Thread: Shaving with a straight question?

So several months ago I started shaving with a DE. I like it a lot more than my ol' mach 3.

However, on my neck, the hair grows in sideways. If a centerline went right down my face, some of the hair on the left side grows directly left, on the right side it grows directly right.

I absolutely must do 'east-to-west' and 'west-to-east' passes to get a real nice, close shave. The blade on a DE is too long for me to effectively do those east-to-west and west-to-east passes, so I was never able to completely give up the mach 3, which has a much shorter blade allowing me to really get close on the neck.


I haven't started shaving with a straight but I've gotten interested in it. Does anyone here do east-west, west-east passes on the neck? How hard is it?

Unfortunately this is a problem area for a lot of people. I hightly doubt you are going to be able to do an E-W or W-E pass. i generally shave in 3 passes with the grain (WTG) against the grain (ATG) and across the grain (XTG) but the neck is tricky.
the third pass on the neck for me is close to a second ATG except that i use a leading heel and angle about 30 degrees off from a true ATG this pretty much gets everything but in time you will develop your own technique, do expect perfections for a month or two. it might come quicker but there is always a learning curve. Most people here are still experimenting with their shave technique or so it seems. everyone's face is different.

I use skin stretching to stand the hair up and a diagonal pass to get a close shave on my neck. I have found that it is very difficult to do a horizontal pass on the neck with a straight razor (even harder than with a DE); however, this does not mean that you cannot get a smooth shave in this area.

Originally Posted by heavydutysg135

I use skin stretching to stand the hair up and a diagonal pass to get a close shave on my neck. I have found that it is very difficult to do a horizontal pass on the neck with a straight razor (even harder than with a DE); however, this does not mean that you cannot get a smooth shave in this area.

Are straights really that good?


I can do straight up and straight down passes with my DE and mach 3 all day long and I'll never get a really close shave on my neck... like I said, with those 2 kinds of razors at least, it is absolutely necessary to do east-west/west-east passes for a real close shave. Diagonal passes just don't cut it for me.

You can go diagonally against the grain going N-S, then go diagonally against the grain going S-N. With proper skin stretching, a proper blade angle, and a properly honed razor this technique will get your neck very smooth in my experience.

I knew the rumours of your demise were exagerated.

Look for a nice 'smiling' or convex curved blade. I find they do a great job at getting into those valleys in my neck. I have the same growth pattern on my neck that you do, but mine's very light and sparse. Doesn't stop me from wanting the closest shave I can get there.

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