Slightly Different Take On Mapping Beard Grain

[DEPenguin]

Only been DE shaving a little under two months, and while I had tried to use the tactile sense to 'feel' the direction of grain it was hit and miss. I should have done serious mapping right from the start. So if you're brand spanking new to DE shaving and you're reading this, don't make my mistake . . . do your face a favor and take a little time to map your beard grain.

Lots of great advice here, lots of videos with great reinforcement of the standard methods:

• Grow your beard out for 2 or 3 days so you can see the stubble.
• Try running a business card or credit card over the growth to determine direction (a lot of the audible feedback sounded similar to me, so I couldn't use this technique).
• Use a cotton pad and drag it against your stubble--if it comes clean, that's With The Grain (WTG), if it leaves a lot of cotton in its wake that's Against The Grain (ATG). I think the problem with that is if your beard is really coarse, well, cotton is really soft, and may tend to catch and pull leaving stringers behind regardless of the direction.
• Print out a facial diagram and draw arrows on it showing the direction of your grain.

I took a slightly more modern approach this morning. I spent just over an hour using my phone to take pictures of my ugly mug then look at them on my big monitor then made arrows on a facial diagram. I took my time and really studied it to be as sure as I could be.

The end result: I had the closest, most comfortable shave yet! And with a blade on its 4th use to boot. Perfect? Not quite, but no irritation, didn't spend an additional 5 minutes on two more passes or touch ups. As I write this it is 5:36pm MST--I shaved around 7:30am . . . and I have very little growth for the most part, and along the cheeks I'm still BBS.

Everyone's beard and rate of growth is different. But I posted this to emphasize to anyone new how great a tool mapping can be. It will take me a few weeks to 'code' the stroke routine into my brain, but once done I should enjoy far more great shaves than not for the remainder of my days.

 

[BigJ]

Great post!!

Mapping your beard is definitely worthwhile IMHO!! This approach is an excellent concept.

 

[DEPenguin]

Great post!!

Mapping your beard is definitely worthwhile IMHO!! This approach is an excellent concept.

Thanks BigJ!

 

[dmshaver]

Welcome to B & B first of all. Thanks for sharing the importance of mapping your beard, it can't be repeated often enough.

 

[ShavingPanda]

Great advice. I found I didn't do well mapping my beard the first time.

I actually had my wife do it on a printed out diagram. I kept my eyes shut the whole time, different that what I originally thought, but she was right.

 

[flash75]

Great Idea.

Gesendet von meinem Redmi Note 4 mit Tapatalk

 

[Invicta]

Good advice on beard mapping and the effort pays in the long run.

 

[DEPenguin]

Welcome to B & B first of all. Thanks for sharing the importance of mapping your beard, it can't be repeated often enough.

Thank you! I have been much appreciative of all the great advice and opinions here.

 

[DEPenguin]

Great advice. I found I didn't do well mapping my beard the first time.

I actually had my wife do it on a printed out diagram. I kept my eyes shut the whole time, different that what I originally thought, but she was right.

Be sure you show her that part, where it says "she was right." We all like to hear that once in a while ;^)

 

[DEPenguin]

Good advice on beard mapping and the effort pays in the long run.

Thanks, Invicta . . . and you are so right! Another nice shave this morning following my diagram.

 

[Tolswang]

Thanks for the great information.

 

[DEPenguin]

Thanks for the great information.

My pleasure Tolswang. Happy to give back to a community that has provided so much great info to me as i begin my DE journey.

 

[rockviper]

I once mapped my beard growth, but being a guy .......

 

[DEPenguin]

I once mapped my beard growth, but being a guy .......

View attachment 954136

LOL! Perhaps I should have seen that coming, huh?

 

[Esox]

Welcome to the forum!

Wise insight to your post. Mapping can make a difference in not only the closeness of the shave but also the comfort. It takes time to learn which directions to shave in at which point in a shave for the most comfort.

Heres a blank template for anyone that might like it. There are a few around Google.

 

[DEPenguin]

Welcome to the forum!

Wise insight to your post. Mapping can make a difference in not only the closeness of the shave but also the comfort. It takes time to learn which directions to shave in at which point in a shave for the most comfort.

Heres a blank template for anyone that might like it. There are a few around Google.

View attachment 954139

Thanks, Esox! Like many guys, when I started I had the I'll-figure-this-out mentality. Watched a bunch of shave videos, and more or less mimicked those shavers. I had read about mapping but being a guy I fell back on "I got this!" I finally realized I needed to set aside my stupidity when I kept tinkering with more than 3 passes and multiple touchups just to get to a DFS on my neck, let alone a BBS shave. A couple days of irritation was all the gentle persuasion I needed. The phone thing made perfect sense once it dawned on me.

 

[Esox]

Thanks, Esox! Like many guys, when I started I had the I'll-figure-this-out mentality. Watched a bunch of shave videos, and more or less mimicked those shavers. I had read about mapping but being a guy I fell back on "I got this!" I finally realized I needed to set aside my stupidity when I kept tinkering with more than 3 passes and multiple touchups just to get to a DFS on my neck, let alone a BBS shave. A couple days of irritation was all the gentle persuasion I needed. The phone thing made perfect sense once it dawned on me.

I started with a different view. I read all I could as quickly as I could and thought how I'd apply all that information to my own shaves. I took a very methodical approach to every aspect; Razors, blades, brushes and soaps. I saved a lot of money that way lol, but also a lot of time. I still learned by trial and error but I was making as educated a guess as I possibly could while learning from the single change whether that be razor, blade, brush or soap. I only changed one thing at a time and used it until I found shortcomings.

Learning and understanding the differences between all associated pieces involved in your shave takes time and patience. I guess it took me about a year to really grasp what worked the best for me and why. Rigid razor designs with little gap and generous blade exposure are, by far, the razors that give me my closest, smoothest and most comfortable shaves.

Blade choice is aguably the most personal aspect of them all. Its not always all about sharpness, its also about how a DE blade cuts through your own hairs composition because of the coatings and even the order in which they're applied to the blade. I found my top 5 blades from a group of around 30 different types.

Brushes and soaps less so, but finding the right soaps that agree with your skin the most has made a very large difference in my shaves.

Everyones perfect shave is out there, we just need to find it. Once you have, it makes all the time spent learning and all the trial and error worth it.

On a side note about the Piccolo. It will be considerably smaller than your Futur. Its built more like a race car compared to a street car if you know what I mean. The (Fatip) Piccolo Lovers’ Club: PLC has some very dedicated followers and for very good reason.

 

[Hardrock]

For some reason it took me a long time to get my strokes in the proper direction but once you do it is a large step forward.

 

[DEPenguin]

For some reason it took me a long time to get my strokes in the proper direction but once you do it is a large step forward.

I still find myself doing a lot of buffing with a new blade on the first pass--better safe than sorry. If everything goes well then I take much longer strokes on the second. I don't think any two shaves have been alike thus far, which is part of the fun.

 

[DEPenguin]

I started with a different view. I read all I could as quickly as I could and thought how I'd apply all that information to my own shaves. I took a very methodical approach to every aspect; Razors, blades, brushes and soaps. I saved a lot of money that way lol, but also a lot of time. I still learned by trial and error but I was making as educated a guess as I possibly could while learning from the single change whether that be razor, blade, brush or soap. I only changed one thing at a time and used it until I found shortcomings.

Learning and understanding the differences between all associated pieces involved in your shave takes time and patience. I guess it took me about a year to really grasp what worked the best for me and why. Rigid razor designs with little gap and generous blade exposure are, by far, the razors that give me my closest, smoothest and most comfortable shaves.

Blade choice is aguably the most personal aspect of them all. Its not always all about sharpness, its also about how a DE blade cuts through your own hairs composition because of the coatings and even the order in which they're applied to the blade. I found my top 5 blades from a group of around 30 different types.

Brushes and soaps less so, but finding the right soaps that agree with your skin the most has made a very large difference in my shaves.

Everyones perfect shave is out there, we just need to find it. Once you have, it makes all the time spent learning and all the trial and error worth it.

On a side note about the Piccolo. It will be considerably smaller than your Futur. Its built more like a race car compared to a street car if you know what I mean. The (Fatip) Piccolo Lovers’ Club: PLC has some very dedicated followers and for very good reason.

I don't have a Futur, rather a 38C. Really like it. Big step up from the Van Der Hagen my son got me started with. Don't have a Fatip, either, but read a lot about them. I suppose somewhere down the road I'll try one out.