Thread: Confession

My face is very forgiving to me as far as stretching is concerned. I can stretch quite a bit without fear of ingrowns or terrible irritation as long as I approach the whiskers from the right directions.

Because of that, I can pull the skin under my ear and jawline upwards and catch the whiskers holding the razor just so. then I can pull it toward the back of my neck and switch grip with the razor and catch them again more against the grain. It's a tight stretch so I make sure my stretching fingers are dry and I've already basically completed my shave.

Since it's only a touch up maneuver, and a hassle, I don't usually mess with it in the mornings

Try this. Let the beard grow out to a noticeable length. Use a USB microscope to suss out the direction of the growth. That way you know how it grows.

Yeah, the neck is tough with a straight. You need a really sharp razor, and really creative technique to equal a good DE, geared to your exact hair growth pattern.

Like you and many others, I have wacky hair growth patterns in the hollows of my neck on either side of my Adam's apple. In my case, from about an inch or two from the centerline of my neck, up and back to my ears, the hair grows up and back diagonally. When I got good with a DE, I could go directly against the grain on a 3rd pass, from my ears down diagonally to the base of the centerline of my neck. The DE head is small enough in width to do that, straights are not.

I've developed two strokes to handle this that I will try to describe. One is across the grain, the other against. I use them as a 3rd pass touch up. I'll describe how to do the right side of the neck, mirror it for the left.

I'm not an expert, I've only been at this a year. But don't try these techniques if you are reading this and are new. You'll need several weeks or months to get really comfortable with a straight in your hand and a blade on your face.

Cross-grain stroke:

• Straighten the razor out completely like a Japanese straight. Hold the straight horizontally in front of you in your right hand, blade on left, scales on the right.
• Now turn the blade edge upwards to the ceiling, and grip the tang right near the top of the scales like you would grip a pen or pencil. The "point" of the pencil is the blade, the "eraser" of the pencil are the scales. Your index finger should rest on the upturned bottom of the tang, thumb on the down-turned top, the reverse of a normal stroke grip. The middle finger rests along the side of the tang.
• Bend your wrist so the length of the blade of the razor tilts toward the floor at a 45 degree angle
• Now turn your head hard to the left and tilt your head back slightly to flatten the right side of your neck
• Bring the razor to your neck such that the tip of the razor is touching the base of the center of your neck, and the scales are up and back toward your right ear.
• Do light, diagonal upward scything strokes along the hollow of the right side of your neck, the strokes starting along the base of your neck, working up toward the chin.
• You can stretch the skin by placing your free left hand on your right collar bone and pulling down

I use this cross-grain stroke as final prep for the against-the-grain stroke below. If your razor isn't really sharp, this stroke will just "ride over" the stubble. Also, I like tightly-pinned razors for this stroke, no loose, floppy scales.

Against-the-grain stroke:

• Again, straighten the razor like a Japanese straight
• With your right hand, hold the razor horizontally in front of you, this time blade to the right, scales to the left.
• Grip the razor like a pen or pencil at the place where the scales meet the tang. This time, the scales will be the "point" of the pencil, and the blade will be the "eraser" of the pencil. The thumb is on the bottom of the tang, index finger on top, middle finger resting against the top of the the tang right at the tip of the scales.
• Turn the edge of the razor straight down to the floor, and tilt your wrist back a bit until the razor is at a 45 degree angle, scales up, blade down
• Now comes the hard, scary part. It requires a great deal of caution, because you will not be able to see what you are doing, it will have to be done by feel. If you are not completely comfortable with handling a straight, don't even try this. You have been warned...
• Turn your head hard to the left, and tilt your head back as far as it will go. Relax and let your head sink back on your shoulders. This will create the flattest surface possible on the right side of your neck
• GENTLY bring the razor to your face, laying the heel of the blade nearly flat against your right jaw joint. Be careful of your earlobe.
• Now by feel, GENTLY and with NO PRESSURE and the blade NEARLY FLAT against the skin, begin doing light, feathery strokes at a 45 degree angle down your neck from the jaw joint down to the Adam's apple and base. A GENTLE upward scything motion really helps. With a good hollow-ground, you'll feel and hear the pings of stubborn neck hairs just giving up and popping off.
• Did I say NO PRESSURE??? If you try this with pressure, you'll just nick and irritate your neck, not cut hair.
• You can stretch the skin by placing your free left hand on your right collar bone and pulling down

Just reverse all this for the left side. I find this technique duplicates what I could get with a good DE, but only with a very sharp straight and careful technique. It's slow, but I get solid neck shaves this way. And, the straight is much gentler on my skin for this kind of shaving than even the best DE.

Hope this helps. You might practice these strokes first with a fairly dull razor (or even a kitchen butter knife), just to get the feel with less risk of nicks or irritation. A less-than-very-sharp razor just won't cut hair with these stokes, it will either grab or ride over.

I had one spot that I was struggling to get BBS. Then I got a great tip, from a fellow SRP-member. After the WTG + XTG + ATG try a water pass on the spot. This shows you the hairs and what they are doing as you mow them down.

It works for me.

Have you tried stretching the skin at different angles?

-Chief

I have tried EVERYTHING I can think of. Stretching, different strokes, etc. This morning, I tried some of the "swooping" strokes that JimmyHAD recommended, and I got pretty close. Still, not teh BBS that I can get on my cheeks and sideburns and other areas of my neck...but getting there, paying REALLY careful attention to stretching and the stroke. Also, I added some water to my lather, and then brushed on a little extra soapy lather, to give REALLY slick slide, and that seemed to help.

The crazy thing is, the sahave I'm "complaining" about is on two relatively small sections of my neck, and the shave is already better than anything I ever knew in years of mach III, etc shaving. When perfection is the goal...any shortfall is rather glaring, you know? Well, it's only been a year....maybe next year at this time I'll get a perfect shave every day.


Oh, and another confession....just reaslized I put this in "Razors" not "Shaving"....maybe in another year I'll be better at using the internet, too!