I know hair grains can be different with everyone, but I have a pretty interesting grain pattern, though not necessarily a bad pattern. With all the videos I watch with wet shavers, they always start WTG and then they go from top to bottom. My grain pattern on the other hand goes from the front of the face to the back. Then on the neck its the same, but under the crease it goes front to back, only in a upward direction. Think of a raccoon or the marvel character Wolverine. You wouldn't believe how long it took me to figure this out, and now I get amazing non irritated shaves. I was just wondering if anyone out there has some weird grain patterns. Or maybe I have some animal blood that runs through my veins edit - removed some overly used commas
My grain pattern I don't think is really that odd, but my whiskers seem to grow rather flat against my skin. I get very little mileage out of a with the grain pass and as a result I never bother with one except in the mustache area. Under my chin also grows pointing back, parallel to my jaw line for the most part. I think what direction it grows is important in figuring out how to get the most from your shave.
I am still trying to map mine as some of the areas are just crazy. So far I know my mustache and chin actually go top to bottom. My jaw line seems to go from ear to chin on both sides. My neck is all over the place. I have areas near the bottom of my neck just on either side of center that I swear grow one way one day and a different direction the next or maybe they grow every direction at the same time! My reason for posting was because I use a neat site that I have seen mentioned on TSD before. http://www.pbjsite.com/shave/whiskarmap/ It allows you to map your face.
mine is pretty odd...on one side of my neck it grows up then on the other it grows diagonally down....I can start my shave going WTG (up to down) on my cheeks, but then on my neck have to do this weird pass on one side and down to up on the other
I'm pretty normal, North to South until the crease under the neck, then the hair grows South to North. There's a bit of multi direction where the two overlap, but nothing bad. You must have animal blood.
Shaving all ATG, neck down except for a few swirls I save for touchup, chin, cheek, lower and upper lip is up, jaw line is forward. I use mostly A Gillette Slide especially around the neck. In my younger days, it was all an upstroke, I guess the beard changes growth direction with age.
In general the hair on my neck grows slightly right to left, but I have a nasty swirl just to right of my Adams apple. I have found a couple "neutral" passes that I can do with good results and no irritation. The swirl, however just takes a steady hand and short strokes.
Wow looks like I am seeing quite a bit of odd grain direction. At least I am not the only one. I may actually think I have it pretty good.
Tallships - I saw in another post where you mentioned a 3 pass shave. So you do all of your passes predominantly ATG? I think that's what I did when I shaved with a Fusion, but with my DE (except for some areas of my neck) I only do one ATG (after a WTG or XTG) - although I have to admit that the outside of my neck gets shaved ATG twice plus touch up. My beard there lays so flat, I don't feel like I'm getting anywhere if I go WTG. My grain is every which way also. Seems like if I want to go ATG on my neck, I have to hit each of the compass points. My first pass on my neck is North to South. That gets some areas WTG, some XTG, and some ATG. Then I pick one direction for whatever area I'm in as my ATG pass, and then use my touch up to get the stragglers I can feel.
Always shave ATG. the 3 pass (ATG) is usually with a mild razor like a Tech. With a Weber PH or one of the Gillette Adj. @7, Its usually a 1 pass +. Seems like when I shave WTG I barely scratch the surface no mater what angle I use and I'm a daily shaver. Denis
Yeah, I saw a thing by a Yank Guy called the Mad Shaving Scientist on You Tube talking about this and it was a Revelation for me.....In essence what I learned from him was his Intel on how to Map your Own Individual Growth Patterns.....I know my growth patterns inside out now and I think that its the Key to achieving Close BBS Results without looking for it......Everything in the Universe Grows in Spirals .....My Whiskers are not anything different .... CHINESE PROVERB ... Know yourself and you will know others... Billy
How do I go about mapping my beard growth cause I can't get bbs shave and I thank I could if I knew how to map my beard.
It took me a moment to find this again......Here is the Mad Scientist talking about Mapping.... Hope this helps.... Billy
As teaching my sons and nephews, keep it simple, razor, blades, soap, brush, mug, after shave, 1 of each and lots of water for prep . Weather it's what order to the face to shave is up to you. Personally its neck, chin, lower lip, jaw, cheek, and upper lip. As said in the video, it takes time to learn your face and how the beard grows and in what direction.
I'm pretty normal above the chin, north to south with a little east to west at the jaw under the ear. I recently found that from the chin down, the hair really does grow willy-nilly, mostly east to west and west to east, in the same areas, all over from under the chin to the neck. That said, I do a south to north xth followed by both an east to west and west to east atg. Funny thing is, I just realized this this morning and this is the closest to bbs my neck and below the chin areas have ever gotten.
