Pull that skin taut

[LarryP]

Morning, guys;

I'm a rank newbie, and as such I still have lots to learn. I'm sure that there are lots of new guys like me struggling to figure out the whole process of a close shave. So I thought I'd share a revelation I had during this morning's shave.

Today was full shave #6. While some shaves have been better than others, they all seem to leave some rough stubble in harder to shave areas (i.e., below my jawline, moustache area, and tough chin beard). I've been doing a good shave prep with a hot shower & pre-shave scrub, then a hot towel, a good shave soap, and lastly, a well-honed & stropped razor. Then a few WTG passes before a careful ATG pass, and still lots of stubble. So what could be the problem? Well, lots of things, I'm sure, but today's discovery was that I'm not really pulling my skin taut before making that pass with the razor. I was just about finished and was still working on my chin, but the razor kept "grabbing" the remaining beard, even though I was making lots of goofy facial contortions. The light bulb went off , and I finally thought to pull the skin tight in the area I was working, and voila! a nice close pass.

I know that this elementary bit of shaving technique might seem obvious to most experienced guys. However, for me it's been easy to get distracted by the whole prep process and even more so by that sharp blade on my face. So much so, in fact that I've neglected to give my face a good pull where I'm shaving and making the skin taut. Now I'm just looking forward to my next shave so I can put it in to practice!

Enjoy your shave!

Larry