I have read more then once to use a scything motion when shaving. I have an image in my mind of the grim reaper with his scythe and what a scything motion is but I haven't actually swung a scythe lately. To be honest I haven't swung one at all and I don't recall seeing anyone else using one. So I have been playing at what exactly a scything motion is and applying it to my shave.

Not long ago I posted a thread asking if others , like me, had experienced a difference in the toughness of the whiskers on the left compared to the right side of the face. I seem to have tougher whiskers on the right then on the left or it could be blade angle. I have experimented with blade angle and had more or less come up with what I think works best for me.

With this mornings shave I tried something a bit different. I was thinking of the coupe de maitre that is performed under the nose to get at the whiskers on the upper lip. Here we approach the skin at nearly a 90 degree angle and as we sweep downward we decrease the angle to almost zero. It occurred to me that this is a scything motion. I had noticed that once I found what I thought to be the correct angle I would maintain that angle throughout the stroke.

This morning I tried starting at the normal angle and approximating the coupe de maitre I began decreasing it as I went through the stroke. Again what I guess is a scything motion. I found that this seems to be a more effective stroke then I was getting maintaining the same angle throughout the stroke.

This is on one shave and I intend to keep experimenting with it. I figured I would post it to turn others on to it if you would like to try it and to find out if others have been doing this all along. Any thoughts would be welcome.