Originally Posted by deepweeds
My upper lip is a work in progress, but here's what's working right now: On the first pass, I pull up on the end of my nose as if I were imitating a pig, or trying to look up my nostrils in the mirror. I shave with downward strokes, rolling the blade from about 90 degrees to maybe 10 degrees as I stroke. There is in the stroke a bit of motion also from the center of my face outward, so as to go completely with the grain.
On the second pass, after I shave the cheeks, I use a washcloth to get some traction on my cheekbone and pull the skin outward toward my ears. I shave the upper lip stroking inward toward the center of my face, but again also with some downward motion, this time to avoid going entirely against the grain.
Someday I hope to get a whole upward-stroke against-the-grain pass going, but for now the above has me almost entirely smooth on the upper lip.