The Hub

I am having a little trouble bending my first acoustic sides. The wood is a interlocked mahogany. I am hand bending on a temp controlled 2" curling iron. I have thicknessed the sides down to 1.9mm but still got some wrinkling and cracking trying to bend around the cutaway. I am trying to figure out how to improve this for the next attempt. I have read some conflicting information on how to do this though. Thus far my plan for the next attempt is to sand down to 1.5 mm but not sure if I should try a higher or lower heat. On the previous attempt I had a damp cloth mostly to prevent scorching. Not sure if I should have more or less moisture next time. Suggestions on how to proceed? Pictures below to show the grain and some of the wrinkling and splitting I was getting.