Suggestions for grain direction

I've been straight razor shaving for about 6 months now and I can get BBS on roughly 75% of my face. I am just having a couple places I am having a problem and I would like any advice you guys can give me.

Here is a diagram of some of my facial hair just for reference:
Attachment 107214

The hair at the edge of my neck grows straight and up. Because of this I have a hard time going ATG. The length of the blade and the shape of my neck make it hard to get in there where the neck sort of meets the jaw line. I could get it in there if I really tried but I would have my head tilted so far back to get my neck straight I couldn't see what I was really doing anymore.

Is there possibly a secret way to hold the blade I don't know about for really weird angles like this, or is there even some sort of alternative pass direction I could take? I find it frustrating that about the jaw I am BBS and below the jaw it's sort of hit and miss.

I can't get BBS everywhere, and, to be honest, I don't bother trying anymore. Whether I shave WTG or ATG or XTG, my face looks the same, and within a few hours, it feels the same too.

Not saying you should give up, just take a moment to consider why you want BBS and if it's worth it.

I think the reason I want it so bad is that I am so close, it is just out of reach.

Thats one of the joys of this fine art...you have to figure out what works for you as none of us are the same. Its taken me years to figure out what works for me and my growth pattern...not to be discouraging. You have to figure out what grip etc. works for you in certain areas. For me a scything stroke works in one pass for some areas but others simply need a good ATG.

I have the most difficulty in the same areas as you, just beneath the jawline. I have to do an ATG pass with my left hand to get the right side clean, and hold the razor backhanded in my right hand to get the left side clean. I'll try to get pictures for you, from tomorrow night's shave.

I start my shaves at the collarline and work up; that gives me relatively dry grip points for stretches as the shaveline climbs my face. For those jawline runs I also tilt my head to one side or the other to increase the stretch; that way I don't need to use the ceiling mirror. ;-)

Do you have a smiling blade? I find that's my best ally to get those tough spots. A spike is undoubtably my worst enemy there.

Just remember: Above all, do no harm!

@Catrentshaving
There are many joys in learning how to straight razor shaving. I remember the first time I got even a small swatch of my face to smooth, I was so overwhelmed with joy. At the time I just told myself the rest will come with time and experience. It has too, I've made pretty good strides in only 6 months and thought it would have taken me much much longer to get to where I am right now. That said, it can slowly wear on you when every couple days you shave, run your hand across your face, and the same old 2 or 3 trouble areas keep creeping up on you. It's sort of humbling too though to realize just how much finesse and attention it takes.

@roughkype
Pictures would be great because my hand just can't seem to figure out a comfortable grip or angle to get decent work done there. I do have a curved tip on my blade, I don't even want to think about what sort of trouble I would have gotten myself into just starting out with a pointed tip.

I'll see if my wife will take some pics tonight.

As promised, some pics:

Attachment 107308
Left jawline, shaved with right hand. This is a second pass, more or less XTG, and usually with some buffing. The stretch isn't too extreme, at least as far as head tilt goes. My nonshaving hand holds a washcloth against my neck to give me some stretch-traction. This gets this troublesome little patch stretched out just fine for the shave.

Attachment 107309
This is the right-hand grip I use for this pass. It's not the same that I use for the rest of my face; I consider this my backhand grip. Note that the clean side of the blade is toward the camera; this was the side that was against my skin.

Attachment 107310
Right jawline, shaved with left hand. Again, second pass, XTG, and you can see that I've done a complete stroke and am now buffing back over it.

Attachment 107311
...and here's the left-hand grip, also special to this bit of the job. Again, the side toward the camera was the side against my skin.

To do a real against-the-grain pass, I'd have to shave from my ear toward my chin, and I haven't wanted it that smooth that badly to bother. Across the grain gets it clean and doesn't feel too dangerous.

I hope this helps. Best wishes to you.

Hi many thanks for posting this as along with any others I fid it us full to see how other people hold and use there razors and will try for myself to see if these holds sork for me:bow:nj:

Thank you very much for the post, I will have to give this hold a try. Also, hate to admit I've never though it, but I will have to try using a towel for stretch-traction. I'd have to do the ear to the chin thing too, I've only tried it once and am not to keen on trying again.

thanks again!

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.

Quote:

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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.

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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.

Quote:

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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.

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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.

Quote:

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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.

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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.