Thread: Around lips and chin

I know I’ve peppered the board with questions and I’m thankful for everyone’s patience. I’m about 60 shaves into Straight Razor shaving and I think I’m doing okay. I still get more nicks or cuts on my chin, upper lip, and corners of mouth than I’d like. I’m not nicking myself anywhere else. Any suggestions as to why would be greatly appreciated

Originally Posted by alschepis

I know I’ve peppered the board with questions and I’m thankful for everyone’s patience. I’m about 60 shaves into Straight Razor shaving and I think I’m doing okay. I still get more nicks or cuts on my chin, upper lip, and corners of mouth than I’d like. I’m not nicking myself anywhere else. Any suggestions as to why would be greatly appreciated

my advice would be to make sure you're hyper vigilant about the angle of your blade around those areas. most of my cuts around those areas have been because i'm treating those curvy parts like a flat plane, and that just isnt the case. small, small strokes with no pressure..

It is extremely important to stretch the skin in this area. Short light strokes. You can tighten muscles or use your tongue to stretch the skin. You need to experiment with the angle.
After almost 30 years some days I get those little weepers.

Take your time, hyper focus, stretch the skin, NO PRESSURE, practice-practice-practice.

The area around the mouth is definitely the most challenging for me but I do enjoy the reward when done properly.

I shave between the moustache on my upper lip and my nose. Two passes, up to down and then down to up. The ONLY thing that helps me is to have the upper lip slick as snot. With a very sharp razor I can consistently achieve bbs smooth shaves in this small area. Go slow, be confident, short strokes, be patient. This isn't brain surgery.

Down to up on your upper lip?Wow the "Dead Man's Pass". I admire you. You've got way more guts than I have. I'm committed to keeping my nose

In those areas, a good shave requires doing the same techniques as the rest of the face, but on a far smaller scale. Usually cuts occur when you rest the blade on your skin. I think of the motion of the razor as a circle. When the blade is applied to the skin, it should already be in motion. Before it is lifted off the skin, it should still be in motion. Done repeatedly, this forms a circular motion. This is easy to do on large flat areas, but small angular, or round areas are more challenging.

Originally Posted by alschepis

I know I’ve peppered the board with questions and I’m thankful for everyone’s patience. I’m about 60 shaves into Straight Razor shaving and I think I’m doing okay. I still get more nicks or cuts on my chin, upper lip, and corners of mouth than I’d like. I’m not nicking myself anywhere else. Any suggestions as to why would be greatly appreciated

For your upper lip, under your nose, put the sr at a 90° angle than lower the spine tward your nose, and make a downward pass. (Remember resuction, not removal)
Fir your chin , as you round your chin, it will look as if your angke is getting steeper, but don't fear thats musslw memory keeping tour 20° angel

Usually when I get myself it's a combination of needing to re-strop and impatience. I make a couple of passes with no joy and instead of taking a second to check on my blade or angle I just get a little more aggressive and then I get a little red line.

This exacerbates itself by having the line then become a sticking point on the next shave. That's my experience, anyway.

Originally Posted by shenanigans

Usually when I get myself it's a combination of needing to re-strop and impatience. I make a couple of passes with no joy and instead of taking a second to check on my blade or angle I just get a little more aggressive and then I get a little red line.

This exacerbates itself by having the line then become a sticking point on the next shave. That's my experience, anyway.

Get an alum block to treat your nicks between passes