A lot of questions are raised on Badger & Blade. I'd like to know the answers to some of them, or at least gain some insight into the mechanisms to have a more in-depth dialog about things. There are plenty of things we take for granted, and other things we consider myths. Most of us accept the need to get water into the hair to make cutting easier but don't accept that 2 blades are better than one, yet both of these come from Gillette's research. How can we tell the difference between fact and myth?

The first step is to state the assumptions and start asking questions.

Hair

• How many hairs are in an average male beard?
• How many hairs are on the head?
• What's the average hair density of a beard?

True or false?

• The average American man spends about 33 days of his life removing facial hair.
• Dry beard hair, says an alarming Gillette fact sheet on shaving, is extremely abrasive and about as tough as copper wire of the same thickness.
• Human hair is in the 30-120 micron range (about 40AWG)
• The life of every strand of hair is approximately 7 years
• Every month the hair grows about 2mm
• Healthy hair is elastic and can be stretched to almost 25%.
• During summers and while we sleep the hair growth is faster
• Between the age of 16 and 24 hair growth in an individual is the fastest
• Cutting hair does not influence its growth

Water

• Warm water & lather will open up your skin's pores. After shaving splash with cold water to close the pores.
• Warm water and soap will clean the oils out of a pore and off the hair which in turn allows water to be more readily absorbed by the hair.
• When hair gets wet it swells. This makes it easier to cut, and the part of the hair that would otherwise be below the skin's surface swells upward. After shaving the hair dries and shrinks a bit. That results in the hair "retracting" under the skin.
• How does temperature affect things?

Soaps & Creams

• Why do we use soap or cream?
• What does soap and other chemicals do to hair?
• Does it soften, expand, or damage the hair cuticle?
• Does it soften, expand, or damage the skin?
• What effect does temperature have?
• What's so special about tallow?
• All canned goos are bad.

Lather

• Why do we make a lather?
• Does temperature affect lather?
• How do additives affect the lather, e.g. by changing the surface tension?
• What are the parameters of lather?
  • the relative quantities of soap, water, and air;
  • the size of air bubbles;
  • the composition of your water;
  • the addition of surfactants and other foam-affecting ingredients; and
  • the temperature of the lather.

Blades

• What makes a good blade?
• How do we measure the sharpness of a blade?
• How do we measure the durability of a blade?
• How do we measure the geometry of a blade?
• How do various coatings affect a blade
  • in terms of durability?
  • in terms of friction?
  • don't they make the surface rougher?
• How fast do blades oxidize and corrode, and what affects the rate of corrosion?
• How do blades get damaged by hair, skin, and shaving cream?

Occam's Razor

• To get a close shave, you need an aggressive razor.
• If you are getting irritation you are pressing too hard
• Once you have your technique perfected you can do as many passes as you want without getting irritation
• Flipping a blade in a DE will make it last longer
• You should never shave against the grain.
• Pressing down harder will give you a closer shave.
• There is no difference between double edge razors, what really matters is the blade.

Cutting

• What is the actual cutting mechanism for hair?
• Does hair bend when cut or not?
• How well do different cutting mechanisms work?
  • orthogonal cropping
  • guillotining
  • oblique cutting
• Is there an optimal slice-push ratio?
• What effect does velocity have on shaving?
  • forward velocity
  • side cutting

Friction

• How does friction work in shaving?
• What effect does water & shaving cream have?
  • Does wetness increase the contact area, and therefore increase adhesion friction, but lower surface roughness?
  • Does hydro planing play a role?
• What effect do blade coatings have?
• What specific friction effects come from the blade edge, undercutting, the back plane.

Brushing Away Those Myths

• A high end badger brush does better than a boar brush.
• You have to hang a shaving brush in a stand or it won't dry properly
• The action of applying the lather to the face with a brush "lifting" the facial hair.

Preparation & After-Shave

• Elaborate prep isn't required to get a good shave.
• You will get a better shave after showering.
• Never put alcohol on your face.

I'm So Special

• Tough beard/sensitive skin
• If you have poor skin (e.g. Acne, Rosecea, etc.) you can't use a Str8 or DE.
• Razor burn is normal....you'll get used to it and it will toughen up your face
• Shave more often because it will grow back darker and thicker.