Thread: Suggestions for grain direction

I also have difficult areas to shave on the neck, and for most of the throat area, my whiskers seem to grow nearly straight back, instead of straight down. In addition to the scything stroke mentioned above, another useful WTG stroke I've found is the guillotine stroke. To do this, visualize how the blade of a guillotine is angled. To recreate this with a razor, think of holding the razor with the spine parallel to your jaw with the toe pointing back toward your ear, then drop your hand slightly so that you'll lead with the point but at the same time expose the edge at an angle to the whiskers. Then push the razor, point first, in the direction the whiskers grow. What this effectively does is narrow the width of the blade--how narrow depends on you and how much room you have to work with on that part of your face. You'll want to be confident in your technique and make sure you don't let the angle of the spine from your face get too steep, or you'll dig the point in.

Anything with the name "guillotine" anything sorta gives me the heebee jeebees :P but I think I might give that a try too. If I can get a more effective stroke WTG then my XTG stroke won't need to work as hard.

I tried to stroke mentioned earlier posts and I had mixed results. It shows a lot of promise, most of my hurdles were getting my hand to accept the new position and I think once my hand gets used to it then it will be much more effective.

Originally Posted by Durhampiper

I also have difficult areas to shave on the neck, and for most of the throat area, my whiskers seem to grow nearly straight back, instead of straight down. In addition to the scything stroke mentioned above, another useful WTG stroke I've found is the guillotine stroke. To do this, visualize how the blade of a guillotine is angled. To recreate this with a razor, think of holding the razor with the spine parallel to your jaw with the toe pointing back toward your ear, then drop your hand slightly so that you'll lead with the point but at the same time expose the edge at an angle to the whiskers. Then push the razor, point first, in the direction the whiskers grow. What this effectively does is narrow the width of the blade--how narrow depends on you and how much room you have to work with on that part of your face. You'll want to be confident in your technique and make sure you don't let the angle of the spine from your face get too steep, or you'll dig the point in.

One of the last troublesome areas I have is right there below the jawline. I will be trying this stroke. Thanks for the tip. For the skin I can stretch up over the jaw, I get agt by going from the ear to chin. You need to be confident with it, but I didn't think it was too dangerous.

Originally Posted by Ratty1

For the skin I can stretch up over the jaw, I get agt by going from the ear to chin. You need to be confident with it, but I didn't think it was too dangerous.

Yep, that's what I do, too. I fold the blade back so that the spine is as close to the back of the scales as possible--otherwise the scales knock into my collar bone.

Originally Posted by Durhampiper

Yep, that's what I do, too. I fold the blade back so that the spine is as close to the back of the scales as possible--otherwise the scales knock into my collar bone.

Those pesky body parts that get in the way have been the toughest part of the straight transition for me. I do the same with folding the blade back for that spot. Thanks for letting me know I have been doing the correct thing for that area.