Taking beard patterning to the next level

A fellow that I'm mentoring has had lots of trouble so I thought I'd share with the forum something that while I've seen mentioned it tends to get glossed over. Patterning your beard to see which way it grows is a good start but armed with only that info it's still difficult sometimes to get the BBS results you're looking for.

You not only have to figure out which way the hair grows but also the best way to stretch the skin to present the beard at the optimum shaveable angle...and that is why some people get great results with a single pass and others are struggling after three or more passes.

I find it easiest to do this with a couple days growth and a freshly washed and dry face. You first see the direction of the growth and then try stretching the skin in different directions while rubbing a fingertip over the stubble to find the direction that presents the beard the most perpendicular to the skin while keeping in mind the limitations of the actual grip and blade angle you can achieve...and you need to do that for each pass direction (WTG/XTG/ATG). You might be surprised by the results of that experiment. There are a couple spots on my face that are impossible to do a true ATG pass but with the right stretch and a modified XTG pass can still be made BBS.

I should also mention that if you find you need to put the stretching fingers in front of the blade so you are shaving towards those fingers that extra caution is not only advised but mandatory...and that's why I use mostly short strokes.