Thread: beard swirl?

so I thought I had my face good and mapped out but the more I shave the more confused I get about my grain. It's honestly like I don't have an actual grain on my cheeks.

It's bad enough that I am having to do four passes to get anywhere close to bbs on both cheeks

no matter which direction I shave other than straight down after three passes I will be smooth in the direction I shaved but there will be another direction that feels like I might as well be against the grain.

I constantly run my hands over my five oclock shadow and other than straight down everything feels like its against the grain. except for straight up which is just a slight bit tougher than the rest.

I actually haven't been shaving straight downward. I start at my ear and go out straight sideways as my first pass and then go straight back to my ear then go up towards my sideburn at a 45 degree angle and then straight up and Im smooth. I know I shouldn't have to do four passes but I think Im going to have to start shaving in a circle or something.

If you really want to map your beard just stop shaving for a week - it may be tough but that will tell you what you want to know

I know we get caught up in all the "true" WTG/XTG/ATG talk, but the reality is most of us do hybrid passes or use different strokes (guillotine, scything), which technically attack the whiskers from various angles and thus provides a better shave. These are the techniques to play around with after the basics are learned. Scything would probably be the best bet for those with swirly beard patterns.

Originally Posted by Ryan82

If you really want to map your beard just stop shaving for a week - it may be tough but that will tell you what you want to know

I know we get caught up in all the "true" WTG/XTG/ATG talk, but the reality is most of us do hybrid passes or use different strokes (guillotine, scything), which technically attack the whiskers from various angles and thus provides a better shave. These are the techniques to play around with after the basics are learned. Scything would probably be the best bet for those with swirly beard patterns.

+1 to all Ryan stated

I just tried scything instead of my guillotine stroke and it worked very well for wtg and xtg. I think what Im going to do next time is invert the razor on my ATG pass that way I'm scything upwared into the atg better because with the tip up I'm tending to rotate into more of an across the grain pattern.

Thanks Ryan for all the help I really appreciate it

Originally Posted by Ryan82

If you really want to map your beard just stop shaving for a week - it may be tough but that will tell you what you want to know

I know we get caught up in all the "true" WTG/XTG/ATG talk, but the reality is most of us do hybrid passes or use different strokes (guillotine, scything), which technically attack the whiskers from various angles and thus provides a better shave. These are the techniques to play around with after the basics are learned. Scything would probably be the best bet for those with swirly beard patterns.

++1 - Well said
As you progress you find out what works for each section - "muscle memory" kicks in and it all will fall in to place. For me skin stretching in the correct direction for that pass was key...

ok the inverted scything motion did all the work of the third and fourth passes in one pass. It's not perfect yet but I think once I play around with skin stretching a little more my shave will be there.

It pulled a lot which tells me two things. First I'm going deeper into the atg that way, and secondly that my skin stretching isn't where it should be with that technique yet. but it's a big step forward so far

Originally Posted by gunsandbibles

ok the inverted scything motion did all the work of the third and fourth passes in one pass. It's not perfect yet but I think once I play around with skin stretching a little more my shave will be there.

I've been testing something that I noted on one of the "Japanese Barber with a Kamisori" vids. - using my extended thumb and forefinger to put tension on both sides of the patch of skin, and shaving in between. You tension away from the direction of growth first (in theory standing the hair up) and with the oposite digit apply opposing tension. On your neck this lets you move that patch of skin around a little, sometimes making the (short) pass easier.

Hope that makes sense, don't cut the fingers BTW...

There are several areas of beard growth for me, that grow in crazy directions and I find that once I do a pass or two, that if I just try to locate the direction of these problem areas using my index finger and then do short little angle strokes to pick them up, it works better for me than try to do another full pass or two. It seems to always be the same couple of areas and it took a while to figure them out, but my face does much better and I mean less redness or irritation from just going after the problem areas vs. a full face pass.

The area under my chin is one in particular as is the hollow part of my face right at the jawline between the jaw and chin. Also below the adams apple is a real pain for me as the hair seems to grow every direction other than up or down.

Have fun.

Originally Posted by MJC

I've been testing something that I noted on one of the "Japanese Barber with a Kamisori" vids. - using my extended thumb and forefinger to put tension on both sides of the patch of skin, and shaving in between. You tension away from the direction of growth first (in theory standing the hair up) and with the oposite digit apply opposing tension. On your neck this lets you move that patch of skin around a little, sometimes making the (short) pass easier.

Hope that makes sense, don't cut the fingers BTW...

Thus far I have been too fainthearted to attempt the barber style skin stretching because I don't trust myself that close to my fingers. I have looked into it and once I have better razor control I might pick it up but at the moment I just don't think it's for me

Lynn, do you reapply lather when you go back over those spots or just blade buff?

Sometimes just a little water and sometimes just a dab of suds.

Originally Posted by gunsandbibles

Thus far I have been too fainthearted to attempt the barber style skin stretching because I don't trust myself that close to my fingers. I have looked into it and once I have better razor control I might pick it up but at the moment I just don't think it's for me

Lynn, do you reapply lather when you go back over those spots or just blade buff?