Thread: can't see the sideburn areas

Greetings,

Getting more comfortable shaving most of my face (straights for about 3 weeks now) but have the hardest time seeing my sideburn areas. I wear glasses so when I look out the side I have a hard time seeing the areas near the ear. I've tried adjusting the mirror and my glasses but still have a 'blind spot,' does anyone else here have the same issue? If so, how do you deal with it?

Cheers,
Jim

I also wear glasses. I take them off to shave so pretty much do it all by feel. For me to see in the mirror I have to lean in so close that the scales of the razor hit the glass lol.

Being nearsighted it is easy for me on mu dominant side, the right side to do my sideburn and check area without glasses. That's because my dominant eye, the right eye sees differently than the left eye and everything lines up vision wise. The left side is a different story. First of all, I switch hand for each side and the side burn areas are done with the same side hands. To make adjustments for not being able to use my left eye as a dominant tool I have a mirror on expandable arms on the left side of the bathroom mirror and I am able to "see" the left side with my right, dominant eye and shave with my left hand. The rest of the shave is with glasses on and I switch hands back and forth depending on the area being shaved and have my dominant eye in use the whole time. My shaving glasses, by the way, are the same as my computer glasses because if I tried with my regular glasses and bifocals I end up on the chiropractors table bring readjusted every day. Hope this makes sense.

Thanks guys.

JReed: I have the opposite problem...I have to be at a greater distance to see clearly. If I got that close to the mirror I too would bump it only because I wouldn't see it.

Razorfeld: I shave with both hands as well, but I'm right handed. I'm right eye dominant and have a lazy left eye The bigger problem area for me is the left side though I can't see the right too well either. I like the idea of an additional mirror and will look into the extra mirror and yours sounds like it would work as it is at the same height.

Cheers

It's a fairly difficult area to see, what I do is stand fairly far back and this helps you line up the sideburns with the razor, the closer you go the more obscure your vision becomes with this area.

Seems like this is a very common thing many ppl have problems with. Left side burn is harder to see then your right sideburn. I have no idea why maybe its the same thing for lefties that the right side is harder to see? I use to have same difficulties. But the more you shave the more comfortable you get with the sides and go more by feel then sight.

Originally Posted by celticcrusader

It's a fairly difficult area to see, what I do is stand fairly far back and this helps you line up the sideburns with the razor, the closer you go the more obscure your vision becomes with this area.

+1 on this. I'm almost blind in my right eye so do this too. Makes life easier and I have consistent burns. They still seem to creep down my face though! I think this is why Victorian chaps had those big old sideys

For me age has killed my eyesight especially close-up. The distance to the medicine cabinet mirror is to far for me, so I bought a magnified lighted mirror which mounted in the front of the medicine cabinet mirror and off to the side. In the beginning it was only used supplementally but as my eyesight worsened its pretty much all that I use now.
I'd be lost without it.

Well it sure feels better knowing I'm not alone in this. I'm going to try standing back a bit and it that doesn't work then I will try one of the attachable mirrors. I really hope to get to the point of shaving without looking--took a while to get there on DE so I'm sure this will take a bit too. It's nice to be able to shave in the shower, but I'm a bit scared of dropping a straight.

Cheers

I wear my glasses because i'm afraid my hand will jerk and i'll cut my eye . I pretty much do the side burn area by trial error. that is, make a pass, check to see if the soap is gone if not make a closer pass(to the ear). only one nick on my ear so far. i also find that if i hold the razor with the scales pointing up (like and L) they get in my line of sight. now i do most of my shave with them parallel to the blade. (why else do they try to balance the scales with the blade).