Thread: Chins and pressure, necks and angles

Maybe rather than focussing on angles think about shaving with the blade "almost" flat against the skin. Less scraping involved that way. Of course there are tricky spots that will not allow a blade "flat" to the skin but it may help to rethink your "angles"

Have you read this ?
http://straightrazorpalace.com/fo...-use-care.html

Thanks for the link. In a strange way it makes me feel better about my technique. I have a Prima Klang and a very coarse beard. I am very, very far from being an "expert" with a straight razor but I get a better shave on my cheeks now than I do with my G. Fusion. Though I am pretty sure I will need to learn how to "touch up" a razor much sooner than I was planning.

Adrain, IME it was a matter of feeling awkward and gradually finding what worked for me. Here are some diagrams and descriptions that may be helpful. The menu will show the various parts of the face/neck and how to approach them.

Just keep at it and take you time. Focus on skin stretching with the opposite hand and the blade angle. Sometimes twisting the neck, making facial contortions, filling the cheek with air can help facilatate stretching.

Aw man! I went ahead and tried an XTG pass on my cheeks (went very well... no blood) and as I was shaving I thought that maybe I should try this direction on my chin. I had already done my chin with the Fusion and didn't want to deal with it (I was already 45 minutes into the shave... speed is not my strong suit at this point). Thanks for the link! Was the exact thing I needed.

Heaven knows it's taken months to get comfortable with angles and strokes. What I've found is that the advice given by experienced shavers on SRP saved me tons of time and grief. Always start there. But, sometimes to get the final piece in place, you have to think outside the box (general advice about blade angle, etc.)

Two examples...

An example is the stretchy skin on my neck, where I shave with the blade about 60 or 70 degrees. If I held it at 30 degrees, the skin would roll up at times, and I would cut myself more easily. The hair there is fine, and cuts easily with the blade held that obliquely.

The above is being given, not as advice or suggestion, but to illustrate that you need to sometimes think outside the box (usual, general advice) to get there.

Go slow, slow, slow, and enjoy the shave...

The chin and jawline are usually the toughest to master Jim already linked you to the diagrams Some learn better by visual so try the video section of the forum.

Link

Jockeys video helped alot with the neck area for me

Let us know how the next one goes

You got some good advice. What works for some people may not work for you. Skin stretch is a good example. You can get into a lot of trouble if you overstretch the skin, this can elevated the skin at the edge of the stretch and allow you to get a nice cut (don't ask why I know this )
Go slow, you will have a lot of periods of dissapointment, nicks, bleeders etc.. but in the end you will find the pot of gold


Crom

Hang in there Adrian. I would focus on the cheeks intil you feel really comfortable with straight shaving them. That will give you some more confidence in the neck and chin.

The chin is always harder to shave due to the curves and the courser hairs. It takes extra commitment and a sharp blade. Extra beard prep helps here. If you prepping the beard with a hot shower some have used shampoo and cream rinse on their beards to soften the hairs. If it's just a face wash, wash it twice.

The neck is hard to shave because we use our peripheral vision and it is almost out of sight. Have someone watch you shave your neck a few times. Explain the proper angle to them and have them mention when the angle gets out of range. Good straight razor shaving technique also involves a memory or feel of the blade in the difficult areas. This can only be improved by practice. Good luck.

A bit more about shaving the neck that I just though about, (recognizing that my neck might differ from yours)...

My instinct was to look UP in order to stretch the skin tight under my neck. And for most of my neck, especially directly under my chin and extending partway to the tip of the jaw under the ear, this is the proper technique. But, stretching my jaw and face upward was the wrong approach for the area of my jaw where it angled sharply upward, directly under my ear. I am skinny and angular, and when I stretch my face upward, the angle of the jaw is accentuated into a 90 degree angle. It was very easy to nick and cut while shaving around my jaw then! And, worse, it was at what is probably your blindest spot.

The cure for the upper portion of my jaw was to look DOWN while shaving. This filled in the gap between jawline and neck with flesh, giving me a clean angle to shave across.

A small warning though...

If this is your case too, and you look down, note that the filling in of the angle between jawline and neck might also result in skin that is not entirely flat, and is also easy to cut. You might have to look down, AND stretch your skin at the same time.

Experiment...

Originally Posted by stygian

I have a Prima Klang and a very coarse beard.

...I was already 45 minutes into the shave... speed is not my strong suit at this point.

Just a couple of things I spotted here! If you have a coarse beard an extra full hollow ground razor like the Prima Klang might be too thin and flexable. If the blade flexes against the hair and you force it, bam, instant cut. You may find a more wedge like razor suits you better as the blades are thicker and therefore flex less. Some of the Thiers Issards are 1/2 grind razors and there are a few W&B cleavers out there as well on the 'bay for a very good price!

It used to take me about that to do a shave. As the others are saying, dont rush it, the speed will come! And, an old guitar players mantra, speed is the by product of accuracy. Better to take it slow and keep your ears!

Good luck and have fun!