Quote Originally Posted by Bruce View Post
How does one figure out if he has a coarse beard? What constitutes a coarse beard? Do we need to count the number of hairs per square unit and/or and couple that somehow with the diameter of the typical strand of hair? Do we use the hanging hair test? What if we've shaved off all our hair and have no hairs to hang?

These questions are, of course, somewhat tongue in cheek, but every time I see the statement, "I have a coarse beard", I wonder how does he know that and by what standards do the others of us shavers rate our stubble so we too can select the proper tonsorial tools for our own marvelous shaves.

Ah Bruce, while you were being partially TIC, I've had the same thoughts. And while I'm relatively new to both straights and DEs (~6 months now), I'm pretty sure I have quite a coarse beard for a number of reasons I won't bother to go into. That, or my prep and technique are absolutely atrocious. But considering I can get a fabulous shave with minor to no irritation (more so with the straight than the DE actually), I'm guessing it's the former and not the latter.

Thanks for the responses guys.