Stretching the skin... a ? for glasses wearers

Hey, all. I've been lurking and reading, and lurking some more. I'm about to get a starter kit (put together from different stuff and folks on here) for a valentine's/b-day gift from my fiance. I've been fiddling with shaving in front of the mirror again, as I normally shave in the shower with a Fusion--cuz if three blades is better than two, five should rock my world...or not.

Anyway. I wear glasses, and in order to stretch my face out properly, I always end up mushing my eye closed and skewing my frames so that I can barely see. Any ideas about getting around this would be helpful. I'm sure there's a way, I just haven't figured it out yet.

oh, and I'm gonna put a WTB and look in the FS section to pick out something reasonable to start with.

Thanks

Dave

Which part of your face are you trying to stretch? I shave with my glasses on, so I know it's difficult at first. The key for me was to sort of cup my hand around the arm part of my glasses and grab the bottom of my burns. It provides enough room to stretch without messing up my glasses.

Another thing you might try is creative stretching. I like to pull my skin tight from above, shave near my jaw, then stretch from the spot I just shaved. It keeps things really tight and lets me shave the upper portions easily.

Last but not least, you might try learning without your glasses. There's a bit that you're not going to be able to see anyway, so you'll have to get comfortable. It is possible to get a decent shave without even a mirror. Just take things slow and easy and I'm sure you'll be fine.

Oh, and welcome to SRP!

I just cheat and put in my contacts most of the time but it is possible to get a good stretch with them on.

You can get a pretty good stretch for the cheek area by pulling down on your neck. For the sideburn area push up from the area just above your temple. The rest of your face should not give you too much trouble. Give it some time you will get over the initial akwardness.

It helps to experiment and try different approaches. I know most older barbers are more then willing to show you how.

I shave without my glasses.
I found it real difficult to work around them. The other down side is risking a nicked blade if accidentally hit the frames or a scratched plastic lense.

I found out that if i take it slow and paid attention to what I was doing I got the shaving done successfully with out donating blood. It gets easier very day, every month.
Robert

Both my eyes are over -4 diopters, I shave without my glasses on.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jimmy jawn

I just cheat and put in my contacts most of the time but it is possible to get a good stretch with them on.

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+1 for this method. Although I can see how the cupped hand over the legs would work.

Try reaching over your head with the hand opposite the cheek you're trying to stretch and pulling from just above and in front of your ear. I can get my whole cheek this way, then I dry it off and stretch from about the middle of it to get around my jawline under my ear. It's been working well so far, although to be fair my cheeks have a really light beard, it isn't hard to shave.

I'm about -5 diopters in each eye (20/550). I got a lighted wall-mount mirror about 8" diameter and 10X magnification. Just pull it out on the swing-out arm and get it right in front of my face. Works fine.

-5.5 here. I'll probably get one of those mirrors, too. Seems like a good idea. I just couldn't decide if I was gonna cross the metro-sexual and uber-manly worlds with a magnifying mirror and a str8 razor...

I should be picking stuff up in the next week or two either way.

I had to get a different RX for computer use. These work well for shaving with a regular mirror. When the frame causes an issue with ATG I use more of a diagonal stroke.

Facial yoga helps, too. I don't wear glasses except for readers but learning to move your chin and jaw and neck to accomodate the stretching with less use of the hands should be helpful.

I don't hav sideburns. So I carefully shave from the bow of my glasses down an inch in front of my ear with no stretching. Then I pull up from just above my glasses bow be reaching over my head and shave another inch. This allows me to then move down to below my glasses bow and strech normally for the rest of my face.

That first inch up by my hairline with no strech isn't ever very smooth on the first pass when compared to the patch below it wher I can strech. I make it up, though, on my second pass where I go across the grain. Here the glasses don't get in the way and I even things out. I wouldn't recommend skipping that first little cut though, it does reduce the beard and ity keeps your sideburns cut straight.