Thread: shaving stroke

end of week 2 with one of these. tried shaving with a different stroke last night, drew some blood, but the shave was bbs, something i havent had yet. instead of just going against the grain and with the grain, i went against pulling the razor down, but also drawing it back in a slicing motion at the same time. is that the correct stroke, or just dangerous. should probably get lynns cd, but i like doing things the hard ways sometimes. ive seen some posts with angling the blade, but not sliding it back during the stroke, other than this, i havent seen a way to get the stroke direction correct under tha beard for smoothness. am i seeing the light, or just slitting my throat

I've been shaving with str8s for 6 months , and am still a noob so I could be wrong , but this doesn't seem like something I would do . I think "sliceing motion" are the key words .

I would avoid any motions that slide the blade parallel across your skin; that's how cuts happen. It's more than easily possible to attain a bbs shave going perpendicular, but it takes time to get the motions right. Some hair is just plain stubborn when it comes to shaving with a straight, but those are the hairs you need to learn. The neck hair is really notorious for growing oddly on some people. Maybe if you describe how this hair grows (sideways, down, swirls, etc.) someone can give you feedback on how to best shave it.

Are you getting a bbs shave on your cheeks without the "slicing motions"?

the neck hair grows somewhat up, but at an angle from the adams apple toward the ears. if i start at the beard line and cut down its against the grain, but at 45 degrees against the grain. pulling down and slicing as close to the 45 degrees as i can get gave me the bbs, seems impossible to get the blade into that contour going from the ear lobe to the adams apple following the lower beard line. pretty hard to explain. cheeks above beard bbs, top of mustache edge not and im leaving that for everyother day right now, that area seems to be sensitive to a little razor burn if done too often.

If it grows like how I'm picturing, up from the center of your neck to your ear, or if your neck were a clock it would grow like a 2:00 or 10:00. Right? Have you tried turning your head to the side (enough to where you can still look in the mirror) and shaving it against the grain that way?

A slight curve in the stroke motion may be dangerous but is used by some advanced shavers, in some spots - with good results. Sure - if you are not careful you may slice yourself

I think it's the same as J-hook or whatever it's called in DE advanced technique, but I am not a DE guy so may be wrong

Cheers
Ivo

A scything motion is how I think it was described. Imagine a ) stroke [instead of a straight | stroke], where the razor pivots at the heel , the toe sweeping across the neck.

ill try that curving motion this weekend, atleast it will give me some time to heal before going back to work on monday if things dont work.

As long as the speed of the blade perpendicular to the edge is quicker than the lateral speed you're in little danger of slicing yourself with a scything motion.

James.

I think what you are referring to is the scything motion, and it really helps achieve a close shave without going against the grain.
Go the library, and then permanent archive, and then shaving, and then scything motion for a demo.
Ron