Ecstatic!

[nickyspaghetti]

Ok, I am so happy, and now I have to tell everybody how happy I am!
I just cleared up my last troublesome spot on my face. I am now stroking my first 100% BBS straight shave.
This one change I made was small, but VERY siginificant in the comfort and closeness of my neck and under my chin.

I think I posted before that the hair here lies very flat to my skin, and that shaving against the grain dug the blade into the skin and didn't cut well. I have been working on this since I started shaving, trying to get the blade sharper, trying different blades, soaps angles, everything I though of except this.

All I am doing is pulling the skin in a different direction. I didn't try this before, because I didn't think it would make any difference which direction you pull as long as there is tension, and also most of the advice I heard says pull the skin behind the razor, not in front

Before, I pulled the skin underneath my neck downwards, which now I think of it, must have retracted the hair and made it lie even closer to the skin.
Now I pull the tip of my chin up, which pops all the hairs up perpendicular to the skin, and allows the blade to glide through much more smoothly.

Ok I say this is a small change, however I do have to change my entire shaving order to do this, as I normally shave an ATG as -sides of neck, neck, cheeks, chin. Now I have to do-cheeks, sides of neck, chin, neck. This creates an interesting knock on effect with my other areas as the part of my skin I usually pull on now might have soap on it!
Aside from relearning the other areas to fit around this technique it is a relatively simple change, but I cannot believe it made such a difference.

Now I feel satisfied that my honing is fine, my stropping is fine, and my technique is fine. I was beginning to doubt all of them because of this one area, and now I know that I can do all of them perfectly well, and have been able to for ages. Strange how such a small detail can make you feel inadequate in all other areas!(oh, and don't think too deeply into that statment!)

Now I can't wait to get back to England as I have 2 Frederick Rogers and a Wade and Butcher waiting for me to try in about 3 weeks time. They will be my first proper wedges i will seriously try to use and I'm looking forward to it.

[mparker762]

You pull from behind on the with-the-grain pass, and pull from in front on the against-the-grain pass. Sounds like you've got it figured out

[nickyspaghetti]

Ah, If only I'd known!
I feel like when I first started and was finding all the little things that made big changes in the quality of the shave.

[RichZ]

You pull from behind on the with-the-grain pass, and pull from in front on the against-the-grain pass. Sounds like you've got it figured out

Ok yes I like my fingers so there really is no other way....

[AFDavis11]

Excellent! I think we need a little checklist for diagnosing shaving issues. If you get a good shave everywhere but one spot than stretching is a likely culprit over honing, stropping, or the razor quality.

I can imagine how, in this case, it might be easier for a barber to see stuff like this happening than for us.

[nickyspaghetti]

It would definately be worth putting together a list of problems. It is very often that we talk about honing and stropping issues, blade angles and pressure, but I think many people starting out have other issues too. I think it is very easy to stop thinking about the shave too, and just accept the shave you get. I spent my first 3 months always thinking 'What could I be doing better to make this more comfortable/close?' After that I couldn't find the solution to this problem, so I just put up with it, assuming it was my face that was the issue. I guess I should have thought to change the stretching direction, but I had never read about this problem before on the forum, and therefore I didn't think to check it.
Is it possible to write a list of things to check or experiment with to improve the shave, after honing and stropping.
I guess the first ones on my list would be:

Stretching directions
Try different strokes
Try different combinations of passes
Different angles( I use different angles for each part of my face, it just seems to work better)
Try changing the hand/hands you use.(I use both hands, but not in a logical right hand shaves right side left hand shaves left way. Some passes are just easier with a particular hand.)

[Big_E]

It's good to hear about your new technique and improvement on your shave. I think every guy is entitled to a relaxing shave in the mornings. It's a great start to the day and get's ya ready for anything. My job gets alittle stressful and my co-workers come dragging in, in the mornings. Meanwhile I come strolling in, stroking my face as I try to get over the BBS.
Ernest

[izlat]

You pull from behind on the with-the-grain pass, and pull from in front on the against-the-grain pass. Sounds like you've got it figured out

Ok yes I like my fingers so there really is no other way....

I am not sure how to interpret this?

I thbink my fingers are always behind the spine (and edge) of the razor. It doesn't matter if I am shaving WTG or ATG.

Cheers
Ivo

I am not sure about the specific case here, but if I pull up on the chin and go ATG under the chin - for me this means that I am seriously drunk and shouldn't be shaving. With my growth direction, if I want to go ATG under the chin I have to pull down around the Adam's apple. I can pull up on the chin and go WTG - downward but usually just tilting the head back and some grimacing suffice

[nickyspaghetti]

This was my method too before I figured out this. I guess it depends on your hair growth. When pull from my adams apple, my hair lies really flat to my skin. I guess everyones grain and technique needs to be unique for each to have a good shave.