I’m curious how many of you truly map out your hair growth on your face and neck to precisely dial in the direction of your shaves in ALL areas.
Do you map your hair growth?
- Thread starter FormAndFunction
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My three passes part of the shave (wtg, xtg, atg) don't take into account the mapping so much. That stuff is really just north-south, east-west, and south-north.
The final phase, BBS Search and Destroy, does take into account the mapping of my grain directions, tested for quality by rubbing my hand against the grain in places to sense texture.
The final phase, BBS Search and Destroy, does take into account the mapping of my grain directions, tested for quality by rubbing my hand against the grain in places to sense texture.
Nope. Never done it.
I do three passes everywhere so I'm pretty sure I'm hitting most areas from nearly every direction. I'm not going for BBS, and still get pretty great shaves.
Besides, I already had a good idea of which direction my bead grows when I started this, so no real need for a map.
I do three passes everywhere so I'm pretty sure I'm hitting most areas from nearly every direction. I'm not going for BBS, and still get pretty great shaves.
Besides, I already had a good idea of which direction my bead grows when I started this, so no real need for a map.
I have mapped mine out (mentally, not on paper). I'm fairly lucky in that it's all pretty straight forward in the directions. I don't have any briar patches.
AimlessWanderer
Remember to forget me!
My beard map is like a dropped jigsaw. There's a basic pattern to it, and maybe 65-70% of the beard follows the general theme, give or take 30 degrees either way. The rest veers off in all kinds of directions.
Maybe it's shaving instructions, written in semaphore...
I do have a frizzy beard though, so the direction the follicle points, isn't necessarily the direction the stubble points.
Maybe it's shaving instructions, written in semaphore...
I do have a frizzy beard though, so the direction the follicle points, isn't necessarily the direction the stubble points.
Yup. I have found it necessary to avoid irritation.
I was a bit more loosey-goosey about things when I was younger, but as the hair has toughened up and gone grey it has been necessary to get more precise and make sure my reduction passes are truly WTG before attempting anything else.
I was a bit more loosey-goosey about things when I was younger, but as the hair has toughened up and gone grey it has been necessary to get more precise and make sure my reduction passes are truly WTG before attempting anything else.
I have a pretty good idea how my facial hair grows, besides…
…it’s not a precise science, you know.
B.
…it’s not a precise science, you know.
B.
Yes, I have mentally mapped out my beard grain. And I continue to update that map as I find small variations. It is important to know. For instance, above my adam's apple my whiskers grow down and below it they grow up. Early on I did a N to S pass and wondered why it was so rough on the bottom. Now I know. Later I realized that the growth in the depression to the left and right of my trachea is a briar patch. So now I J-hook that area for the 2nd and 3rd pass. The results can be closer if one knows this information.
Chef455
Head Cheese Head Chef
Nope. I know my odd spot. It's minimal and I could tell on my 2nd or third shave with a de razor. That being said I've seen some folks here for whom it would seem pretty necessary.
Yes indeed! My ’mental map’ helped me understand precisely what I am doing with each pass.
You'll only do it like once and then you know how to do a WTG, XTG and an ATG. Sometimes I start with a XTG on my sideburns and skipping the WTG.
This.
I've never mapped it per se. But, after over 50 years of shaving, I've got a pretty good sense of how it grows.
No need for maps, I’ve memorized the route.
This is figured out very quickly in my opinion or or you will be plagued with irritation and or ingrown hairs.
I've looked in the mirror on several occasions and noted the different directions of my beard growth, but I figure a multi pass shave is going to more or less hit all the directions anyway and I always feel for areas needing touch up, so mapping is pretty much useless irrelevant. You, of course, are welcome to think otherwise.
Mentally mapped here.
60% of the time I remember it all the time
60% of the time I remember it all the time
Understanding my hair growth direction has helped me avoid neck irritation. The hair on my neck grows generally south to north, so I start the shave on my neck in that direction. I don't ever remember seeing anyone else do this (start the neck shave south to north), so it had never occurred to me to try it. Once I made this simple change, my neck irritation decreased and my shave quality improved noticeably.
I may have it mapped out, which helps me get a close shave, but my face isn't that full, so there are lots of tight radiuses where the razor won't fit into for a single WTG/ATG/XTG pass. This adds another layer of complexity to getting a close shave without little groves of stubble left over.
You just naturally map your hair as you learn to shave. I never specifically mapped my beard growth, but I feel my skin after each pass and learned it that way, just by shaving. So after that experience, I know the way my hair grows on each part of my face.
For those with perpetual irritation, they are probably not paying attention to the way hair grows on their face and mostly likely shaving ATG or XTG without knowing it.
For those with perpetual irritation, they are probably not paying attention to the way hair grows on their face and mostly likely shaving ATG or XTG without knowing it.
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