Thread: I think I have the worst beard/skin combo...

Originally Posted by WartHawg75

I do have a cheap drug store boar brush, but never use it since I preferred the softer badger lather but I will reattack with the boar.

Boar brushes do get softer once broken in which usually takes a couple of weeks of everyday use. The break in makes quite a difference but they will never be as soft as a badger.

Bob

Awesome, good to know! Maybe I just never gave it a chance.

Update: I just had the best shave I think I have ever had. I decided to go out on a limb and try a technique I have seen but been to skeptical to try considering the issues I have with ATG shaving. I went against the grain on the first pass, and I had pretty dang good results, especially on the neck. I had about 2.5 days growth, and used my normal prep as discussed earlier. The hair was nice and soft, probably because of the longer growth, and the razor did not stick like it normally does. I am not sure if this is something that is repeatable throughout the week since my shaves seem to deteriorate due to irritation and really tough/short stubble later in the week, but that gets me thinking. Maybe ATG first pass on the neck works better since the skin is fresh, and un-irritated from the WTG and XTG passes? I will have to see what happens tomorrow I suppose. The results were not as good on the cheek and chin areas however. It still worked like a charm, and got me BBS results, but with more irritation on the chin and cheeks. The jaw line continues to be an issue as well, as I have a very defined jaw line that is hard to maneuver the razor through. I might just have to stick with a WTG on the chin and jaw line and finish those areas with the DE until my skills improve.

Always like to hear progress. Just checking, are you doing a cold water lather and a cold water shave? What I have found recently is at no other time than at the start of a shave is the edge at it's sharpest. Decided to start with the toughest area first (toughest to get a good shave and toughest hair), my neck. I go AGT and then WTG before I tackle the rest of my face. Dang, but I've been getting very, very good results. Alum block reveals only the slightest of irritation, if any, and the last cold water rinse is close to Nirvana.

I didn't think about what you said in terms if razor sharpness and I bet that makes a difference as well. I have been using the cold lather and rinse and those seem to help out! I would have never thought to go ATG first with a DE. Just goes to show that they are different animals!

Ahhhhh I immediately regret my decision to go ATG! It was fine the first day with the soft weekend growth, but man is my skin angry now! This is the same issue I've had with DEs as well. 1st shave of the week can be BBS but I will pay for it later! I guess I will stick with WTG and pace myself throughout the week. The BBS also causes bumps to occur (nothing new for me either). Back to the drawing board lol.

Everyone's skin is different. When I first started trying to go ATG for a smoother shave, my skin would howl. I earned lots of razor burn and irritation. What I found was I could try multiple passes WTG without irritation. Then when I added good skin traction (pulling from behind the razor's direction of cutting), I got an even better WTG beard reduction. I found I could go two or three, even four times over the same skin WTG without problem.

XTG was almost as good, but this was only good for one or two tries. After reducing my beard a lot, and keeping my whole face wet with lather (I would re-apply as soon as I shaved it off), then at a low razor angle I could go ATG once.

This took a lot of work to figure out because at least on my beard WTG, XTG, and ATG aren't even the same directions on different regions of my face! The whiskers on my neck mostly grow trachea to ears; except for a strip on the bottom of my neck and I have a couple of patches out towards my ears that just go in reverse.

Finally after learning to mostly reduce my beard WTG, XTG, and keeping the hot wet lather on it always -- then ATG started getting my smooth shaves.

It took both hands and a lot of practice to figure out ATG, because it doesn't take much and my face erupts on fire. Today, no issue, I can comfortably shave to BBS on my neck using the technique I've developed.

In the beginning absolutely no way. I kept a diary describing everything I did and experimented. I discarded what didn't work and kept what did work. Today it is becoming habit and I can't believe the massive improvement from beginning to now.

You'll get it to work. It will just take a while. It definitely helped me when I started going for comfortable every time. I tried a lot of different pre-shaves and soaps. They help, but a sharp blade and proper technique made the biggest difference for me. I would back off as soon as I felt like an experiment pushed my skin too far. Whoops. Won't try that again, and I come up with something different. You will too.

Best Regards,

Ed

A question? I usually shave every day (habit). But occasionally I will go a day without shaving in the last four months this has probably happened twice a month. So I have enough examples now that I'm wondering if there is something to this or just my imagination.

Do you get a better, smoother, closer shave when shaving a two day growth?

Since SR shaving I've paid a lot more attention to my beard. I know I have different types of whiskers from looking at them with a USB microscope. I have two colors black and gray. And two thickness thick and thin. I also have whiskers that mostly stand up but numerous thin grey whiskers than almost lay flat.

I even know where the types are by regions of my face at this point. At least for the flat grey whiskers which are not uniformly distributed. I've taken to do a hot towel over lather as my beard preparation and it works well. I also shave with a 5x magnifying mirror which helps a lot with a sideways beard pattern on my neck.

Anyway right after beard prep today on a two day growth beard, I noticed the thin flat whiskers were standing up a bit more. Also some of the whiskers on my chin which are usually very short and pulling up a small pyramid of skin as they grow out were better developed and the skin around them was flat.

So long story short, the shave today was smooth, clean, close, and irritation free; I have a beautiful BBS smooth shave everywhere. I have a shave diary. Looking back the two day growth shaves all have a superlative result.

So does this make any sense? Does anyone else get a better shave on a two day growth? Anyone know why this should be so? Clearly my skin is far less irritated, I wonder if there is any correlation to amount of beard growth and comfortable shave?

Curious,

Ed

Absolutely! I notice the same. I think it has a lot to do with skin conditions. Irritation makes my hair follicles get inflamed and turn into bumps. Bumps stick up and catch the blade and prevent the hair from being cut as easily. They also become more inflamed since they get mowed down by a razor.

Ed, the "better shave after a few days" comment comes up quite a bit, and seems to be the case for quite a few people. I don't know if it is an early days thing generally, but i still find it to be the case.