Thread: Shave the neck

Stretching from behind the growth of hair regardless of the direction which you are shaving will stand those hairs a little taller and cut a little closer.

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I think if your one of those guys with a Gorilla size neck its easy to stretch and shave at a pretty oblique angle which is what you really need. For the rest of us with narrow necks its more problematical. But when it really comes down to it if your neck isn't baby butt smooth but your still getting a close shave whats the problem with that? Personally, if I have to use a DE or something after the straight why use the straight at all? IMHO

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

I think if your one of those guys with a Gorilla size neck its easy to stretch and shave at a pretty oblique angle which is what you really need. For the rest of us with narrow necks its more problematical. But when it really comes down to it if your neck isn't baby butt smooth but your still getting a close shave whats the problem with that? Personally, if I have to use a DE or something after the straight why use the straight at all? IMHO

ditto this, its hard to get a real close shave on my neck too, and my skin just dont stretch enough to really get it all to good areas. and the way i see it, im tryin to do somethin like it was done a long time ago, this is all they had. so i just try harder to get a close shave with just the straight. no offence to the fellas who do a cleanup pass with somethin else, thats just not what im practicin for....

-micah

I achieve a great shave with a straight only. My wife can't even tell about my problem areas, but I know they are there. It's the damn perfectionist gene at work. Most of the time I can blow it off, recognize the spots I didn't do as well as I'd like, then remember those for next time. I've been playing with DE razors for a few months, and while they get my neck really well they don't get my chin nearly as well as a straight does. It's a trade-off for me, as either gives a great shave.

Well, I am going to try all that right now and see how things go. Thanks for the tips

Oh, yeah. Someone mentioned an injector. What is that. Do I need one.?

No, you don't need one. I had one years ago, and gave it away. Rumor has it that someone is going to make one again in the near future. The best ones were made by Schick and you can see them fairly cheap on Ebay in the shaving section of Collectables. I have a couple friends who swear by them. Personally, for a safety razor I prefer the Double Edge in a Merkur HD Slant Bar & old Gillette Super Speeds, and also an old Gem Micromatic that takes single edge blades. The Slant Bar and the Micromatic are the only ones close to a straight razor shave, IMHO.

More thoughts. This is an interesting thread in that people's beards seem to be SO much different. The reason that I first started w/ a straight is that I could get my neck shaved so much CLOSER with less effort than any other method. I have better luck skipping the with the grain pass on my neck, and going kind of cross grain w/ the blade very flat against my face and using what an old barber I knew called "a lot of English." And I have what has been called the Irishman's curse. Very fair skin and a coarse beard. I find that since it's turned grey it's less coarse than when it was auburn.

Originally Posted by mparker762

I usually skip the with-the-grain pass, and do two passes against the grain.

In general, this is not a good idea. Your best bet to avoid irritation and over-shaving is to hold off going against the grain until the whiskers are down to a stubble. With longer whiskers, when you go against the grain, you scoop under the whiskers and the longer whiskers cause you to push harder. So, you give up control and are more likely to shave some skin (over-shave), even if you hold the blade flat enough to avoid irritation.

BTW, it is harder to cut with a really flat blade. Remember that the edge has a bevel, so in the extreme, if you go really flat the actual edge is above the skin while the upper portion of the bevel rests on the skin. This means that you're clipping off the whiskers above the skin and will not be able to shave close. Although it is to your advantage to shave with as flat of a razor angle as possible, you really need between one and two spine widths above the skin.

Well Joe, with every other area of my face, I have to agree with you. With my neck though, I always seem to have pull and irritation shaving WITH the grain. This doesn't happen w/ a safety razor however. It's really weird, but I do best on my neck with cross grain shaving only, at least w/ a straight. I thought it might be different w/ Lynn's shave ready straight that I have. But no, it's still the same. It's probably just the particular combo of my skin and beard.