Against the grain or with it

Question. I have always shaven with the grain of my whiskers, and been told that is just how you do it. However, my beard lies very flat particularly under my chin/neck. When shaving (I have a beard so it is cheek trims and neck) I go with the grain on my cheeks and get a nice clean shave. The whiskers on my cheeks stand up more. However, my neck is always stubbly. My blade is good and sharp (passes the hanging hair test) but my beard just lies flat as I trim. In a couple of hours I have stubble starting. If I shave up (neck to chin) the blade stands up the whiskers and cuts them clean as a whistle.

I have been cutting on swath that way just to see if develop an ingrown hair problem but have not had any issues. So I think I am going to start shaving against the grain on my neck. My question, is this something that others have a problem with? Are there any potential issues with going against the grain?

Let me add, I do not have a proper brush or soap yet. I need to get one, or win one. So I am still using the last of my canned gel that I used with the disposable. I give my beard a moment in a hot towel before I lather and shave.

Hey man are you shaving my face there :D
I use the straights to trim up my beard lines too
WTG on the cheeks and WTG then ATG on the neck is standard for me....If I want a really BBS shave than I go XTG on the cheeks....
Now I do have a very sensitive skin ( which is why I used a straight in the first place) and I have yet to have a problem, and no ingrown hairs but I never did even with disposables......

Dave,

I routinely shave using three passes; one WTG and two ATG. This works well for me and now that I have been doing it for over a year now, I get no irritation. I do think that when you finally get rid of he canned stuff you will get much better performance with real shaving soap or cream.

Scott

You'll see Lynn going from neck to chin here:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...straight+razor

Lynn's tip for the jowls also works very well for me.