Thread: Need some advice when shaving my neck

Hi all, i recently bought myself a straight razor and i need some advice.

My first shave was really painfull, did a lazy stropping and held the razor on a 45 degree angle.

My second shave i gave its a better stropping, and had a better angle but is still hurt alot. So i took a break while i was waiting for my hone set, i read alot of comments about new razors and "shave ready".

So today i tried to hone my razor, tried the hanging hair test, didnt work, tried to shave a bit on my arm, seemed better, so i stropped it about 50 times and tried to shave, and wow that made a huge difference, it just cut of my week old beard without hurting at all... on my cheeks, now i have a goatee so i dont know about my chin

But my neck, it really really hurt, i think the problem is obviously experience, but i also think its the way my hair grows on my neck, if i follow the guides on this site, i should shave in a downwards motion (wtg) only if i shave down i am actually shaving across the grains... does that make sense?

Try looking at this picture



The arrows i put in is the way my beard grows on my neck, point 4-6 and 18 and 19 doesnt really hurt, but 16 and 17 hurts so bad i just want to quit shaving, and it doesnt matter if i go up or down, and i am to scared to actually go sideways there.

I have always been very sensitive when shaving on my chin and neck, no matter what razor i have used.

Now i cant tell if it only hurt this much because of the weeks old beard, normally with my mach 3 i have never been able to shave a 7 day old beard without trimming it down first, and then it would still hurt unless i used a brand new blade, so i dont know if i just expect too much from the straight razor, but the straight razor didnt hurt at all on my cheeks.