I’ve learned some really excellent tips from TSD members and thought it would be cool to start a thread to put them all in one place. I'll start it off with a couple: 1. When beard mapping to determine the grain pattern on your face, it helps to feel your grain pattern with your hand during a hot shower. Your face is better lubricated and your whiskers are more pliable, so it makes this exercise much easier than when your face is dry. 2. Sometimes I've felt like I've "caught the baby" only to find that after my applying aftershave, my whiskers "stand up" a bit and I have to downgrade it to a DFS or CCS. @wchnu shared with me that he does his clean up pass using witch hazel. After trying it, I learned witch hazel stands the whiskers on end and provides more then enough lubrication for a "touch up pass". Can't get a BBS? This is a great shortcut to one.
I have found that the BBS will find you. Every time I go searching, more often than not, I irritate the heck out of my neck.
Thank you Steve. I appreciate the mention. The phrasing might maybe be mine, but it was the result of several people discussing the Fatip and Yuma razor heads. We were struggling for a concise way to represent the low angle concept.
I suggest using just a tiny bit of soap or cream. Even my whitest whiskers stand out like a sore thumb against it. Not enough to make a lather, but just enough to see.
Hold the razor like you'd hold a baby born a minute ago; light yet not so light it slips. I did this and my shaves improved manyfold.
To paraphrase Tuco....When it's time to shave..shave! What I mean is do not be shy. If you pick the razor up and down and do half hearted strokes it can hurt. This is specially true with open blades. But even with a safety razor take two rounds and a half hitch and jump. Slide the razor like you own the stroke.