip down over your top teeth to get the best flat surface possible for the blade to slide over. Do that, with some good beard prep getting lots of moisture and steam into the whiskers before shaving, you'll see a marked improvement over your current results.

I don't know what it's like to shave a normal beard with a straight razor, but I do know that the thicker and harder the whiskers are, the more difficult they are to shave. I experience this every day as I progress from my cheeks to my chin to my mustache. There are three things that help; softer whiskers, sharper blades, and better technique. I need all three of these to shave my mustache.

I probably shaved 100 times before I developed sufficient skill to shave my mustache. For the first few months, I started my shave with a DE razor on the mustache and chin and then finished with the straight. In my experience the challenge is to maintain a steady stroke through the thick whiskers and the momentum of a heavy razor is very helpful in this regard. Although I still prefer heavy grinds, I can't say notice that advantage anymore.

I swear by proraso green pre-shave. I have a tough beard and it definitely helps. In addition, try pulling your skin taught when shaving and using short buffing strokes and or a scything motion on those areas where the hair is toughest.

beard prep imo is as important as shaving technique a beard not prepped right could cut short the life of your razors edge my prep is a shower no less then 20 mins. my beard is soft by then and off to my scuttle with warm shaving cream

I have definitely noticed that showering pre-shave helps. Also the pre-shave oil I use also helps tremendously. I am gratefully for this wealth of information and can't wait to try out the new techniques.

Honestly, I use to do a lot of prep with oil and proraso pre/post etc but now find it unnecessary.

All I do is wet my beard periodically while preparing my shave....ie wet face, wet brush and let it soak, wet face, get bowl and whatever soap or cream, wet your face some more etc...wetting your beard a bunch of times ensures that your entire beard absorbs as much water as it can. This, and a really well made lather will keep my whiskers as soft as they're going to get. Other than that, it's technique and edge.