Thread: ATG a No-Go For My Neck

It's been a while since I've read this old thread of mine and I thought I'd dig it out of the archives. And for a good reason too.

Earlier this week I tempted fate with my neck again. I have tons more experience since the original post (and I was getting great shaves back then too BTW) and I figured what the hell. I just received my new razor, which is top shelf, honed by Lynn so I know it has a decent edge, the usual prep with premium soap, the works. I was getting a great shave from a sharp razor, so I went ATG on one side of my neck (again) just to see what would happen. The result.....

A great shave but with irritation on my neck, on the one side of course. Angle was shallow, as in almost flat, pressure was almost non-existant, and although the blade cut smoothly, and painlessly, irritation was still the result.

Let that be a lesson for you boys and girls. Some peoples' skin just can't take it, no matter what other members may say. Shoot for comfort and be happy with that DFS that you got. And if it looks good just remember that that only you will know it's not BBS all over.....

Originally Posted by Ryan82

It's been a while since I've read this old thread of mine and I thought I'd dig it out of the archives. And for a good reason too.

Earlier this week I tempted fate with my neck again. I have tons more experience since the original post (and I was getting great shaves back then too BTW) and I figured what the hell. I just received my new razor, which is top shelf, honed by Lynn so I know it has a decent edge, the usual prep with premium soap, the works. I was getting a great shave from a sharp razor, so I went ATG on one side of my neck (again) just to see what would happen. The result.....

A great shave but with irritation on my neck, on the one side of course. Angle was shallow, as in almost flat, pressure was almost non-existant, and although the blade cut smoothly, and painlessly, irritation was still the result.

Let that be a lesson for you boys and girls. Some peoples' skin just can't take it, no matter what other members may say. Shoot for comfort and be happy with that DFS that you got. And if it looks good just remember that that only you will know it's not BBS all over.....

This is a great thread, guys! The neck is a problem area for me too.

Thanks you for sharing your experience, Ryan. I'll keep trying to perfect my technique to get a BBS shave on my neck, but there might come a time when you have to leave well enough alone and realise that BBS on the neck is not for everyone. When I get BBS on the neck with my DE, it always comes with a certain amount of irritation. I will see if this is something a can correct with my straight.

Some great advice..
the thing that i remember that made everything click for ATG shaves was by doing longer strokes and increasing the angle of the razor.
i found that a flat angle didn't cut anything and it made it worse for irritation and weepers ( that's for me of course )
i remember watching a couple of videos ( in particular the early video of Lynn ).

I stopped the short strokes as well because i found that by starting and stopping the stroke in the middle of a S-N line meant that i had to restart the stroke many times for one ATG stroke there by increasing the chances of nicks along the way so i just did one smooth stroke starting at the bottom and finishing up by the chin.
Because by lifting and placing the razor time and time again along the stroke creates nicks and cuts.

well, that was me anyway but that vid of Lynn's was really good for that ATG stroke.