Thread: Skinny Shaver

Ok, so here's the scoop. I'm a thin guy, and as a result, I have a very defined jawline and Adam's apple. I've seen plenty of videos on here for shaving but most of the ones I've watched are of average or larger guys. They have it easy since they can start from the sideburns and go straight down to the bottom of the neck. So what I'm asking for is some tips or videos made for the skinny guy. Thanks in advance.

I'm a skinny guy with a sharp jawline and neck crevices. Stretching the skin well can create a lot of flat surfaces. For example, I stretch way up from the cheekbone, and that brings a lot of that under-the-jawline real estate up into those flat sideburn-and-cheek shaving strokes. Creating flat surfaces around the Adam's apple is more of a challenge, but we all find ways (for example, I'll use my thumb and index finger, separated from each other and both at the bottom of the neck, to pull downward and outward, as if I were stretching out a tarp). When sitting and watching TV or whatever, use one index finger, held straight, as a "pretend razor," and stretch with the other hand, playing with angles and the directions of hair growth. Pull the window blinds first, of course.

(Re: your sig, I'm also a 1st-degree Black Belt: traditional TKD. If I can recover from holidays-induced weakness, I'll test for 2nd-dan in the spring! Welcome again.)

Thanks for the tips, I'll try the neck stretching before my next shave. I can pretty much go from left to right and right to left with no problem on my neck, but anything else is a pain lol.

I have much the same problems. The skin wrapping under my jaw from the cheek area actually curves around the bone and goes back up toward my tongue. I tried small strokes following the curve but stretching both upwards and downwards is the only effective way to deal with it. My Adam's apple isn't very large but has something of a point on it that I have to contort the skin from to shave over. I'm glad somebody else finds the instructional videos by guys who can run the razor from their eye to their color bone with little change in blade angle .... amusing.

Like the OP and Hart both say, I have a moment of wistful envy every time I see one of our more fully-fleshed brethren lift their chin and, without even having to use the other hand to stretch, shave long rows like you'd run the mower up and down the parkway.

One thing I've learned recently is that, since my shaves are more about small areas carefully discerned, I tend to scrape over and over at one area during a single shaving pass as I try to "learn that bit of real estate." This is almost unconscious, and results in some pretty bad razor burn on my neck. My mantras lately are "comfort before closeness" (it's okay if I can still feel those weird hairs around my Adam's apple, I'll learn to get them eventually) and "just take the lather" (once I've removed lather from a patch of skin, that's it for that pass).

While I don't have have that bad of an issue, but a smiling blade may help alleviate some of those concerns.

Can you buy a smiling blade or is that something that I would have to have a honemeister do for me?

You can buy a vintage one off of the classifieds here on SRP. It's where I got my first straight and woud recommend it to anyone looking. Stropping just like a straight blade. Honing requires a touch more skill, but that is a whole nother skill set.

Depending on your price point, here are a few listed as of now Here, here. Keep your eye open, shuoldn't be to hard to find one that tickles you fancy.

Originally Posted by deepweeds

I have a moment of wistful envy every time I see one of our more fully-fleshed brethren lift their chin and, without even having to use the other hand to stretch, shave long rows like you'd run the mower up and down the parkway.

Finally an advantage to being a "fully-fleshed brethren". Thank you deepweeds. I've been looking for something to replace "Senior Member" above my avatar. I now have it.