Beard has adapted

My beard no longer softens in the least to any treatment.

I mean, the friggin' thing has actually adapted to my chemical and thermal abuse of the beard. It now pings the straight razor even with AoS cream (KoH containing) and Proraso pre-shave and hot water (the hot water ALWAYS softens the beard).

Hair should not do this. It's not supposed to get resistant and stronger. Now what? A 200k hone and a really freaking sharp edge?

I'd think any good edge and proper technique should do it. I've never heard of beards growing tougher, and the concept doesn't make any more sense to me than the notion that shaving body hair will cause it to grow back thicker/faster.

holli4pirating said:

I'd think any good edge and proper technique should do it. I've never heard of beards growing tougher, and the concept doesn't make any more sense to me than the notion that shaving body hair will cause it to grow back thicker/faster.

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Yes that is a common misconception. It's "thicker" because the tip is cut, so it's not soft like it was. That's the only difference.

My beard should not become resistant because of abuse. The results I'm now getting are annoying and confusing.

holli4pirating said:

I'd think any good edge and proper technique should do it. I've never heard of beards growing tougher, and the concept doesn't make any more sense to me than the notion that shaving body hair will cause it to grow back thicker/faster.

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If your beard isn't softening, you need to work on your prep and lather.

THEY HAVE ADAPTED!

resistant to **any** treatment? What have you tried?

You might get a better response if you can get a mod to move this thread to the shave clinic.... but here's my two cents...

I really don't know because I don't make a point to compare, but I think I have a pretty "tough", course beard hair, and somewhat sensitive skin. If I don't get my beard soft before I start cutting hairs, its gonna be a rough shave. It seems to me that pre-shave prep consists of two aspects, preparing the skin, and preparing the hair. When my skin is properly hydrated and oiled (either naturally or enhanced) it seems to be more resilient to the trauma of the blade (I need a sharp blade to cut that thick, stiff hair). When my beard hair is soft, it seems to cut more easily.

With regards to the question, I haven't tried the all pre-shave preps out there by any means, but I have tried a good few. Kyle's prep, pre-shave oils, other oils (the DIY pre-shave oils, e.g. olive oil, almond oil, grapeseed oil, etc.), other pre/post-shave products. What I have found to work the best at softening beard hair for me, not surprisingly since that's what they're made to do, is a softening hair conditioner when I'm in the shower (stay away from any conditioners that say "shine", "strengthening", or anything that would lead you to believe it does anything other than soften hair). I have found that just plain old suave is hard to beat on price, and while it doesn't explicitly say it is softening, that's all its ever done for me (this is anecdotal, consult your local chemist for efficacy of chemical makeup). Also, suave makes a "humectant" hair conditioner that works too, and isn't too expensive.

My shower routine goes something like this:
1. wash hair
2. apply a large amount of hair conditioner to beard area, when completely and well covered, apply the rest to head hair
3. let the conditioner sit on my face and head
4. lather up the rest of my body with soap and wash everything else
5. turn the heat up on the water, saturate a wash cloth (preferrably a clean one, and DEFINITELY not the one you just washed with) with really hot water and apply over the top of the conditioner on your beard area (don't remove the conditioner or get it wet while washing everything else, let it soak in). This is a psuedo-kyle's-prep using conditioner instead of lather. Consistently stick your face with the washcloth back into the really hot water every 10-30 seconds to keep it nice and hot. Do this for anwhere between 3-5 minutes. The combination of chemcial softening and really hot water seems to work really well.
6. If I'm feeling like my skin needs some more moisturizing or oils, I'll apply 3-5 drops of one of my many oils and repeat step 5 with the oil instead of the conditioner. Otherwise, I'll skip this.
7. get out of the shower, but don't dry my face. Shave as normal.

Also, I mentioned I have sensitive skin, but it's also very dry skin. I wash my face with water and apply glycerin every night before bead to make sure my skin is still moisturized to good degree when I wake up to shower and shave. So, sometimes the oil treatment is unnecessary.

YMMV and all that, but this is what's working for me right now. You can give it a shot. I'd be interested to hear if this works for anyone else.

- Jason

It may simply be resistant to a blade that is not as sharp as it was X shaves ago.....?

I am a total noobie and in no position to offer advice, but perhaps you could send your razor out to a honemeister and see if your beard reacts differently.

PaulL said:

I am a total noobie and in no position to offer advice, but perhaps you could send your razor out to a honemeister and see if your beard reacts differently.

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I honed it myself. I think I want something a bit coarser than the Norton 4000, to bring more metal off the edge and refine it a bit; and also my Chinese 12k to get here, to give that last bit of polish and refinement to the edge. That said, I've pretty much reground the blade using just the Norton 4000 (damaged it so had to completely recreate the bevel).

It only makes much difference when I come down to the final ATG passes, where the blade can bite at the hair but it just makes velcro noises and pings against the razor. I've had the same trouble with DE blades.

A much, much sharper blade is a starting point. Even if the hair resists, if that edge bites in it's going to cut. I'm still annoyed that I can't get it to soften up anymore though, and can't understand why. Change in composition of oils on my face seems more plausible than a direct change in hair composition.

You are shaving off a 4K hone?

Aquanin said:

You are shaving off a 4K hone?

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No, 8k. I tapped the tip of my razor against the sink and put a dent across the entire depth of the bevel; so I had to hone it on my Norton 4k until the dent turned into a chip halfway through the blade edge, then a tiny nick in the blade edge, then nothing at all. It took hours!

It popped arm hair pretty well though o_o

So then I took it at the 8k for a little while; stroped; and went back to shaving with it, this time without banging the blade against random crap in my bathroom.

I would get it to someone who has honed razors before. Then you will know what an edge should feel like.

Aquanin said:

I would get it to someone who has honed razors before. Then you will know what an edge should feel like.

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I've had it honed once already. I might buy another one in a couple months, not sure yet; but it'll come shave ready. Maybe a Gold Dollar + Filly Strop combo from KenRup.

It's notable that DE razors don't have any better luck.

bluefoxicy said:

I've had it honed once already. I might buy another one in a couple months, not sure yet; but it'll come shave ready. Maybe a Gold Dollar + Filly Strop combo from KenRup.

It's notable that DE razors don't have any better luck.

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Have DE razors never had better luck?

This to me sounds like a result of the honing. Your honing might not be as good as the first person who honed it. That's not a diss to you, cause my honing still kinda sucks too. Also, I'd guess that the razor you originally had was off something higher than an 8k, so all this will affect how the shave feels.
If you started having this issue right after you honed your razor, or a little while into using the razor, and if it's always been around with DEs, I'd guess that it's a result of the honing.

Now if DEs are really giving you a lot of trouble and have been since forever, you may also have to work on your prep. Or get a sharper DE blade. Once I got better with DEs, I never experienced any dragging feeling with them. I used feathers mostly, so that may be one reason. Derbys always dragged for me...

heirkb said:

Have DE razors never had better luck?

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http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=119069