For some reason, with a regular straight I end up going against the grain for part of my neck. There's a strip maybe an inch and a half wide around the lower part of my neck where the hair grows upward and back toward my ears. I always shaved this part of my neck straight down--against the grain. Then I got my Feather. After a few days, I had really bad sore welts on either side of my adam's apple. That's when I realized I was trying to shave that spot against the grain. With the Feather, it didn't work. I had to reverse my grip and shave upwards, with the grain. Then I could come back and do the downward stroke.

I've tried this with my regular straights, and for some reason, it causes more irritation than just going against the grain. I do lower the angle and use light strokes.

My beard growth isn't very heavy down there, so maybe that's why it works.

Josh