Thread: Annoying neck beard growth makes shaving impossible with straight razor

Hello everyone, my name is Eddie.
Recently I got a straight razor and been shaving for weeks but I've never been able to shave my left side of the neck. Imagine I'm standing right in front of you and you can see that my beard grows from west to south east. Now I am able to shave the right side of the neck, but the left side is really impossible! The neck is not flat so if I shave against the grain I always cut myself. Also I haven't found a comfortable (or possible) way to shave that area of my neck so I have no idea what to do.

Any ideas?

I'm guessing that you are only using one hand. Try to learn to use both. That way you should get the same results on both sides.

Welcome to SRP.

I am using both hands to shave my face, but as I said - no matter how I hold the razor - I can't shave that place.

I have a very similar growth pattern. It takes a lot of time to master that trouble spot. Basically I tilt my head back and away to the point I can barely see the mirror. Then I use one hand to stretch the hell out of the skin in the opposite way it grows. Then its all down to using the lightest touch you can use while keeping a shallow angle on the spine. I have no problem telling you that for quite a while I could only use a DE on that spot. Eventually you will get the hang of it, so if you decide to keep on the straight path wear your scars proudly lol

tilt your neck to the left..pull the neck skin downwards..just "feel" for the heel of the razor..go lightly left to right directions..works for me

I have a similar problem going east to west. I'd say try to use both hands if your not all ready doing so, too. The other option's are use a DE to do touch ups (easier to maneuver), or be okay with your results. I've been using a straight for 3 years, and I still have problems with my neck....

I use my right hand only to shave..cant use left...Trimmy..sounds like a technique issue you should keep experimenting with..very bottom of the heel can be very helpful if you angle it just right..takes a while to figure out though

My problem is the exact opposite! haha. I have a harder time shaving the right side of my neck and under my jaw (I am right handed). I can go WTG no problem at all, but I usually just do a 2 pass WTG/ATG since my beard/whiskers aren't super dense like a lot of peoples. Anyway, I use right hand for right side of my face and left for left side when I go WTG. Then ATG I usually try to do more of the work with my right hand since its my dominant and is more steady. I'm thinking that I need to work on my left hand dexterity. I never realized this until just now when I was going through the motions of my shave. So maybe start doing your troublesome side of your neck with the hand that you typically don't use (if your problem is like mine), it will be weird at first, but I have noticed that my hands (both dominant and non-dominant) get steady real fast when I feel the hot steel on my neck. I'm going to pay more attention to this and give it a shot! I appreciate you posting the thread because I never realized that my second pass was primarily with my dominant hand, since I use both equally on my first pass. Thank you and good luck! Hope what I said makes sense.

And +1 to smalltanks comment! At first I used mostly the middle and toe of my razor, but the more I shave, the more I appreciate the heel. I think starting out I never used it because my hand kind of hid it from site. I noticed this after about my first 6 or so shaves and started to use the heel more ever since.

It's all in the stretching. The trick is to pull the skin one way or the other, once a spot is flattened it can be shaved easily. For the neck I find it best to position my fingers mid-to-low neck and stretch upwards over my jawline, which flattens out the skin enough to get a clean shave.