Cut the follicle? Hopefully not. (the hair follicle is the "underground" pouch-like structure where the root of the hair is.)Jonnieboy61 wrote:Murray +1
Just to add to this, my theory is that if you use a 2 pass shave WTG & ATG then the hair folicle should be cut evenly each side leaving a point in the centre of the hair thus allowing easy passage through the skin. But with a single pass the tug and cut action leaves a sharp point to one side of the hair which increases the likelyhood of it snagging and the innevitable ingrowns.
As I said this is just theory IMO
Any thoughts?
I kind of like your theory, but I think it sounds too complicated.
Scraping and cutting the skin is the major problem. Undamaged skin doesn't get razor bumps much, even with a poor shave.
But once you get damage to the skin, then what kind of whiskers are left seems to become important. A nice clean well-executed shave tends to be OK, if you can manage it in the first place. Long whiskers (i.e. wearing a beard) is not a problem. It's the bad/stubbly/patchy shave that turns out the worst, perhaps because the stubble left standing is just the right length to cause further problems - or maybe just because a poor shave tends to go hand in hand with excessive skin damage.
Anecdotal non-evidence: I think my experiences with razor bumps have all occurred when I felt the hair being pulled a lot while I shaved.
Irregular hair growth patterns (e.g. swirls, sudden changes of grain direction, hairs that lie flat rather than sticking up) and curly hair probably lead to more hair-pulls per shave for people who have those characteristics. Could be a coincidence, or not.