Thread: Trouble Spot....advice please.

So,

I've been straight shaving about three months now, and (I think) I'm fairly good at the craft. However....I'm having just a hell of a time with ONE spot. I've mapped my face, and that really helped. I have a great morning routine with a hot shower, double lather, shave, aftershave, moisturizer. The whole face feels great, except for about two square inches that for the first hour, feel like fire. The spot is on the right side of my face, just under my jaw line. The hair grows diagonally down, from chin to neck (underneath the earlobe). thats the diagonal direction.

I specifically keep my pressure very light in this small area, and I shave with my non dominant hand (i'm a lefty), which has helped the problem. I've tried WTG, XTG, and ATG, separately, and in combination with the lightest touch. I just cant seem to get this one spot to come into line. Everything else is great, comfortable, and very smooth.

Any help/comments/advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Maxi

Hello, Maxi:

Many gentlemen straight razor shavers have such difficulties. I know I do. The best way to take care of the rebellious stubble is stretching and razor angle.

Here you need to experiment with stretching and razor angle, I emphasize. It will not be easy. I still struggle with some spots on the neck, but my experimentation with skin stretching and razor angle continues.

Do this: work on your stretching in addition to razor angle. Have patience. Of course, as you have noted, beware of the razor pressure. You'll get there.

Regards,
Obie

Maxi,

This area may be more sensative and aside from what Obie suggested, perhaps using the preshave oil on it and just shaving it WTG and/or XTG may help your situation. It may take some time before it is "conditioned" to take WTG/XTG/ATG passes.

Good Luck and welcome to SRP,

Pabster

worked on the razor angle this morning...it felt a bit better today. thanks for the input.

Maxi

Congrats!

It can take a bit of time to get things down, and I dont think theres a person out there without some odd little area where the whiskers run amok..!

The key thing is to take your time, think the passes through and work out the best angle and skin stretching to get the result you want.

Glad to hear there was an improvement this morning. It'll just keep getting better and better..!

I had an issue shaving closely in that area, what i started foing was shaving half my cheek, (own to the bottom of the ear, shaving the other side and my top lip to let the area dry, then i would pull the skin up from the area just shaved, this pulled the skin below my jawline up on to my cheek and made it much easyer to shave.

Did a couple of things;

1. Followed Obie's and BigIan's pieces of advice.
2. Tried a new cream, on the off chance. (Proraso)

The movement of the skin was a great piece of advice, thankyou BigIan, and I have kept a critical eye on the angle after Obie's piece. Both have yielded great results so far. I also tried the Proraso cream after having used it on vacation last week (where I was using a Mach 3....don't cry....I was living on a sailboat...though it was a good idea during airtravel and boat motion to leave long and sharp objects that cost money, at home).

The cream helps as well. Today was the first shave I have had with a straight that was completely comfortable from sideburn to adam's apple.

Good times....and tomorrow is Saturday, where I can spend as much time in the bathroom as I damn well please!

Maxi

Hello, Maxi:

You are on a roll, my good man.

A little at a time. Carefully. Methodically. Whoa! no pressure. Complete focus on skin stretching and razor angle. Dividing the face into regions.

Yes, sir, you are beginning to soar.

Regards,
Obie

Originally Posted by Maxi

Did a couple of things;

1. Followed Obie's and BigIan's pieces of advice.
2. Tried a new cream, on the off chance. (Proraso)

The movement of the skin was a great piece of advice, thankyou BigIan, and I have kept a critical eye on the angle after Obie's piece. Both have yielded great results so far. I also tried the Proraso cream after having used it on vacation last week (where I was using a Mach 3....don't cry....I was living on a sailboat...though it was a good idea during airtravel and boat motion to leave long and sharp objects that cost money, at home).

The cream helps as well. Today was the first shave I have had with a straight that was completely comfortable from sideburn to adam's apple.

Good times....and tomorrow is Saturday, where I can spend as much time in the bathroom as I damn well please!

Maxi

Glad to have helped old bean, hope it all go`s well from here.