Thread: Stiff Upper Lip

My way of shaving the upper lip may work for you. I do a routine wtg initial pass on my upper lip. For my second pass, I use the opposite hand (right hand for the left half of my upper lip) and approach from beyond the corner of my mouth...on my cheek with the blade nearly perpendicular to my lip. I might even approach from a little higher on my cheek bone so the the pass is between wtg and atg. I take short strokes and move the blade with each stroke to a more atg and eventually slightly xtg. Be concious of the angle of the blade because, of course, you can only use the toe end of the blade (assuming the distance from nose to lip is normal!!). This way, I never do a truly xtg, but i get a very very passable shave. Xtg on my upper lip is nearly impossible though everywhere else it is part of my routine.

Let me know if this works...or for that matter, if it is understandable. Going for my first cup of coffee which perhaps I should have done before writing this.

best...

Derek,
Here is the way I solved shaving XTG on the corners of the mouth. First consider this. If the toe of the blade is 0 and the heal of the blade is 10, I use the area of between 6 and 10 to do all the shaving around my mouth and below my nose and my chin. This seems to allow me to have much better blade control. When I do the corners of the mouth I make an exagerated 'oh' with my mouth and try not to tighten the skin beyond that. Then I take the blade in hand and anchor my hand somehow on my face and place the blade just below the corner at about 5 deg angle. Then I pivot my hand and the razor slowly and gently upward to allow the blade to follow the contour of the semi-stretched skin. Works for me with great results. When I was developing this technique I shaved the corners and under my nose at least twice WTG to allow for minimal feedback. Eventually I was able to do these techinques on the second pass without any problems.

Good Luck !