Does Alum Really Improve Grip?

In refining my technique, I've discovered the best pull for my chin is to pull right along my jaw line back toward my ear. Any other direction or even curling my lower lip tightly over my teeth raises little bumps of skin on my chin and causes irritation. This is the only pull I've found that raises my whiskers but leaves my skin flat. Problem is, I've typically just shaved the area I need to pull from and it's typically quite slick. So far, I've just been dabbing my fingers on a towel and drying off the area I want to pull in order to get a good grip, but I'm wondering if dabbing my fingers on an alum block would work any better. Before I go out and buy a block just to experiment, I thought I'd ask the question here. Anyone use an alum block to improve your grip, or do you just make sure your fingers and where you want to pull from are dry?

When I tried it I found it to be a bit of a lather killer and not worth the, for me, negligible improvement in grip, YMMV. I'm a big fan of the block as an aftershave treatment though and use it after every shave. I suppose I'm saying that if I were you I'd go and buy one anyway, you can generally find them quite cheap. Just make sure that it's Potassium Alum you're getting, the Ammonium one doesn't bear thinking about using after, or during a shave.

Sometimes I'll use a piece of TP or paper towel to grip my face. It works a little better than constantly trying to dry my hands.

Another thing I do: During touch ups I let my pulling hand slide a bit as I shave and trail the razor about an inch behind my fingertips where my skin is most taut. Almost like rough face mapping in front of the edge. It takes a bit of practice and if you're not careful you can slice your hand, but so far it's worked pretty well for me. I can feel where there are the littlest whiskers and where they stop before running a razor over it.

I only use lather for the first pass (WTG) and dont have a problem with gripping the skin to stretch it. But.. then I rinse off with water till my skin is at that post soap slippery stage, and before I do my second pass (ATG) and touch ups with water only I rub an alum block on my hands. I find if I don't I can't get a grip to stretch. I find it works very well!

One thing I found out the hard way... if you wear contacts put them in before you touch the alum or it'll sting link *&#$ (even afteryou wash your hands)!

A couple of things to consider:

1) Every alum that I know of is an astringent and should probably be avoided before or during the shave. The effect of using an astringent is contrary to what you are trying to accomplish. Obviously, you are not planning on using it over the entire face but still.

2) The other has to do with the stretching. I see so many of you guys to go to great acrobatic moves to stretch your skin that I often wonder about the cost vs benefits of stretching so much. A light stretching should accomplish two things: 1) make the surface flat for the razor to do its job; and 2) make the whiskers stand out a bit, which would reflect on the closeness of the shave. I firmly believe that too much stretching is not good for your shaves as it would force most of the problems that we try to avoid by using a straight, namely razor bumps, burn and irritation. I do get very close shaves that some may deem as BBS without doing to much stretching. This does not mean that stretching is not good but, that like everything else, it should be done in moderation.

Al raz.

I use an alum block to improve my grip probably once every 3-4 shaves. It does work almost like magic when I've got a particularly tricky (and slippery) angle I need to pull.

never used it for that purpose, but it would work.

i keep one handy for every shave. I will wet the tips of my index and middle finger, then rub it a couple of times on the block.

It seems i only use it when stretching my cheek up and this really gives me a better 'grip' when i need it.