I am having a really tough time shaving my neck

Ive been using a straight for about 14 shaves (cheeks and neck) and I am really having a tough time shaving my neck.
The whiskers under my chin and above the adams apple grows from my left to right and really flat against the skin. I am having trouble with how to hold the razor and attack the growth with the grain. I can get BBS on my cheeks almost every shave but I never get anything closer than a 5 oclock shadow on my neck.
Any good shaving videos you can recommend that I watch for proper hand position and angle?

Hello GreenLightJerky:

The neck is a problem for many of us. It is for me, and I have yet to get a BBS on it, even with the double edge razor.

Since this is a delicate part and shaving it with the straight razor somewhat dangerous if you don't know what you're doing, I suggest to proceed with caution. The best way for you to tackle the neck is to use a variety of creative stretches. Remember to keep the pressure light. You will need to experiment — always with caution. I suggest to stop your focus on getting a BBS on the neck; rather, do the best you can. In time you might be able to get a perfect shave on the neck. Or not. Either way, do the best you can and settle for the best you can get. For what it's worth, that's what I do: settle for the best I can accomplish.

Regards,

Obie

GLJ,

I am about 45 shaves into my straight shaving regimen and I can concur with Obie. I have yet to get a BBS on my neck. It was somewhere around shave 25 that I did notice that my shave improved on my neck. For me, my technique has improved mainly due to time with the razor in my hand. My hand at 45 shaves is so much more comfortable with the straight than at 15 shaves. It has been hard to see my growth from one shave to another so I decided to analyze about every tenth. With this I have seen that my learning curve is still pretty steep. Good luck with your progression!

rob

I have noticed that after 10 shaves I am more comfortable with holding the razor for my cheeks and the bottom part of my neck. I will work on more stretching as there seems to be a lot more resistance in that area due to poor blade angle. I dont think I am physically able to follow a WTG stroke on my problem neck area. I am not even going to BBS, ill be happy with 'looks like you shaved yesterday'! I think i need to watch more videos of others techniques.

The hair on my neck grows in the same way and I have a little patch on the side of my addams apple that grows up to the chin. I saw a post here that really has worked for me. Now I start my shave from the bottom of my neck instead of from my sideburn. I can stretch my skin placing my fingers just below the shave cream line on my neck and then start my shave a couple inches up into the shave cream and shave down and keep working my way up to the jaw line stretching as I go. It is still a little bit xtg but it helped me alot and I try to go at a bit of an angle to stay wtg as best I can.

Glenn C

I have the same neck issues. I find myself caring less and less about BBS these days. On the upper lip, sides of the chin, and lower lip my attempts at BBS result in CWN, Cuts, Weepers, and Nicks. So here's my attitude on the neck.

It's your neck, Dude, and you can have it any way you want it. My whiskers at the side of my neck grow laterally as well. I used to try FOREVER to get BBS there, and now I go WTG then a light ATG, then feel the remaining whiskers, acknowledge their unimportant existence and tell them where to go.

It's your face. Remember: Mind Over Matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter!

The neck is probably the hardest area to shave with a straight razor. Too many contours. Just do the best you can. Stretching is the key.

As you can see you are not alone. I've been straight shaving for around 10 years now and in general I do not get a BBS shave on my neck. After experimenting with different strokes and directions and stretching there are areas where it just doesn't happen. If I use a razor with a heavy smile or a short razor like a kamisori I can get it. With me it's because I have a narrow neck very deeply inset so it's very difficult to get in to certain areas. I've gotten to the point where I just accept it. I'm still getting a great shave it's just not to the nth degree on areas of my neck and I can live with that.

Neck problems @$@#!#$. Its funny though as this was the area I was shaving on my first shave when the nervousness stopped and I started to relax.. .

I used to do a North South pass then South to North and had similar problems. I watched this video (by Jockys); YouTube - Jockeys' Straight Shaving Demonstration Part 2 and decided to change the way I moved my blade. I also needed to try thinking three dimensional when I did this; for example there is a blade angle when you think about the blade away from your face (30 degrees vs 5 degrees-- biggest angle is usually first pass and usually WTG) and a blade-angle on the North South plane as well. It was this second one I had to work on. be careful about moving the blade sideways when you do this. I also used a scything motion and stretched the skin a bit differently.

Hair on my neck grows from the adams apple to the back (kinda east to west) so my first cut was never With the Grain.

I still do my first pass as a North to South cut while stretching the skin by putting my fingers near the sideburns and pulling up. Second pass is South to north with stretching below the lather on my neck. I pull the skin from the middle to the back and up towards the ear. This causes hair to TURN north so I can get the WTG, XTG and ATG if wanted and still mostly have the blade go either N to S or S to N. Stretching to move the hair directions was key. Next came the scything motion and this was needed to further enhance the angle to match the WTG, XTG, and ATG angles.
Attachment 67944Attachment 67945Attachment 67946

Great input guys. The video and the diagrams really help me visualize what I need to modify.
I realize I am not stretching nearly enough. This is a very enjoyable challenge.

How I hold the razor varies when I'm on the neck. Sometimes I hold the scales straight out as if the razor was a Japanese kamisori . Depends. Same with stretching, there are some areas where I have to pull the skin in opposite directions, from what seemed 'correct,' to flatten the area to get a good pass. Playing around with stretching, blade angle and direction of attack has helped me get it in a 2 pass shave most of the time. Also depends on the whiskers, we all aren't playing with the same deck of cards. :hmmm: