Thread: Trouble with chin area...

I am having fairly good results with my Bluebeards Revenge shavette...I get a reasonably good shave with only a few weepers. Cheeks and neck are fine. I am however finding my chin to be my problem area. I have a mustachio and so I don't have to worry too much about my upper lip as a problem area. But the chin...I just can't seem to get the hang of it. Even with my DE I often get weepers on my chin.

Other "go slow, good prep, practice practice and more practice"...do you have any advice for how to shave a chin with a SR?

The chin was the hardest spot for me to learn and took a good three months before I could get it really smooth. From where some people have a dimple down, I do one pass WTG, two passes XTG (from cheek to center) and one ATG with very short strokes and a very good edge.

You'll just have to keep trying different methods until you find what works best for you but normally that is the toughest beard and a hard area to get your skin stretching done, which normally has to be done with facial contortions.

Keep practicing, you'll get it.

Unfortunately most of the issue will lie in your last sentence. One other thing that really helped that area for me is to not worry much about the wtg stroke, which for me is less than close. I get most of the closeness from the xtg pass. I rub the tips of my fingers on my styptic pencil so they grip the skin and pull towards my ear while using an ear to nose stroke leading with the heal. Sounds super complicated on paper but with a try or two I got it with little blood loss.

A lot of shaving with a straight, and a de, I'm finding has a lot to do with being willing to try different things. If I kept shaving the way I had started I would have gone back to a beard.

Keep at it. You'll get more familiar with your face and beard direction and find better ways to get your problem areas.

Originally Posted by jfk742

Unfortunately most of the issue will lie in your last sentence. One other thing that really helped that area for me is to not worry much about the wtg stroke, which for me is less than close. I get most of the closeness from the xtg pass. I rub the tips of my fingers on my styptic pencil so they grip the skin and pull towards my ear while using an ear to nose stroke leading with the heal. Sounds super complicated on paper but with a try or two I got it with little blood loss.

A lot of shaving with a straight, and a de, I'm finding has a lot to do with being willing to try different things. If I kept shaving the way I had started I would have gone back to a beard.

Keep at it. You'll get more familiar with your face and beard direction and find better ways to get your problem areas.

Thanks...you got me thinking....and I believe you are right...I generally feel I have to use WTG for all aspects of my face...when maybe on my chin I need to come at it with a completely different approach...maybe XTG or ATG...or a combination...something other than WTG. good idea! I will give that a try.

I,ll say this , the advise given about stretching will do more for your shave to keep down on the blood, tight skin doesn't shift and bunch up so the blade can glide over taking only the whiskers. I too used my alum block for traction in stretching the skin, makes for a smooth shave , when I use a disposable blade straight(feather rg) with feather pro blades, I've never corked and get a smooth shave , and I change every shave , So give the stretching a try might be what you need, I know I thought I was stretching right till I learned I wasn't. Tc

Originally Posted by tcrideshd

I,ll say this , the advise given about stretching will do more for your shave to keep down on the blood, tight skin doesn't shift and bunch up so the blade can glide over taking only the whiskers. I too used my alum block for traction in stretching the skin, makes for a smooth shave , when I use a disposable blade straight(feather rg) with feather pro blades, I've never corked and get a smooth shave , and I change every shave , So give the stretching a try might be what you need, I know I thought I was stretching right till I learned I wasn't. Tc

Yes...I tried to do this more with my shave this morning and I think that was one of the reasons why I kept the bloodshed to a minimum. Good advice...thanks! I just need to practice stretching in the chin area...

Another thing about stretching: try to use it as a way of _extending_ the "flat planes" adjacent to the chin. So, if you can "extend" the lower cheek and the jawline ever closer to the chin, you have less "chin" to worry about. Same with the under-chin plane, the under-lip plane, or whatever. Keep making these manageable areas "larger" through stretching, and reducing the size of the troublesome chin area.

If you have a baseball or tennis ball hanging around the house, grab one and go through the motion of shaving around the ball but do not touch the razor on it. This motion will serve you well in learning to shave around your chin. Practice a few times and visualize your chin in place of the ball. It is really about learning to maintain the cutting angle while shaving the chin in a light fluid motion.

Good Luck.

I've always found short, buffing style strokes with the razor around the chin area does the job.