Help needed!!!

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Ok so here's my issue. My beard grows in some wierd pattern that makes it darn near impossible to get a BBS shave on the sides of my neck opposie my throat. I have been attempting various skin stretching/blade angle's but i can't seem to nail the combination. Its seems that I get so close to figuring it out just to realize my wrist does not bend that way. I use 6/8th's predominantly but i do have a 5/8ths (somereason i cant seem to shave with out nicking myself with the 5/8's) it always feels like the razor is to big to get in the area/direction i need it. I end up having to take 4+ passes on this area from my jaw line to my adams apple.

I have mapped out my beard growth pattern, maybe someone hase something similar and some pointers?

thanks for any input~!

That looks exactly like my face.

Here's what I do. At the jawline, pull the skin UP onto your cheek. This will create a flat surface for the 2" or so under your jawbone. Shave WTG.

the bottom of your neck. If your razor is sharp enough, and you're gentle...you may be able to do 1 ATG pass....very softly. If not, practice your angle and scything motion going from south to north. I started with this, and then figured out the ATG north to south pass....now it's all I do and it works really well.

For the middle of your neck underneath your chin....I just go WTG north to south, and then WTG south to north....just like your picture.

I hope this helps a bit. It's frustrating underneath the jawline sometimes. Stick with it....you'll get there.

My beard growth is fairly similar also and the only way I can seem to ge the tricky little buggers down around my Adams apple is with a scything motion across and down, WTG then ATG, which is the tricky part.

Hope this has been of assistance.

Stu

Thanks for your input. That all sounds very similar to what im doing now, though admittidly im still very new and timid with the scything motion. The major problem seems to be that i can never seem to get the hairs that grow sidways on my neck to stand up enough to get the blade on them. This is becomming very frusterating....just breath...wooosa.

ok so anyway on the picture on the right and left side of my neck the arrows indicate the grain pattern, when i pull up on my cheek like you said I am able to get the skin directly under the jaw line, perfecto right? but then under that i cant quite do an against the grain because its not really north south its more northeast and north west and darn near circular!! Maybe I am just too focused on what i "think" i am doing. I will try to go with exactly what you said and report back after my shave tonight.

thanks!

+1 on what Maxi said my beard grows the same way and I have to do a south-north and then a north south on my neck and call it a day because my neck area can get quite sensitive.

Also....sorry I forgot to mention this,

But as you become more comfortable with your hand positions and razor angle, you'll be able to get into spots that you weren't able to before. I mean, you'll almost be able to go diagonal on your neck, because you'll start with the toe of the blade, progress to the middle and end with the heal. It all comes with practice, and a few nicks here and there.

Remember to breath.

Ok I took my time and really concentrated on stretching the skin. I found that I am able to do a great job with dominant hand on left side, but on the right no matter which hand I use I cant get bbs. For now I will accept my limitations and settle for not being able to see stubble there. I will figure it out some day...
lol

It comes with practice, and also some eureka moments, your face is exactly the same as mine, and I've found for the neck that pulling the skin diagonally down and way from the centre line, using a short scything stroke across the neck gets everything in one go. i've started doing this under the jawline too. As for dominant hand shaving vs off hand, it does get better with practice. If anything i found the off hand was giving me a better shave purely because the touch was lighter

I have pretty much the same problem, but is only on the right side just between the jaw line and adams apple. I kind of lift my chin as high as I can and do a sort of diaganal stroke from jaw to adams apple, seems to work ok.

-dan-

You might want to take a look at this thread: http://straightrazorpalace.com/begin...-neck-xtg.html

There's good discussion and at the bottom of the first page, a very helpful diagram courtesy of red96ta. Hope this helps!