Advanced shave technique: or is it?

So I wanted to ask you guys if you use this technique which i've started to adopt with reasonable success. This is something which i've been working on since I heard some input from Mark (maujery) at the SRP:UK meet up. Its difficult to explain so I made a quick vid to show you.

Basically the technique is designed to ensure that the hair is as perpendicular to the skin as possible, thus allowing for the razor to take of the maximum amount of hair with the fewest strokes. I was wondering if any of you use this technique already and if so what success you have had with it? Do any of you see any potential problems with it? I havent experienced any but that doesnt mean there are none.

So tell me- what do you think?

EDIT: Looking back now I notice I seem to be a bit wild with the razor.... :s

http://s277.photobucket.com/albums/k...ent=Movie2.flv

I'll wait for the video before making a definitive statement, but generally speaking I stretch my skin so that the hair stands as vertical as possible. But like I said I will wait for your video.

James.

I do exactly the same Jimbo, but this is kinda a two-part technique. Shave wtg, but at the same time working bottom to top. Its done in a series of strokes, with the skin always being pulled up, with the pulling hand being kind of dragge up the skin. The shaving hand follows with a series of short WTG stroke. Like I say, easier to show than describe. Hope that helps clarify what might be difficult to see. :confused:

i try to stretch my skin as much as i can and that does seem like it would work well but i know when i stretch my skin i have to be careful of the lather simply because it is slippery and prevents me from getting a grip. any remedies for that in this technique as from the looks of it, it would be an issue. i could be wrong though.

You guys are being uncharacteristically quiet on this one. :thinking: Was it something I said?

It took me a few days to decipher your accent. <g>

Actually I've seen others shave that way. I think it's a good technique, and I plan on giving it a try.

I understood perfectly. Sounds like a good idea I guess. There are only a couple of very small spots where I can manage to stretch my skin with my hands due to no grip from the lather. Pulling at the very top of my cheeks above the lather has little effect. I make do entirely with a variety of facial contortions. :eek: :D

the thing that strikes me about moving incrementally up your sideburns while shaving WTG is that your stretching hand would be trying to stretch through the lather which has got to be slippery. An I missing something about that?

I can go directly to ATG in this area, but do move my stretching hand up as I shave, as I have always done even before I started using a straight. You can see it in my vid. YouTube - One Handed Straight Razor Shave, pt. 1.

X

Good job. You do not seem to make an excessive amount of lather. Is the water hard where you live? My lather is like that if I do not use rainwater. I do my ATG on a second pass. I have shaved in the dark on ocassion. We all seem to rely on feel more than sight when shaving. What species of razor and how do you tune it to shave that smoothly? You do a no-nonsense shave in a quick time. This is what I am getting better at myself. Thanks, Robert

Hello Sandy - I do much the same, and I'm sure I have seen Harry H Corbet ("Harold" in Stepto & Son) doing this in one of the 1970s episodes of Steptoe.

Regards,
Neil

X-

The way I get around it is by doing one of a few things. Either doing a regular WTG pass first, meaning the skin is lubricated but clear of lather. Other ways of addressing the problem could involve using a shaving oil, though that has similar risks I guess. Finally it could be done a bit at a time. TBH I dont know exactly how I do it, I just do. Next time I shave i'll see if I can get it recorded.

bpave-

";"

Quick-

The facial conortions still serve me well in places: jawline and chin in particular. But this seemed to be something that meant there was no need for contortions on my cheeks.

HAHA!! You rule Sandy!

I tried it this morning BTW (look for my lovely picture of today's gear in SOTD soon). It was hard to get my brain to want to use that technique. Ever since my first shave I've shaved WTG on both sides (under my sideburns), and not needed to do more than one pass. The method you show worked fine, but it seemed more cumbersome than I need personally. I can take a longer pass, and still get BBS in that area WTG. Obviously YMMV.

Wait, i'm confused. Did you try the technique? Did it help you? Are you being sarcastic? Are you laughing at our joke?

So confused. :thinking:

I did try it. It did work. It was just odd. Tough getting my brain to reverse the technique I've been so comfortable using.

I was laughing at your comment left for me: ";"

I used the technique again this morning. Didnt get a chance to film it but I did take note of how I did it. X- I do a first regular WTG pas and then when my skin is lubricated with residual soap and water but NOT covered in any lather I then do it.

I have also adapted the technique to do a XTG pass. I simply turned everything 90 degrees. :tu

You're going to dislocate your shoulder :D

I'm not sure it makes much difference whether you shave WTG top down on your face, or bottom up, just as long as you're stretching the skin in the opposite direction to hair growth. I reckon most people do this on the side of their face since it's the classic 'reach over' hold that you see pretty much everyone do.

However, it took me a while to realise I was stretching my skin in the wrong direction on my neck. For a while I was stretching in the direction of hair growth, mainly due to the irregular growth pattern that I have there (and many others share the same issue). Once I realised what I was doing (one of those doh! moments), I stretched my neck skin the opposite way. It made a huge difference immediately -- closer shaves, fewer passes.

Of course, some areas you can't stretch the right way (e.g. top lip). I think most people do whatever they can in that case. My own freaky technique is to simultaenously puff out my cheek and stretch the skin towards my ear. This is the sole reason I don't do a shaving video -- it makes me look like a twat.:o

Quote:

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Originally Posted by chee16

i try to stretch my skin as much as i can and that does seem like it would work well but i know when i stretch my skin i have to be careful of the lather simply because it is slippery and prevents me from getting a grip. any remedies for that in this technique as from the looks of it, it would be an issue. i could be wrong though.

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I use Alum Block on my fingers to make them sticky.

Sean

Quote:

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Originally Posted by majurey

I'm not sure it makes much difference whether you shave WTG top down on your face, or bottom up, just as long as you're stretching the skin in the opposite direction to hair growth. I reckon most people do this on the side of their face since it's the classic 'reach over' hold that you see pretty much everyone do.

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Nail on the head Mark. It was yourself that put this technique into my mind. Which way do you do it?

OK - well, that's what I have always done, except I start at the top and work down. It does not work on the neck for me as I have weird, almost random, growth patterns there. Stretching on my neck is almost in every direction, but as Mark and Sandy have already said, the general guide I use is to make sure whatever stretching I do gets the hair as vertical as possible.

I also do this on the AGT passes, particularly on the cheeks. Works nicely in conjunction with a little blade buffing, or a combination of buffing and sliding.

James.