"Beard Mapping" and Learning to Shave with a Straight - Opinions, Please.

[Lmarkow]

We see this recommendation often here. I think, "beard mapping" is non-productive for new straight shavers. What matters is creating flat surfaces for the razor to safely shave. You can't do this and worry if the hair leans left or right. Besides, if we shave at the intersection of hair and skin, what does it matter what is going on above where the razor cuts?

What say you?

[I post here, rather than the clinic, in the hopes of getting responses from a wider range of experienced shavers.]

 

[Doc226]

I think you are correct for the most part, we do shave at the base of the hair and the direction should not matter much but somehow it does.

A WTG pass make the ATG much easier, I know because I have tried

 

[Slash McCoy]

I think mapping and shaving wtg first is very important, keeping in mind that going exactly wtg or whatever is not always possible due to facial topography. IOW, don't sweat it if you can't manage exactly wtg, just get as close to it as practical.

 

[HazMat Shaver]

I do wtg as much as possible. Then up! From there its.just a toucj up on the sides of the neck and it ATG as much as possible. Its an odd angle to get so its as close as i can. I come up as close to BBS as you can get without being there. Good enough for me be ause there is no irritation of all the extra passes.

So i agree with you to a point. YMMV.

 

[HazMat Shaver]

BTW, WTG is down and out. Wish it grew in and up or down direction but...

 

[Cambouis]

I have a tough and fast-growing beard. On the cheeks it grows diagonally from back to front. The rest is a shambolic nightmare - especially the right of the jaw. Under the chin and on the neck it's all over the place it seems.

So on the cheeks, it's diagonally down WTG, back to front, down on the neck (I need a short razor to deal with this really). Strop. Second pass, diagonally upwards (XTG) on the face, front to back and a sort of angled effort on the neck and jaw and across the chin. Strop. Third pass ATG diagonally upwards back to front. Finally the cleaning up effort - right jaw, centre of neck &c.

Usually a nice smooth result and then after a couple of hours the jaw just starts to get bristly again!

The beard is tough and I have found it wise to pay attention to the direction of growth - insofar as it can be determined!

C.

 

[California Cajun]

We see this recommendation often here. I think, "beard mapping" is non-productive for new straight shavers. What matters is creating flat surfaces for the razor to safely shave. You can't do this and worry if the hair leans left or right. Besides, if we shave at the intersection of hair and skin, what does it matter what is going on above where the razor cuts?

What say you?

[I post here, rather than the clinic, in the hopes of getting responses from a wider range of experienced shavers.]

I think face mapping puts a method behind the madness. For 40 years, mostly with carts and other multi blade razors, I would stroke problem areas over and over again with out regard to direction without success and have an irritated face. When I switched to straights I started to pay attention to the direction the whiskers were growing. My shaving became more economical, resulting in closeness and comfort.

The face diagrams I have seen for shaving are for barbers shaving another face.

 

[alpster]

My whiskers have a definite direction and in some trouble spots, against ATG is not possible without irritation or injury unless I do WTG passes first. With a good edge and mutiple WTG and XTG passes, I can still get a near BBS shave every time. The base of my neck has tiny bumps at the follicles and ATG is very tricky there. FWIW also, at 60 years, my whiskers have turned white and much stiffer than in my youth. JMHE

 

[seattleshaver]

I think calling it "beard mapping" over complicates things but the idea is sound. You are just figuring out the easiest way to shave with the least resistance. Really, shaving with a straight or DE or anything is about making a mistake and then learn to not do that again.

 

[kelbro]

I wasted a lot of time shaving over the years before I discovered beard mapping. It just made sense and explained why certain parts did not match the other parts. Now I get even, efficient shaves.

 

[David]

I follow my beard growth when I shave. There are places where I don't even have to look, I can just feel the razor stop when I hit the change of direction. I think it's pretty important, and my shaves got a lot better when I started doing it.

 

[Gott543]

I agree with most. After about a year of straight shaving, I follow my "map" so to speak. However, when I first started with a straight, a North/South pass was the only option because that's all I could manage. If I were to make suggestions to new guy, that would be the place to start.

 

[paintflinger]

Mine grows E-W on my neck and I'm a reasonably skinny guy, so a true WTG or ATG is pretty much out in the hollows of my neck. At the end of the day, the shave comes out just fine even without going true WTG.

That said, I always recommend mapping your beard. Far more benefits to shaving WTG if you can.

 

[Guestabc]

Interesting thread, I had posted a digital photo on the for a couple of years ago and got piled on, saying ti was a waste of time, when I started straight shaving I flowed the Standard WTG, ATG and XTG, and could never get BBS doing the "Standard Way" went back to looking at the map and discovered my WTG pass is diagonal ( with a Gillette slide to coin a phrase, from nose to ears on the cheeks, and Diagonal on the neck from jawline to AA area. My ATG pass is Again Diagonal from AA to jawline on neck and diagonal from Ear lobe to about the middle of the eye at a 45, and then my XTG is an straight Ear to nose on the cheek and a diagonal S to N from Jaw to ear. With very minor cleanup I can get BBS almost every day with just the straight with a tad bit of buffing and contorting. I do chase BBS, but since following the Map no irritation at all. So I think it is important, and makes the shave that much more enjoyable

Here is a link to the original post and a pic of the map from 2014 before I even started straights

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/432298-Face-Mapping?p=6865581#post6865581

 

[njtnjt]

I didn't think about it when I first started with straights. I couldn't. My skills were very limited and I needed to concentrate on being safe.

But 5 years in its important. There are a few spots I can't get properly without knowing the correct angle of attack. Which is knowing which direction the whiskers lay in.