Stiff Upper Lip

So I've found that shaving my upper lip is the single hardest part of my face. Having shaved for about 4 months, I can proudly say that I can properly shave my entire face and achieve extremely close, if not true BBS every time.

All this except my for my upper lip. WTG is...par, to say the least. I can get close enough to make my hair not noticable, but nowhere near BBS. XTG and ATG are...as a friend put it, "like trying to go down a hot slide with a horizontal butt crack."

Lately I've been experimenting a new technique with pretty decent results. I've been holding the razor in the middle of the blade and shaving my lip with the last inch or so of the edge. I feel it gives me alot more control over my razor, but still not satisfied with the results.

Any advice?

-Derek

Oddly enough I've had no problems with my upper lip. I imagine I'm kind of combing my moustache with the razor and it seems to work for me. My chin though ...

I'm curious about this too. I especially have trouble with the very corners of where a mustache would be.

I try WTG and XTG with minimal success. ATG in these areas is a definite no-no for my face.

When I want to get extra close I can go ATG above my upper lip using the following method:

Lay the flat side of the blade against (touching) your lip with the cutting edge pointed upward towards the nose. The flat side of the blade is touching the lip but the cutting edge is hovering just above the moustache area a few mm's above the skin. Then begin gently sliding the flat side of the blade up and down against the lip while very, very slowly lifting the spine just a tad so that the cutting edge is lowered and just begins to touch. The flat side of the blade is maintained against the lip providing stability so that you can just skim the cutting bevel up and down over the moustache area beneath the nose.

For me this is a more controlled and cautious version of Xman's awesome "fool's pass" method discussed here:
http://straightrazorpalace.com/video...technique.html.

Disclaimer: If it doesn't look and feel safe for you then don't do it.

The Coup de Matier or masters pass was a bit of a challenge at first for me, but once I figured out how to place the blade drop the upper lip to tighted it and then roll the blade down it was no problem. Doing several of these seemed kind of ok but not quite what I wanted. I then tried a new technique - Coup de Bafoon or fools pass. This is when you shave from the bottom up. To accomplish this I place the blade just on the lip line facing up at about a 10 degree angle and holding only with one hand apply just a little flattening pressure, not upward pressure, and drop the upper lip around my teeth and allow that to shave on the stationary blade. I then move the blade up to where it stopped and do it again. Never been cut doing this and it works just fine for me.

I really must say that this technique of moving the lip instead of the razor seems incredibly simple, while still yielding good results...I must try this...


Also, the corners of my moustache area are easily the most problematic part. It feels like the hair is made of steel and the razor just pulls the hair instead of cutting it.

For me this is the easiest to achieve bbs. I shave xtg towards and away from the center while I bite my upper lip.

I've never achieved BBS on my upper lip (nor on
many other parts of my face). I will do a coup
d'maitre WTG pass followed by XTG, from outside
in. This gives a presentable shave for me.

- Scott

As easy as it might seem, the upper lip does present a few challenges. I got the rolling part down fairly quickly during the down stroke. Haven't been brave enough to shave ATG, but have finally incorporated XG. Not sure if I am going to add ATG. My lady doesn't seem to have any issues with bristles so it must be pretty close to BBS. :jedi:

Curl yur upper lip around your teeth as far down as you can. This way you increase the angle between upper lip and nose from say approx. 90 degrees to approx. 135 degees reducing the hazard of nicking your skin at the base of the nose.

Staight razor shaving is all about pulling faces in the mirror.

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 !