Thread: Goatee and learning.

Good advice so far just thought I would throw in my two cents also I am a mixed shaver as for work I have to be clean shaving but it doesn't take me long to grow in a goatee so if I get three or four days off I will grow it in so don't get as much practice trimming as others but I found that three strokes work real well for me when I am trimming. First things first shave normally going as close as you are comfortable going to the goatee and then leave be the rest till you have shaved the rest of your face. The first stroke is the vertical stroke already mentioned I will do this both from goatee towards the ear and ear towards the goatee. When going ear towards the goatee go real slow and as you reach the edges of the goatee you can take individual hairs off just go slow. The next two strokes I use you may have read about using on the neck which are an downward scathe and an upward scathe. These are where you are moving down or up and across your face and need to be VERY SLOW and VERY LIGHT! But what I do is for the top edges I start at about the top of the cheek bone and come in to the top edge of the goatee and for the bottom I start at the jaw bone or under the chin and come into the bottom edge. Again with these two strokes they must be VERY SLOW AND VERY LIGHT or you will cut yourself very badly.

Hope this helps some.

Originally Posted by SlowRain

I cheat by then taking a disposable eyebrow razor that my wife uses, and I touch up the edges of the goatee.

My goal is to eliminate the need for the eyebrow razor. Barring that, I am seriously considering getting a Japanese-Western hybrid razor for touch-ups around my goatee and on my neck.

You might consider a 3/8 or 4/8 straight razor. They are often referred to as trimmers for a reason

Originally Posted by Shoki

Hello All,

So today I shaved my right cheek, kind of shaved my left cheek, then I rubbed my neck with a shaving "like" motion on my neck.

When we talk of BBS we're not doing that to our own backsides you know... Kind of shaved the left cheek?! Aren't you as flexible that side?

Originally Posted by Shoki

This resulted in a fairly poor shave so I did another pass with my DE to finish up.

I found that near my goatee I have given my self a few nicks. I think this is because of the awkward/limited blade positions I have at my disposal at this early stage of the game.

I have the following 2 ideas I think might help...

1. Shave off the goat until I learn the ways of the blade a bit better.
2. Shave everyday so there is not so much stubble to go through.

While adding the chin and upper lip I think if I do these 2 things I will be able to shave easier and more comfortably to start out.

What do you think?

What do I think??? You're an idiot! Why do you want to bring the hardest part of your face into the shaving equation for?!...And look silly to boot.

Originally Posted by funklab

I am very new to straight razor shaving, and after my first shave, I decided to lose my goatee. I regretted it of course as I always do when I shaved it off, but more than that, the chin is incredibly difficult to shave. Had I left it alone and just learned to shave around it, I would have avoided having to shave my chin, which for me is easily the most difficult place to shave. Probably 90% of the nicks I end up with are on my chin, that chin skin just doesn't want to get stretched very far, its not easy to pull up like the skin that rounds the sides of the jaw.

Another fool!!!

Originally Posted by Snipersnest

I'm new at this too, but I'll be hornswoggled if I shave off my goatee. I just kinda work around it, very carefully. I stretch the skin as best I can and rest my shaving hand on the hand stretching. It kinda takes some of the awkward angle out of the procedure. I don't seem to get as many scrapes or dings as a result.

At last! A man of principle!

Sorry. I couldn't resist. All the serious stuff was said already!


Mick

Bah!

I am not in love with my goatee. I have one because it's less to shave. But I do shave it off every so often because:

1: It itches when it gets long.
2: The longer it gets the grayer it looks.

Still very skittish about every place on my face except the right side burn with the right the right hand. Everything else feels dangerous.

I'll have you know that my MB remains MBS!

Mick

I think it will be easier with the goat. I remember someone commenting (sorry dont recall who/where) due to the difficulty of shaving the lip and chin areas, this contributed to why facial hair was popular in the past. Look at most old west photos. Getting a photograph of yourself was a big deal, so you would have cleaned up in to your Sunday best. Most men had at least a mustache.

Also, IMO, the straight works better than any other method to square off the goat, and get any loose hairs.

I had a goatee and now I just have a long FU-MAN-CHU mustache. I found it is much easier to not have to shave my mustache area. When I apply my lather I leave about a 1/2 inch area around my mustache unlathered. After I shave wherever the lather was I go back and put Pre-shave oil or castor oil on the area I left unlathered and go back and get a very good line around my mustache because I can see where the hair is through the oil. I find this has been working for me for quite some time

Well just about 3 weeks in and I am able to shave my entire face with a straight razor using both hands. Not really skilled at all, and the dominate hand is more comfortable than the off hand, but I feel like this is a great foundation to build on.

Thanks to all the great members of this forum and all the great information. I really enjoy shaving this way and everything that comes with it.

Thank you,
--Shoki

FWIW --

I shave my cheeks with a straight razor, with the toe of the blade _close to_ my goatee. Then do a "clean-up" pass (straight razor), shaving _away from the goatee edge_ with the heel of the blade. I find that gives me better control than trying to use the tip of the blade during the cheek pass.

So far, my goatee edge has held up OK.

I'm still doing clean-up under my chin and on my neck with a cartridge. But that's another story.

Charles

I still tend to use one of those tiny 1/2" wide 'bikini' razors that women use to trim around my goatee, primarily because I have that little soul patch thing going on. There's just no reasonable expectation to try to nibble around that soul patch with a straight. The outside perimeter of the goatee, no problem as most of my razors have spike points. Bottom line is not to rush it for me...I take my time and deliberate careful strokes to avoid nicks.

bill