Thread: Ahhh, the chin.

Since I find the chin the hardest area of your face to shave, I'll keep working on methods and post the results here.

First, make sure your blade is sharp. If you get a good, smooth shave on your sideburns and cheeks, yet find the blade pulling when you get to your chin, it's probably not the blade.

Make sure you do some preshave prep. If you are not going to take a hot shower make sure to use a hot towel, at least on your chin.

Don't shave dry. Use plenty of soap, cream or whatever you use, and once you shave the lather off relather the area if you are going to go back over it.

I've seen people shave from every angle you can think of, mostly from the lower lip down and right over the chin to the neck. I found this method does not work for me very well. Hair on the chin can grow in a lot of different directions.

After shaving the sides of my face, I go right for the chin. I shave across the chin from left to right (right-handed) then right to left (left-handed). I mostly work over the "ball" of the chin, stretching the skin by pulling back on the jawline. When the "ball" is smooth I work from the lower lip down, and then shave my neck as usually, working down from the chin, and/or up based on your experience.

I found that by repeating the best strokes I use for DE shaving with my str8 I get the best results. Try it! Use a DE razor on the problem areas of your face experimenting with different directions and angles. What works best with the DE will probably work best with the str8. Just remember to adjust your technique for the longer, exposed blade.

Hope this helps.

The most important part of chin shaving for me is stretching the skin of that area. Most new guys, from what I've noticed, don't realize how much sketching you need to do in all areas to get good results. You really have to PULL your skin in those hard to get spots to have nice results. Not just pulled near your sideburns or lower neck. When I shave my chin I grab my skin right next to the spot I am shaving and I pull it up or down, whatever I need to make hair stand up, then I shave right near my stretching.

I can't recall a time I've shaved my chin without a nick or slice of some sort :-) My beard is relatively normal all over but it becomes both dense and thick at the chin. I've found buffing and scything (more buffing) helps.

Stretching to get the skin taut is definately a plus here, another key aspect of the chin is being able to look at the contours and envision smaller flat planes, adjust your technique and angles to comply with the needs of these smaller flat planes and you will come out ahead.

The chin is where (I think) the toughest hair grows. If I test shave a razor that's where I go so if you have issues often time that area will expose a less that properly honed razor.

It's true you have to really experiment with this area to find the best way to do it. Plan on rapid angle changes. It can be a very difficult area.

Stretch and scythe.
Scythe toe leading my right side (not for faint hearted) and heal leading left side.
Scary sharp blade always, shave chin first with freshly stropped edge.
This works for me for what it's worth

Originally Posted by anjp

I can't recall a time I've shaved my chin without a nick or slice of some sort :-) My beard is relatively normal all over but it becomes both dense and thick at the chin. I've found buffing and scything (more buffing) helps.

Hi,

For me I noticed that the blade needs to be placed even on the face. Not too much heel or toe. The blade should contact evenly across the contact point. On a larger area like a cheek this is more obvious or even the neck, you can get more blade in contact with skin. It can be a little trickier on the ball of the chin but still even contact will prevent nicks. I noticed the other day I could see the shadow of the blade on my neck prior to contact straightening the shadow made even contact with my neck. I have about 8 shaves completed. I'm still learning.

Mike