How to go with WTG?

Hi,

New to straight razors, and had a question on going WTG on my neck. The hair grows laterally, from the centerline to the sides on my neck and under the jaw line.

I haven't been able to figure out how to shave that area WTG. Any suggestions? Or do I just skip that. I have been shaving straight down and then straight up, which is XTG. Today (my 5th time), I tried diagonally downward, from center towards the sides, and then did a straight down pass, and a straight up pass. It was the best ion that area so far. Just wondering if I could go WTG at all.

That's been the most challenge so far...figuring out how to do WTG, XTG, and ATG in certain areas. the chin (no surprise) and jaw line are the other two tough spots.

Are there any books, wikis, etc. that show how to do different stroke directions for areas on the face?

on my neck if you follow the ends of my mouth straight down my neck i have a patch on each side that no matter how i stretched the skin i couldnt get it all .. i tried passes from throat to sides of my neck and finally figured out how to get it mainly with middle to toe of blade .. im sure these guys will come along with more great info and perhaps a youtube search will show you some video you can watch

Performing a full three pass shave is not always achievable. Doing a good 2 pass shave will result in a great shave. I have a similar issue. My neck grows from west to east for the most part. I perform a north to south pass and a SE to NW pass. I may do a touch up on my jawline and chin, but that's it.

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Originally Posted by gooser

on my neck if you follow the ends of my mouth straight down my neck i have a patch on each side that no matter how i stretched the skin i couldnt get it all .. i tried passes from throat to sides of my neck and finally figured out how to get it mainly with middle to toe of blade .. im sure these guys will come along with more great info and perhaps a youtube search will show you some video you can watch

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I can't seem to figure out how to hold my blade to make a pass from center horizontally towards ears, across my neck or under jaw to go WTG. Maybe that is not possible and I need to go XTG and at diagonals. My latest attempt came out pretty good, but it's been trial by nick (error :) ).

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Originally Posted by MattCB

Performing a full three pass shave is not always achievable. Doing a good 2 pass shave will result in a great shave. I have a similar issue. My neck grows from west to east for the most part. I perform a north to south pass and a SE to NW pass. I may do a touch up on my jawline and chin, but that's it.

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I'm not trying to do three passes. Mostly 1-2 and some touch up. I was just trying to figure out how to go WTG, like I used to do with the DE razor (which is really easy for the neck area to go center out - WTG, and out to center - ATG).

Try a variation on a diagonal stroke by doing a scything or "windshield wiper" stroke where you keep the heel of the razor in one place and rotate the toe across the area to be shaved. It's what I do on my neck which is east-west growth.

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Originally Posted by Haroldg48

Try a variation on a diagonal stroke by doing a scything or "windshield wiper" stroke where you keep the heel of the razor in one place and rotate the toe across the area to be shaved. It's what I do on my neck which is east-west growth.

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I'll give it a go tomorrow!

The diagonal stroke, with a bit of a scything motion did pretty well! I'm getting a pretty good shave on the neck and under the jaw line. I'm still struggling with my chin, which is narrow, trying to figure out how to best shave there. Hair pretty much is straight up there. I haven't figured out the right angles to try. Downward works OK, except near the jaw line. Horizontally hasn't worked well for me yet. Need to figure that out.

Any suggestions?

Chin perfection takes time and experimentation. I'm into this 18 months and still have occasional issues with my chin. A goatee is one answer;), but I've settled on left to right and right to left, with some very short clean-up strokes.

Question: do you switch hands (use both)? That has made the chin easier for me.

I have the same challenge. Here is a recent thread with a couple pics I did...unconventional grip.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/begin...om-neck-2.html

I've offered this grip up to many others that have side to side growth. Maybe it helps you, maybe not. But I found out early (DE shaving) from method shaving that you're best hitting your beard from various directions in order to get it all. Try this grip and see if it helps.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/shavi...ml#post1028898

My neck hair also grows center outward, but also a bit south-to-north. For my WTG pass, I hold the edge horizontally, with the motion going upward and outward.

Go to YouTube and search for the (three pass shave, by Drmatt357)

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Originally Posted by Haroldg48

Chin perfection takes time and experimentation. I'm into this 18 months and still have occasional issues with my chin. A goatee is one answer;), but I've settled on left to right and right to left, with some very short clean-up strokes.

Question: do you switch hands (use both)? That has made the chin easier for me.

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Yes, using both hands. Trying to figure out how to stretch skin and which direction to go. I have a small, pointy chin, mole under my lower lip (a fun obstacle, even with DE razors), and a very thin face (so no body fat to "round" corners).

Any tensing of my chin area, via muscles/face guest urges, seems to make the chin area wrinkly and even hard to shave.

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Originally Posted by feltspanky

Go to YouTube and search for the (three pass shave, by Drmatt357)

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Yes, saw that once before and watched it again. The towel seems to help grabbing the skin, but I surely don't have the technique down or prep right to do the chin along the jawbone.

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Originally Posted by OCDshaver

I've offered this grip up to many others that have side to side growth. Maybe it helps you, maybe not. But I found out early (DE shaving) from method shaving that you're best hitting your beard from various directions in order to get it all. Try this grip and see if it helps.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/shavi...ml#post1028898

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I'll have to give it a try!