Thread: The Best Way to shave top lip

Originally Posted by morty1

Hi All,
New to using str8's but i can shave both sides of my face & most of my jaw.
moving onto throat & under the jaw(feels like i've been slapped with a bear claw but i'll get there as my technique improves) but for the life of me i can't even start the razor on my top lip, is there a stroke which is easier than others & i won't even mention my chin i'll save that for the very last.
Thanks for your input.......

I would have trouble believing it if I didn't experience it myself. Over time you develop a feel for straight razor shaving and will find yourself being able to do things you couldn't do before. What you see on the videos are people who couldn't do what they're doing when they were beginners.

Sounds to me like you are doing great and you're well on your way to mastering the shaving game. Just keep shaving.

You get used to it pretty quick. It, along with the chin, are probably the hardest parts for a beginner.

The first time I tried coup de maître I removed the majority of a mole on my lip but I haven't nicked it since.

Thanks for all your input guys, much appreciated,i'll try it with less than 1 days growth.maybe that was part of the problem,like i had 2 days growth or am i just rambling????

It's just a matter of practice. Eventually it will be no more challenging than shaving your cheeks.

The way I think doing my upper lip is that the angle of the razor is set by my nose. For almost the entire stroke, depending on the size of razor being used, the spine of the razor is touching the underside of my nose. I do two passes like this and then a fools pass.

By the way, the fools pass is the ultimate test of a razors sharpness.

Originally Posted by morty1

Hi All,
New to using str8's but i can shave both sides of my face & most of my jaw.
moving onto throat & under the jaw(feels like i've been slapped with a bear claw but i'll get there as my technique improves) but for the life of me i can't even start the razor on my top lip, is there a stroke which is easier than others & i won't even mention my chin i'll save that for the very last.
Thanks for your input.......

Try not to get too steep with the blade, and use short, light strokes. Also, make like you're trying to wrap your lip around the bottom of your front teeth; really stretch the skin. It's easy once you get the hang of it.

I had lots of problems with my upper lip.

What I do is curl that area down over my teeth, thereby expanding the area. I then do a north to south pass. It'll take practice to figure out the pressure and angle but by curling my lip in such a way, I automatically am stretching the skin while also giving me more area to work with.

Good luck! If my advice doesn't work out, keep experimenting with different facial contortions till you find one that works for you.

Originally Posted by gull

keep experimenting with different facial contortions till you find one that works for you.

Speaking from experience: If you find it hard coming up with new and interesting face contortions, try putting on a set of wool undies

Originally Posted by Muscles

The first time I tried coup de maître I removed the majority of a mole on my lip but I haven't nicked it since.

How are you avoiding it? Do you use the heal or toe as a baseline and shave around it, or have you found a way to go over it? I ask because I have a couple of those...cough...older guy red dots on my face and I've shave them off a couple times now and they bleed like crazy.

Regards,

Bodach

Originally Posted by morty1

Yep,
...my razor wouldn't budge at that angle,or i should say i wouldn't budge when i felt it tugging & my razor is well sharp....

Sounds to me like your razor isn't sharp enough. Especially since your 1st post in this thread also mentioned a lot of razor burn under the jaw.

If you bought it from SRD, Vintage Blades, or one of the SRP honemeisters, then try refreshing the edge on a pasted strop. If not, you should probably send it out for honing.

You can also try leading your downstroke with either the heel or toe of the razor so that the edge is slanted like a guillotine (the spine is still 1-2 spine widths from your face). This works well for me on the tough chin wiskers, and allows me to get another few shaves in when the razor is starting to need a touch up.