Thread: Thick Stubble Shaving

Originally Posted by paulwjax

Maybe you guys can give me some pointers...

I've got thick, dark beard hair that grows pretty fast. I get my shadow by lunch time and by the next morning I can probably sand fine scratches off the back of the shave brush on my face. When I shaved most of my life before straights I always shaved ATG and would be smooth for a couple hours.

I've got a boar brush since I read guys with thicker hair would benefit from the thicker bristles and their lifting power although I haven't really felt much of that. I would think that a softer badger brush would not improve my shave that much. But I digress...

So my question is this: Do you guys who have thick facial hair shave WTG and then ATG to get smooth or is WTG all you need?

I have a light thick wirery beard, similar to your problem, only not quite as noticible. Here's my solution. First, Leighton is correct, your razor MUST be sharp. Second, don't expect the beard to dissappear on the first or second pass. I generally have to do a pass WTG, XTG then ATG, and then do it again, to get complete removal. I also found that with this type of beard, a shallower angle, maybe 20 to 25 deg. seems to work better. And Three, the preshave routine is absolutly mandatory for a close shave. I have to warm the beard with a hot towel, and then again with a hot towel and lather to get that close shave. One other thing I do too is not take long strokes. The stroke is like 1" or less. I'm not sure what that does exactly, but it seems to let the blade do its work better. My beard will generally not start showing for about 6 to 8 hours normally using this method.

Hope this helps,

Ray