Thread: A fantastic shave. Almost.

I'm 4 shaves into straight razor shaving, and really enjoying it. I have a lot of control over how close I can shave, and how long it takes.

I wear a narrow beard, not one of those line beards, but I keep it narrow and trimmed.

I have a VERY full, and VERY coarse beard if I let it grow out. Think Grizzly Adams.

My razor is a shave ready Henkel that I purchased here. It passes the HHT with flying colors and provides a perfect shave everywhere from my adam's apple up, so the problem is NOT the razor.

What I'm having trouble with, is shaving the sides of my neck, lower than my adam's apple. I hope that makes sense. I just feel like I'm turning my neck into hamburger, and it stays red for hours after a shave.

What get's me is that I don't have trouble anywhere else. I can get my cheeks BBS with little to no irritation, and I can get the rest of my neck almost as smooth with also, very little irritation. (less than my mach 3 causes)

I know this is a technique issue, and I'm hoping somebody has some pearl of wisdom for me on the subject.

I'm glad you're having good success so far Those Henckels are really smooth shavers.

I'd say the cause for irritation is almost always too much pressure. If the angle isn't quite there you are probably pressing too hard to force the cutting. It's also easier to keep correct angle on the cheeks, that's why most of us find the neck and the chin more problematic.

Notice the difference on the easy parts - with this hollowness you'll have a very good feedback, but you would notice that while you can feel the whiskers being cut they are not being pulled.

What I can suggest is just pay attention to the angle, skin stretching and the pressure. A little stubble is better than a little irritation
It also may be good to give your neck a bit of a rest if possible. Then go for comfort not closeness, as you get more used to the process the closeness will come.

I'm sure others will come with more advice.

Originally Posted by gugi

I'm glad you're having good success so far Those Henckels are really smooth shavers.

I'd say the cause for irritation is almost always too much pressure. If the angle isn't quite there you are probably pressing too hard to force the cutting. It's also easier to keep correct angle on the cheeks, that's why most of us find the neck and the chin more problematic.

Notice the difference on the easy parts - with this hollowness you'll have a very good feedback, but you would notice that while you can feel the whiskers being cut they are not being pulled.

What I can suggest is just pay attention to the angle, skin stretching and the pressure. A little stubble is better than a little irritation
It also may be good to give your neck a bit of a rest if possible. Then go for comfort not closeness, as you get more used to the process the closeness will come.

I'm sure others will come with more advice.

I have no more advice simply follow this.

Originally Posted by gugi

I'm glad you're having good success so far Those Henckels are really smooth shavers.

Well of course you'd say that, you sold it to me!

In all seriousness though, you're right. It seems to be an excellent shaver, and given the great success I've already had on the rest of my face, I never even considered blaming the razor.


Thanks for the advice, which I'll follow, and thanks again for a great on a great razor.

I have another question though, and that is, how do you keep from shaving off the parts of your beard that you want to keep?

With my old mach3, the razor would basically come to a grinding halt as soon as I reached my beard line, but with this henckel and plenty of good lather, the blade just slides through my beard like stubble.

I'm guessing that's just going to be a matter of not getting too much lather in the beard and learning to watch more carefully, but I'll take any tips you've got.

LOL, it's true. I did have few more in the set, which I sold unhoned and the feedback from the guys who got them after honing them was great

Some day you'll catch RAD and try some more razors and you'll find yourself that these are upper division. Actually today I shaved with another old Henckels and even though it was a much smaller size it brought the memories of yours. It's interesting that after shaving with a razor my face can sometimes recognize it. I have shaved with many great razors and whie they all work pretty much the same, there are some subtle differences. May be it's like wine (or may be it's just 'cause my bottle is almost empty ).

Originally Posted by VeeDubb65

What I'm having trouble with, is shaving the sides of my neck, lower than my adam's apple. I hope that makes sense. I just feel like I'm turning my neck into hamburger, and it stays red for hours after a shave.

What get's me is that I don't have trouble anywhere else. I can get my cheeks BBS with little to no irritation, and I can get the rest of my neck almost as smooth with also, very little irritation. (less than my mach 3 causes)

I know this is a technique issue, and I'm hoping somebody has some pearl of wisdom for me on the subject.

Hi,
Check the growth pattern on your neck. For me, the hair grows down and towards my adam's apple for the upper part of my neck, but for the lower part of my neck (under the adam's apple line), it grows upward! So I need to shave my neck in 2 parts-- for the top part of the neck, WTG passes go down, but for the bottom part of the neck, I stop and do WTG passes upward.

Good luck!
Chief