Quote Originally Posted by adbuett View Post
What is your reasoning behind this? I suppose one could say that the softening of the hair by lather does less damage than a dry hair. But there can't be much difference between the two I wouldn't think. Any elucidation?
The long answer is thus: average beard hairs are actually very tough. It has been measured here before that some mens whiskers are comparable to copper wire, and in some cases even stronger. Lathering will serve 3 purposes - provide glide, skin conditioning and soft whiskers. As we know, soft whiskers are cut with much more ease, thereby reducing stress and wear & tear on a razors cutting edge, which in reality is very fragile.

And what is the short answer you may ask? Take a look at a microscope pic of a razors edge damaged by the cutting of coarse, dry whiskers