Chin area question- New member

New to the site and not an expert by far but been using a straight razor a few months. Luckily no stitches, I picked it up pretty quickly. I am using a Hart 5/8" with a round tip. I still have a hard time I guess in the chin area where another guy would have a goatee. I got the sides and neck pretty good but no matter what method I use, I constantly find on the chin it feels like it's ripping and it's uncomfortable and I wind up giving up and using a regular razor there. I used shave soap soap, a glide gel I found online and I use conditioner before I shave. I let my face heat up and hairs soften in hot water and shave in the shower. Any tips or ideas? If this is not the place to post this I apologize, just let me know where is.
Thanks,
-Bill

Hi Bill, welcome to SRP. For starters I'll move this to 'shaving with a straight razor' where more guys may see it and reply.

The knob of the chin is one of the most difficult areas to shave clean for a lot of guys, and I am one of them. One thing I'd advise is to take the thumb and forefinger of your stretching hand and form a V, or a U, and push up on the sides of your chin, above the knob, and get the area tight.

Short buffing strokes may work better, and a shallow angle, with the spine closer to the skin. You'll have to experiment with it. Other than that, AFAIK, the razor has to be good and sharp to get the chin and neck area comfortably and cleanly. :gl:

It just takes time,msomething your not doing right is more than likely the problem, sounds like your prep is good, let's knock out a couple more problems; stretching, it's very important,
Angle changes for different areas of your face, practice using less and then use a little more and find out the correct angle, now for the biggie, if you have used your razor for a few months and your stropping isn't up to par, then your probably dealing with a sub ar edge.

A sharp blade is required for the tougher areas like your chin. Who's honing for you?, was it ready when you got it? The last Hart I had in my hand with their edge wasn't ready to my standards. So you might want to see how your shave goes from a pro honing.

Also like Jimmy said, short buffing strokes work well on the chin using only the toe or heel, and laying the blade almost flat to start( depends on if the blade is right)
The stretching he mentioned us great advise, standing those hairs up really gets your blades cutting action going.

So look at some f these ideas and go forward. Tc

short buffing strokes helped me with that problem area. That and attacking from different directions. It definitely takes time to get used to all the angles of the chin and other curves. Don't give up.

Welcome to SRP!

I can't help with the chin but these guys have given you some great info.

Enjoy and have fun

Welcome to SRP.

I would never try to shave in the shower. Get out to a good mirror so can see what you are doing.

Agreed - shaving in the shower with a straight is a dangerous thing to do - you need to see what you're doing at least from a technique point of view and safety.

If you start to lose the grip and drop the razor, natural reaction is to try and grab it - never a good thing with a straight, will always end badly, needless to say if it lands open on your leg or feet, just a blood storm waiting to happen, and we'll just leave out the possibility of it taking anything off on it's way down to cut your legs or feet......;)

Missed that. Good point, straights and the shower, not a good thing. Besides the obvious it thins your lather out too bad, I shaved in the shower quite a bit when I was DE shaving, my lather never was too good. So no it's a bad idea. Tc

Fellow could step in the shower singing bass and if the razor slipped out out his hand come out singing soprano .......... :w

Shaving with a SR in the shower takes some balls...maybe even takes some off!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MedicineMan

Shaving with a SR in the shower takes some balls...maybe even takes some off!

---

.......................:roflmao

Funny thing, if you peruse the "What do you look like" thread you'll see a lot of members with goatees/van dykes...:shrug:

I have a goatee, have for decades actually. I've been warned by SWMBO that I was not to shave that or my mustache

I got lazy last week and grew a beard, just recently buzz cut my hair with a #1. Now comes the time to shave and my SWMBO told me I should keep the van dyke...only thing is if I do that I could pass for Ed Norton in "American History X", sans the tattoos, I don't think that look goes over too well with most. :)

BBS all the way.

@ReardenSteel (aka Spoonman): Facial hair has its trends like anything else. Tell her the Van Dyke is mostly off-cycle for now, and you don't care for the trending beard-o look. That ought to justify BBS. Besides, more real estate to shave = more fun! I found if I didn't shave the mustache and chin area, not only was there not much left to shave, but the remainder was without challenge. ;)

To answer the OP, keep at it and take the other's advice. Stretching, different approach angles (for me, XTG going east-west or west-east works well), and just plain practice and a really sharp blades helps immensely. :)

It is a tough spot for sure. Part of what makes it tough is the rounded aspect makes it hard to keep the angle low. I am a some what minimalist when mit comes to prep. Too much prep irritates my skin. My prep is simple, Noxema pre shave, face lather and shave. There are some that do zero prep and cold water shaves. There is no standard method. The mentioned short buffing strokes certainly is used by many to get the whiskers on the chin.
The other thing that has not been mentioned is how is your edge holding up? As a beginner I had to send a razor out pretty steady in the beginning. It is easy to mess up the edge through poor shaving and stropping techniques.

I agree. The chin is a tough area. For me, short strokes, lots of different angles and stretch, stretch, stretch.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bills2345

New to the site and not an expert by far but been using a straight razor a few months. Luckily no stitches, I picked it up pretty quickly. I am using a Hart 5/8" with a round tip. I still have a hard time I guess in the chin area where another guy would have a goatee. I got the sides and neck pretty good but no matter what method I use, I constantly find on the chin it feels like it's ripping and it's uncomfortable and I wind up giving up and using a regular razor there. I used shave soap soap, a glide gel I found online and I use conditioner before I shave. I let my face heat up and hairs soften in hot water and shave in the shower. Any tips or ideas? If this is not the place to post this I apologize, just let me know where is.
Thanks,
-Bill

---

Check which direction your hair grows in the problem area. Make sure you are going with the grain.

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk

The chin requires that you have good angle control. You're constantly adjusting your angle to accommodate the roundness of the chin. Once I begin a stroke on the chin, I do not stop until the razor has traveled the entire radius of the chin. This helps me maintain a good angle.

Don't let the chin discourage you, a great many of us had the same problem. Just keep at it, and one day you will have a "eureka" moment, and the chin will no longer seem that hard to shave.

Early on I used to have trouble with my chin but found that it was easier if I only used the heel end of the blade. Effectively choking up on the blade reduced leverage and provided more stable control maneuvering around the chin.

Welcome to SRP. The two hardest spots to shave and master with a straight are the mustache area and the chin. My best suggestion is to shave that area first while the lather is fresh, slick and gives you all the advantages to succeed. Many try the toughest areas last and the lather may be drying out some and not giving you the formula for success. Keep up the journey, the shaves are so much better and the sense of accomplishment is over the top when using a straight.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by squatman

I agree. The chin is a tough area. For me, short strokes, lots of different angles and stretch, stretch, stretch.

---

Lots of great advice here. I make 4 or 5 passes on my chin and upper lips area compared to 2 on my cheeks. Stretching and ATG helps clean up a couple of tough spot for me. During my first couple of months I resisted the urge to use a safety razor for these areas and eventually managed to get a decent shave but even today there are days that I would miss a spot or two but I'm fine with it.

I agree that shaving in the shower w/ a sr is very dangerous, and also very bad for the razor. Meaning that water is going into the pivot and not easy to dry out. Which is just going to promote corrosion. So if loosing a ball or anything else isn't bad enough the razor will also end up destroyed too.

My chin is about the size and shape of a golf ball, including some of the dimples. The hair grows almost straight out.

Although I have learned to shave my chin with a straight razor, I can never quite get it BBS. Although some of the traditionalists here may make fun of me, I find it easier to do a clean up pass with a DE razor after shaving two passes with a straight. Straight razors and DE razors are both tools, so just choose the tools that best work for me.

As has been stated in an earlier post, many men with difficult chins have given up shaving the chin area altogether.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bills2345

New to the site and not an expert by far but been using a straight razor a few months. Luckily no stitches, I picked it up pretty quickly. I am using a Hart 5/8" with a round tip. I still have a hard time I guess in the chin area where another guy would have a goatee. I got the sides and neck pretty good but no matter what method I use, I constantly find on the chin it feels like it's ripping and it's uncomfortable and I wind up giving up and using a regular razor there. I used shave soap soap, a glide gel I found online and I use conditioner before I shave. I let my face heat up and hairs soften in hot water and shave in the shower. Any tips or ideas? If this is not the place to post this I apologize, just let me know where is.
Thanks,
-Bill

---

When I first started, this was my main problem area also, beside right under the ears where jaw bone runs into neck area. But with the chin, it can be a tough one to conquer. I use short careful pulls with the blade, I do better with larger blades say 7/8 or bigger, because I lay them flatter on the face and chin,, but finally after a great while I feel very comfortable on the chin. Remember don't be in a hurry, and be conscious of the blades angel at all times, even when not on the chin, you'll get it soon enough keep up the good work, you experiencing what many other s have run into also, not to worry.:beer1:

Chin is a PITA! I'm healing from a little cut right now...:tameshigiri:

When I first started SR shaving I had trouble with my chin. I would a first pass just on the chin area with a DE and then do a second pass with a SR. The helped develop muscle memory and eventually I could shave my chin with no difficulties. Lots of good prep and short strokes helped as well.

No advice I'm afraid. I came to see what was offered. Chin is my nemesis.

The valley between my lower lip and chin is becoming death valley! I've only cut myself badly 3 times in the six months I've been straight shaving. All 3 times in that darn spot.

3rd time was last night. Of course i had somewhere to be. Styptic didn't want to stop it entirely. Still had TP stuck to my face when i had to leave. :gaah:

I understand this area can be a problem if your chin is anything like mine. From the bottom of the lip it goes into a valley and then a rather sharp change in direction with bony support as the chin starts to jut out. This also for me is a point of danger where the blade often collides with a wall that starts my chin. A blade can go straight in to this abrupt transition point if not careful. What I tend to do is treat this area as two separate planes and try to be mindful of the border between them. Another thing i do is force air under my bottom lip to try to fill that area to better transition towards the chin. The idea is to try to flatten the area any way that is suitable for you so your shaving stroke doesn't come to an abrupt halt leading to a cut. Many ways to tackle these things you just have to study the angles of your face and come up with a strategy to deal with them. i also have a cleft chin that used be a pita to get also but has become a routine scooping motion similar to what I do under the nose only horizontally. Don't rush study your face, experiment and I'm sure you will get it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Chugach68

short buffing strokes helped me with that problem area. That and attacking from different directions. It definitely takes time to get used to all the angles of the chin and other curves. Don't give up.

---

Yes this is the method I also use, and Practice - practice - and more practice.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Fellow could step in the shower singing bass and if the razor slipped out out his hand come out singing soprano .......... :w

---

LOL my thoughts exactlyAttachment 261406