Thread: Struggling to move forward

Im a newbie when it comes to straight razor shaving and my best guess is i have used a straight for roughly 30 times now.

Some areas go pretty well, and some don't go that well.

Some were expected (chin) but there is 1 part that keeps bothering me. Its the jawline on the right side of my face. And a part *higher part of my neck?*

Here iis a picture to kinda show what area i mean:



To be clear. I am right handed and use my right hand when doing X/W the grain (downward) and my left hand going upward.

This part however is not even close to being smooth most of the time. Of course im a beginner so i don't mind but i was wondering on how to improve here.

Should i just keep on shaving and shaving and will it go better/smoother as i go? Or should i try vary something technique/hand/angle.

One of the reasons it bothers me is because especially the neck part is really easy to stretch. Is that really just because im a beginner and my left hand is so much worse than my right? (Second pass A/Xtg)

Hard to say what the problem is but I guess it depends on your beard growth.

In that area my beard grows sideways, towards my ears. I do a pass upwards and then a pass downwards, which is two XTG passes for me and gets my neck very smooth. Stretching is a great technique for the neck.

Originally Posted by Ryan82

Hard to say what the problem is but I guess it depends on your beard growth.

In that area my beard grows sideways, towards my ears. I do a pass upwards and then a pass downwards, which is two XTG passes for me and gets my neck very smooth. Stretching is a great technique for the neck.

It grows downward with an angle (tried to place the arrows in the correct way).

Just like you say. Stretching is easy there that's one of the reasons im not sure why it wont get smooth. Maybe really because its my left instead of my right hand?

Honestly... relax. In the grand scheme of things, you've just started! Keep on shaving and enjoying it vs obsessing. You'll be amazed at how it just comes together all of a sudden!

That's by no means ment to be harsh. The founder of this site always signs off with, "Have fun.". You know what... After all this time, I think it finally hit me how important that really is. When I saw it - everything started working. Weird .

Have fun!! It'll come!

+1 to David's advice above. It's easy to get a bit obsessive about these things, but odds are one day you'll just notice that that ares really isn't an issue any more.

You mentioned stretching, which is obviously good. Other aspects to play around with could include varying both the angle at which you hold the blade, and the direction of your stroke. Have you tried going diagonally either with or against the grain?

But hang in there, keep trying, and by all means enjoy the ride. It will get better!

Originally Posted by Cangooner

+1 to David's advice above. It's easy to get a bit obsessive about these things, but odds are one day you'll just notice that that ares really isn't an issue any more.

You mentioned stretching, which is obviously good. Other aspects to play around with could include varying both the angle at which you hold the blade, and the direction of your stroke. Have you tried going diagonally either with or against the grain?

But hang in there, keep trying, and by all means enjoy the ride. It will get better!

Thanks for the advices. Was not really obsessing but just wondering what the best course of action was. Either try hard to improve or just keep going and see when i will get it smooth.

I will just continue and as u guys say, it will come together some time then


I might indeed try to vary the angle and direction. Will try this out next shave. Thanks again guys.

OP. I struggled with the exact same spot and if for some reason I miss a BBS by a hair (get it?) it is usually in this exact same spot. For the most part I get it smooth every time now. A couple things that have helped me and may help you. First, I come downward (with my right hand) at a slight inward angle toward my Adam's apple or middle of base of neck. Instead of straight down. Not much of an angle. Same thing going up (with my left) I angle just a bit in toward my chin. Not much. Just a bit. The other thing I have found helpful is manipulating my skin to get that "hollow" spot flat so the blade can get it close. The last thing is on my last pass I increase my blade angle (after significant beard reduction) to around 30 degrees. Most of the time with these techniques and if course pulling the skin tight I get it BBS!

Hope this helps.

I have to agree with the relax and enjoy your shave. At the same time it took me a while to get close in those areas. One of the things that I do is a pass from the corner of my jaw to my chin, which winds up being not quite an against the grain pass for me along and under my jaw line. For my neck I do a diagonal pass which again is almost but not quite against, this combined with some skin stretching does it for me most of the time. I don't get perfect on my neck all the time, about 50-60%. I could do it all the time but there is a rash risk for me in that area. I would rather a little bit that can be felt and not seen than a rash.

Originally Posted by toroo

To be clear. I am right handed and use my right hand when doing X/W the grain (downward) and my left hand going upward.

Hello Toroo! Congratulations on getting the shave down to a tee.

Thank you as well for posting this thread. I have a very similar zone where that area has very swirly hair on the left neck, and I find it v difficult to get smooth, as RezDog says, without rash. Up to now I have just settled for no rash and not quite smooth, but your posting made me try some different things to see if I could improve, so thanks for starting up the thread. This post is a bit redundant now that you are sorted but I thought I would share anyway.
Just now, I shaved WTG as per normal R hand to R neck, L to L. I then shaved the cheeks XTG and pulled the upper part of the neck skin up onto the cheek to continue XTG. This is where I made a change. I then shaved my neck against the grain BUT I used the R hand to the R neck and L to left neck. I then finished with an against the grain on face and neck exactly as you describe. The result was v v v smooth. There was neck redness and tenderness, but I am attributing this to a heavy hand on the new manoeuvres, which felt decidedly alien. However, there was no focal area of redness and "pimpling (?)" of the skin that I can get if I chase that area too hard normally.
In summary. Thanks for making me try something new.
I've posted a video below that I used when looking for new ways of attacking this area. My shaving method is NOT like his, but the part at 6:20 in the video illustrates the stroke for that side of the neck.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIM0Coix6Gg#t=385

Originally Posted by Damo

Hello Toroo! Congratulations on getting the shave down to a tee.

Thank you as well for posting this thread. I have a very similar zone where that area has very swirly hair on the left neck, and I find it v difficult to get smooth, as RezDog says, without rash. Up to now I have just settled for no rash and not quite smooth, but your posting made me try some different things to see if I could improve, so thanks for starting up the thread. This post is a bit redundant now that you are sorted but I thought I would share anyway.
Just now, I shaved WTG as per normal R hand to R neck, L to L. I then shaved the cheeks XTG and pulled the upper part of the neck skin up onto the cheek to continue XTG. This is where I made a change. I then shaved my neck against the grain BUT I used the R hand to the R neck and L to left neck. I then finished with an against the grain on face and neck exactly as you describe. The result was v v v smooth. There was neck redness and tenderness, but I am attributing this to a heavy hand on the new manoeuvres, which felt decidedly alien. However, there was no focal area of redness and "pimpling (?)" of the skin that I can get if I chase that area too hard normally.
In summary. Thanks for making me try something new.
I've posted a video below that I used when looking for new ways of attacking this area. My shaving method is NOT like his, but the part at 6:20 in the video illustrates the stroke for that side of the neck.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIM0Coix6Gg#t=385

Not completely sorted though. I mean the shave was smooth in that area. But the way i had to hold the blade was kinda weird and not with the hand i want too.

So even though i did manage to find a good angle to use i still need to learn to hold in in the correct hand and getting consistent results (this was 1 shave).

Keep on trying because so will I!.

As someone said before, the struggle for a flawless smooth neck-jawline might be endless

edit: watched your video, thats quite similar to that i am doing (around 6:20) just with the wrong hand so its not completely comfortable