Thread: neck passes

Good afternoon!

First off, let me say that I've had some great weeks of shaving. I'm using a Wostenholm Pipe at the moment and for the time being use a glycerine/Bigelow mix for the shave (I was using other soaps for the uber, but found that "soapy" soaps just didn't work for my skin.

I've got a good beard map and all the passes are smooth, but...the neck.

The hair on my neck shoots out from the adam's apple to my ears. In the beginning my first pass was down, the second up and the third slightly across from the outside in. Now that I realize that the grain is really actually going out, I can't seem to find a "stroke" or razor angle that will allow me to shave effectively WITH the grain (adam's apple out)...I can't seem to get the scales out of the way!

Any ideas?

Many thanks as usual!

Julian

You might just need to do some skin stretching to get those hairs that lurk in the low spots and grow contrary. Try pulling the skin in a direction that moves the patch of hair your after to a flatter location or at least flattening their location. Another thing is that you want to come at the hairs AGT if possible. This means,for me,using both hands or left hand does the right side and right hand does the left. OK here's where it gets a little hard to describe. Say your doing the left side of the neck,take your left hand and push up at the jaw line to stretch the skin. The razor in your right hand make a pass from low on neck up towards the chin,that is to say a low to high diagonal. This isn't a true ATG pass but should do the job. Watch out for spike points you want to hit the hairs with more heel then point. This usually gets those pesky little grinnin neck hairs for me YMMV.

This is one of the hardest areas to give suggestions that are sure to apply. The direction of hair growth, thickness of beard and hair, and the like make it difficult. But, there are general things to mention.

First of all, you won't get there from here unless you use stretching of the skin, and use it alot! I think this applies here more than anywhere else.

It's easy to cut yourself here, because the skin is less tough, and at the same time possibly more prone to wrinkle or ball up as the blade slides. Again, stretch the skin!

There are a few places under the chin where the hair is not especially thick, but is very hard to get to. For some of these areas, I position the blade almost vertically, maybe 60-70 degrees, and in what might be termed as a scraping motion, shave. But, LIGHT pressure. In my situation, because the hair is light, it is shaved effectively at this angle. But, because of the angle there is little chance of being cut. (Shaving with the blade close to the skin, which is optimal many other locations, is problematic for me here, because invariably I will cut myself.)

Now, the above doesn't even apply to most of the neck area. But, around the Adams Apple, etc.

The crease of my neck, where neck meets chest, was the hardest! A small dwarf 4/8 razor made this easier. But, I don't usually use that size. What really has me consistently *close* to BBS there is a sliding scooping motion. Imagine bailing water out of a boat, with the circular scooping motion to get water, and then throw it out. (Sorry, if you're not a boat guy. But, congrats if you've never had to bail a boat!) Add to the scooping, circular motion while shaving a sliding action to the side, a scything action, and you have it.

Be careful! Work on the scoop. Then, add the slide!

Great - I think I grok! It's the only place on my face that remains BBS elusive!

One more thing I just thought of...

When I shave, the warmth expands my skin over the beard just slightly. But, after I shave my neck might feel fine. So, I clean up and put my gear away, and run my hands over my face and neck. And, where my neck might have felt BBS before, there is noticeable stubble. I think this is because the skin of my neck cooled down, and contracted.

For this reason, and this is the only area, I will sometimes splash COLD water over my neck and make a final pass. And/or will actually shave it dry, without soap. Seems like the hair, (half way between beard and hair), sticks up more in a prickly sort of way. But, still can be easily nicked off by the blade.

Ah, I see how the hot to cold contraction would make some sense (especially since I'm using pretty warm lather for all the passes - ghetto scuttle with water from a kettle). I might not go dry, but I'm willing to try it cold! I'll give it a shot tonight and report in the morning!

Thanks!

Originally Posted by ethermantis

I might not go dry, but I'm willing to try it cold! I'll give it a shot tonight and report in the morning! Thanks!

If you were a man, you would shave dry, and blindfolded!

Then you might have to call me Nancy! Ha Ha!

I've been straight shaving for 4-5mths now but getting much closer shaves on the neck in last month - my neck hair generally grows diagonally down and away from the point of the chin; I almost always do 3 passes (WTG, XTG & ATG).

I have found that my neck shaves best if, after a N-S shave (broadly WTG), I do XTG (adams apple towards ear) then ATG; both the XTG & ATG passes can be difficult and a bit uncomfortable with all the dips & hollows of my throat to contend with and need a bit of a scything action under the point of the chin - so my tip is to have the blade fairly flat on the skin (low angle) for those initial strokes (taking the lather off), perhaps in a bit of a "buffing" manner, then to immediately repeat the strokes with the blade angle raised to 30degs (or thereabouts) "cleaning up" so to speak; the XTG & ATG strokes become much more do-able, less uncomfortable, and result in a closer/smoother finish.

I must of course emphasise that I do lots of skin stretching with face contorting to achieve the desired result, but it definitely works well for me in this difficult area.

Main area I have problem with is getting BBS on the upper lip (haven't yet attempted the "fools' pass") and the little straggly hairs right on the lip margin - too close and I end up with a crop of cold sores!!

Stuart

The whiskers on my neck run a radial pattern. The centerline (straight down from the nose) grows straight down. 1/4 inch to either side is a whole different ball game. Under the jawline, the hair grows down and out. Where the jawline meets the neck, it grows straight sideways, and about a half inch below that it grows sideways and slightly upwards. Near the outer edge, it all grows out and up. So, it's basically a mess.

On the average, it mostly grows side to side, and I've had a lot of problems working out the angles, etc. What I fgured out that made a huge difference is that it is much easier for me to cross-shave and use the local hand to pull skin. Pulling the skin in diferent directions from different locations is much harder to accmplish with the opposite hand. Doing it this way allows me to reduce the number of crazy angles that I would otherwise need to hold the razor. It also helps me keep the pulling hand out of the way of the razor.

Hope this helps.