Thread: Across the neck?

Some good advice there guys
I have the same trouble with the neck, my beard grows out from windpipe to ear, and after months of trying I still find if I am gonna get a rash or leave stubble,thats the spot it will be.
Jockeys videos are very good IMHO, the diagonal from above and below helps a lot, remember very little pressure and keep the blade angle low, just go very steady using short gentle strokes.
Also what I found works is to use short scything motions to cover the area, kinda like windsheild wipers.
TOP TIP: after starting on your cheek, stretching and working downwards, grab another stretch and you will find you now have a fresh bit to shave right on your jawline, or maybe even a little above, shave that still going straight down, then grab another stretch, if you have a full face dont be surprised if your eye on that side is now closed because of the skin you are pulling up, anyway that will give you another fresh area to go at, once you cant pull any more skin up to shave let go and you will be surprised how far down the neck you have just gone, and because you shaved it with super tight skin it will be a quite close shave too, leaving less stubble to have to go at to finish the job, using the diagonal windshield wiper technique.

Hope that all makes sense, and you find it a help
Best wishes Ralfy

I have now found a stroke that lets me go sideways from my ear to my throat in a horizontal movement. I have to kind of tuck my chin down and make a 'fat neck' face and then I can do a true ATG pass on my neck.

"chest" was probably the wrong word to use. I mean I can't angle the razor flush with my neck with the collar bone in the way. And I cant hold the razor upside down with my chin in the way....


O.K. I was visualizing something totally different from your explanation. I apologize. I do like the idea of the passes from the vid's. I've got a couple area's along my neck that I have issues with. It seems like I only get those about 15-25% of the time. I'll give those a try tonight and see if that'll cure my ill's.

I read the title of this thread and had awful visions of "across the neck" and someone making an awful mistake.

DannyWonderful

Any chance of a picture showing the fat neck pass? My hair grows ear to chin on my neck, so I really need to go sideways for an ATG. It would be nice to see how you do it, and then maybe I can follow in your footsteps. Thanks,

-Ty

Ok, I had my best neck shave today. I attribute this to three things. Things I should already be doing.

1) Properly sharpened razor. It's not quite sharp enough yet, but it's sharper than it was. I found this out by finally getting up the nerve to use the thumb pad test.

2) Drawing a map of the the hair growth direction on my face. I thought I knew it, but I was wrong about one side of my neck.

3) Started using a diagonal pass. I was concerned about moving the razor at any angle except perpindicular to the blade's length, but this pass definately helped.

I look forward to my next shave to keep practicing.

I've been having the same problem since I started a year ago- all my neck hair grows towards a swirling point on my right jawline. The left side of my neck grows up and towards my chin, the right side of my neck grows almost straight up, and under my chin grows sideways.

I've got a custom razor coming (tomorrow! YAY!!!) with a short blade to hopefully alleviate these problems.
J.

Originally Posted by hornm

I think you may have the strokes confused. WTG-With the grain (down strokes). ATG-Against The Grain (up strokes).XTG-across the grain (left-right/right-left) Just nice easy short strokes and the neck area should clean up real well. Don't worry it takes time to figure out the neck and chin areas, I've been working on the chin for a little over 3 months and still nick myself here and there.

WTG, XTG, ATG has nothing to do with up down or sideways since relative the the vertical axis of your head or neck. Different people have different beard growth patterns and it is the pattern of beard growth that sets the grain. If you check, you may find as many have done, that the hair on your cheeks actually grows to the side so that a both downward or upward strokes are actually XTG. Also, many people have an upward growth pattern on their neck under their chin so a downward stroke is actually ATG.

Having said all that, and largely because of what I have just said, I don't give much thought to the whole WTG, XTG, ATG stuff anymore. I just shave the way that comes the most natural. Downward with a pronounced scything motion on the sides of my face and neck, downward with a slight scything motion under my chin, upper lip and lower lip. Sideways curving to downward on my chin. This generally gets me to BBS on the first pass (but with multiple strokes over each area) as long as I have a sharp razor and take the time to do the stokes carefully.

After a day of not shaving, to give my skin a chance to rest, I found my shave this morning to be great. Not only is my chin and mustache area comming along, but the diagonal passes on my neck make a HUGE difference. I've found that the diagonal passes where I am pulling the razor rather than pushing it are much easier, smoother, and closer.

Pull v Push: If you hold the razor in Grip 10 (in either hand) then pulling is moving the razor diagonaly towards the heel and pushing is moving it diagonally towards the toe. This may not be official SRP lingo, but it's how I've chosen to word it.



I feel now that I can finally shave my whole face satisfactorily. I can get my cheeks and part of my neck BBS smooth every time now. I'll have to continue to work on the rest of my neck, chin, and mustache area, but I have hope!

-Ty

The thing that helped me most with that area was learning to use both hands, and then just experimenting a lot. It took me a number of shaves, but I finally figured out how to do the job. Good luck!