The grain I feel VS The grain I see

Some time ago I noticed the direction changed 'in mysterious ways' on some parts of my face. I just grew about 2 days worth of beard, in order to grasp a better understanding of grain direction.

I always shaved assuming there was only one grain, the one that my hands feel when I rub my fingers on my unshaven face. Imagine my surprise when I found out that there is another grain, the one I can see with my eyes! On some parts of my face, fingers and eyes happily agree - but on others, fingers say (e.g.) E-W when eyes tell me N-S.

So now which one is the correct one? What grain should I shave with or against?

The one you feel (at least it is for me).

Furex said:

Some time ago I noticed the direction changed 'in mysterious ways' on some parts of my face. I just grew about 2 days worth of beard, in order to grasp a better understanding of grain direction.

I always shaved assuming there was only one grain, the one that my hands feel when I rub my fingers on my unshaven face. Imagine my surprise when I found out that there is another grain, the one I can see with my eyes! On some parts of my face, fingers and eyes happily agree - but on others, fingers say (e.g.) E-W when eyes tell me N-S.

So now which one is the correct one? What grain should I shave with or against?

Click to expand...

Hi Furex,

To remove all doubt, buy a tripod and take pictures (in sections of your beard area. Including your neck. The whiskers there may grow in directions you never imagined.

Keep the pictures for posterity; and watch the quality of your shaves improve. (It's just my opinion.)

I actually took a couple of shots of my beautiful face to draw grain direction over them. Those were taken with the webcam so there's no hope to discern anything

OTOH you can take a look at the grain patterns on the right side of my face, they are sooooo interesting

Next time I decide to give my face some rest I might try the tripod trick!

It's crazy how the pattern goes, ain't it?

And I have the feeling that the picture do not reveal the full extent of grain direction - being drawn on a 2D representation of a 3D surface, the arrows can be a bit misleading at times, and act more as a reminder than as an accurate map.

The right side is the worst of the two, the number of direction changes being higher than on the left one. The visual inspection of the grain revealed much more information than I was used to get from my fingers alone. At the end of my reduction passes, the stubble left was much less than usual.

My advice then would be to use visual grain in addition to the tactile feelings. In the past I had heard of people doing weird things like the ones I did yesterday, and now I think I understand why.

OTOH everybody taking a look at a drawing like that should pretty realize pretty soon why many people struggle to get a clean shave on the jawline and the neck - not to mention the complexity of the surface you are trying to shave and the increased sensitivity of the skin in those areas which both make things harder.

Furex said:

many people struggle to get a clean shave on the jawline and the neck - not to mention the complexity of the surface you are trying to shave and the increased sensitivity of the skin in those areas which both make things harder.

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+1, but that is why it should be attacked in multiple passes.

Duggo said:

Hi Furex,

To remove all doubt, buy a tripod and take pictures (in sections of your beard area. Including your neck. The whiskers there may grow in directions you never imagined.

Keep the pictures for posterity; and watch the quality of your shaves improve. (It's just my opinion.)

Click to expand...

A cotton ball will provide the same info with a lot less trouble. Manually loosen up the cotton ball, and gently rub it against your beard in various places. The most residue will be left when going against the grain.