Quote Originally Posted by Theseus View Post
+1 on all of the above advice. Another suggestion is to drop your blade angle after your first pass. I used to get quite a bit of irritation from the second and third passes. I was told to drop my blade angle in half when going xtg and atg compared to wtg. Doing this along with easing up on the pressure has helped me get a smoother, irritation free shave.
I'm about two months in myself, and I've been getting neck irritation as well--but only on my second and third ATG and XTG passes and usually only on my right side. I've gotten to the point where the first WTG pass goes so smoothly and the straight feels great in my hand, it just glides along. The shave is good and close now for a WTG pass as well.

Then I try to go ATG and it's like I'm pulling a donkey out of the mud. The blade feels clunky. I can tell I'm just shy of cutting myself at times and it's just not a smooth process like my first pass has become. I will try lessing my blade angle on subsequent passes as you suggest.

I'm also wondering if I'm seeing more irritation on my right side because that is my stronger hand. It really doesn't feel like I'm adding pressure (I do my best to be aware that and not use too much pressure), but it sure seems to be a plausible answer, like U2Bono mentions. I just don't know exactly what I can do to be sure that I'm not using too much pressure with my strong hand since I can't feel the additional pressure yet, if that is, in fact, what I'm doing. I also don't have any problem with that hand on my first WTG pass--it's smooth as silk.

I'm still finishing my shaves with either my SE or the DE adjustable set on 8 or 9. I haven't been able to get those additional passes with the straight very close. But I've become a junky for that BBS smooth skin (so has my wife...) and I can get it with the SE and even the DE, when it's set to "kill" rather than "stun".