Thread: Determine Your Beard Grain Direction

Hi Guys,

I thought this would be a good topic since we get so many questions regarding WTG (With The Grain), ATG (Against The Grain and XTG (Across The Grain). All of us have a beard growth that grows in different directions and determining yours will really aid in your not only learning to use the straight razor, but enjoying it forever.

I had always thought that if you shave down or from the eyes or sideburns to the jaw that that was shaving WTG and that when you shave from the jawline up the face that that was ATG. Same for the neck going down the neck and then back up.

Well........here is a pretty nifty way of determining the growth direction of your beard. If you run your index finger in the directions we are talking about above across your face, I think you will be surprised.

If I run my index finger from the side of my mouth across the face to the ear, I am actually going with the grain. The hair feels smooth. If I run my index finger from the ear to that side of the mouth, I am going ATG. How do I know this???? When I run my index finger from below the eye to the chin I can actually feel some stubble, but it is not as stiff as when I go from the ear to the mouth. This then, for me is XTG. Seems counter intuitive, doesn't it?

So..... When I start off shaving with the downstroke, I am actually shaving XTG and then when I shave from the ear to the mouth across the face, I am actually shaving ATG. This is why I normally have a really baby butt smooth or sticky smooth shave in two passes.

The neck is a little trickier as I notice that the ATG stroke is more side ways under the chin and around the adams apple.

I had done a tip previously where you use your index finger after making a couple of passes to pick up those problem areas as rubbing the index finger will give you the direction to cut to get rid of those pesky areas. It also helps you establish the stroke you will need so you don't have to experiment with the razor first.

Now the challenge for you is to educate that index finger and see if this will help in your shaving endeavors.

Hope this helps.

Have fun,

Lynn

Thanks Lynn, that is a great way to describe how to help map one's beard for better shaving. About 3 or 4 shaves into using a straight, I found that finding what direction is with the grain, and what direction is against helped me immensely around my chin, neck, and cheeks. I guess that is almost everything, but it really helped me understand that not every stroke straight down the face is going to provide the same results. Lynn you have the knack for pointing out the fundamental tactics necessary to get a great shave, I love it

A way I have found to doublecheck trouble areas while shaving is to take a photo of the stubble when it has grown just enough to clearly show grain patterns. It is not really as accurate as mapping one's beard by touch because touch will detect the general grain over a wider area that the razor will be shaving.

Wow these attached photos are bigger than I thought they'd be. Oh well. If anyone finds them offensive, send me a private message and I will replace them with something else



I took these not too long ago as part of a shelved plan to improve the shaving passes article in the wiki. Maybe someday I will finish it Also note that photos will not tell you which direction is with and which is against. But they are a guide - for example I knew I had some swirly beard pattern on my neck, but seeing the photo helps me troubleshoot and gives me ideas how to experiment in attacking that spot more effectively

Thanks,
I've been doing this for a while too, and apparently have a wonky beard. My neck area grows upwards (so shaving from chin to shoulder is ATG), but my chin area is down, so where my chin and neck meet the hair is going in opposite directions.

That was one of the biggest things for me to get a good shave. Once I figured out which ways my beard pointed, I was able to get a much better shave. Although I still haven't figured out how to go against the grain, on my kneck. There is a portion that grows down, then half way down it grows up. With an inch strip in the middle that grows towards my ear. Go figure.

Lynn, this is a great article. I think that we need more like it to solidify our knowledge of the straight razor world. It takes more than questions followed by short answers, generally based on personal preference to create a core that covers all the basic principles. Even if you receive great answers, which is often the case, the threads often go unnoticed after awhile and the next user ask the same question again. A lot has of ground has been gained thanks primarily to the efforts of the wiki team, thanks guys (and the authors too). However, more work is still needed: we need experts to read, and make suggestions of changes to the different sections; we need all our members to reference the wiki in their posts, and more importantly, we need all members to use it!!! I think that we follow these guidelines, we can reduce some bias, and make SRP even more informative than it already is.

About the post, the only things that I would add is that the finger test works better if your hair is longer than a 5pm shadow, perhaps a couple of days depending on how fast the hair grows. The other thing is that by understanding the way the hair grows, you can effectively reduce the number of passes (passes ---> trauma---> irritation) without sacrificing closeness.

Lee, are you ready to say: "I'll be back" ;-)

Al raz.

Darned if what I thought was WTG and ATG on my beard was mistaken. Thanks for that post Lynn. I hadn't really taken the time to 'map' by beard in all the time I have been wet shaving be it with a DE or a straight. Today's shave should be interesting.

Thank you for the article, above the jawline I've pretty much figured out but I have 2 areas ( each side of the windpipe) still giving me issues. it seems the right side grows outward while the left grows down and away. Still learning to stretch the skin properly too, I just need to keep working at it . Thanks again.


All information is useful we just don't know when or where it may come in handy.

Originally Posted by hoglahoo

Thanks Lynn, that is a great way to describe how to help map one's beard for better shaving. About 3 or 4 shaves into using a straight, I found that finding what direction is with the grain, and what direction is against helped me immensely around my chin, neck, and cheeks. I guess that is almost everything, but it really helped me understand that not every stroke straight down the face is going to provide the same results. Lynn you have the knack for pointing out the fundamental tactics necessary to get a great shave, I love it

A way I have found to doublecheck trouble areas while shaving is to take a photo of the stubble when it has grown just enough to clearly show grain patterns. It is not really as accurate as mapping one's beard by touch because touch will detect the general grain over a wider area that the razor will be shaving.

Wow these attached photos are bigger than I thought they'd be. Oh well. If anyone finds them offensive, send me a private message and I will replace them with something else



I took these not too long ago as part of a shelved plan to improve the shaving passes article in the wiki. Maybe someday I will finish it Also note that photos will not tell you which direction is with and which is against. But they are a guide - for example I knew I had some swirly beard pattern on my neck, but seeing the photo helps me troubleshoot and gives me ideas how to experiment in attacking that spot more effectively

Can you please replace them with pics of Carmen Electra, or something?



I bet you had a nice shave after letting the whiskers go for a while like that!

Offensive? You want offensive?

Take a look at this guy's mug! (I have to everytime I look in the mirror!)

This thread is beginning to get downright offensive with these photos of people that got hit with an ugly stick Here is one of my mug, and you think you have problems