Thread: How to Get 3 Passes on the neck area and under the chin?

Hi All,

I have been shaving with a straight razor for a little over 3 months. I am pretty effective going 3 passes (with, across, and against the grain) on my cheeks, chin, and under my nose.

However, I can not find any links or directions on how to get 3 passes on the neck area and under the chin. Does anyone have any suggestions? Take care.

Welcome to SRP!

There is no steadfast 3 pass rule, where one needs to do 3 entire passes to get a smooth shave. It's even better if you can get the job done with less, and as you progress in your technique this is very much attainable. Not just attainable, but desireable

Most men's neck whiskers grow sideways to some degree or another. Mine certainly do. What I do is two XTG neck passes, one in either direction (south to north, then north to south), and that is more than enough to get BBS, not just on my neck but my jawline, too. I'd recommend to experiment with this, and remember to stretch your skin as well.

Personally I never do 3 passes. That's way too much for me. I do two everywhere but the chin. I do just one there and that's straight down and around my chin. It's only at the very top near my mouth where I'll do a second ATG pass.

Once you know your beard the proper stretching will set you up for fewer strokes.

Thanks for both of your suggestions. What is a two XTG neck passes, where one in either direction (south to north, then north to south)?

Based on how my hair grows, and trial & error, my lower half shave is 1x ATG, 1xWTG, and then light touch-ups XTG where need (front sides of neck, and under the chin). Three full passes tend to start being a bit too irritating to my skin, and also, that third pass does not make a great deal of difference.

Originally Posted by tgo

What is a two XTG neck passes, where one in either direction (south to north, then north to south)?

When discussing passes, the wetshaving forum community tend to divide our faces into directional coordinates using compass points as a reference. Just imagine a line running down the center of your face, like a compass. Since most of my neck whiskers grow sideways (for example, east to west from adams apple on one side, west to east on the other) shaving straight up or down is technically a XTG pass. Hence the reference to shaving N to S, then S to N.

My bad - I apologize for using community lingo, I shouldn't automatically assume that you know what I'm talking about after being a member for a short while.

It's been mentioned already that 3 passes is not necessarily a requirement. I cannot stress this enough. Early in my shaving journey, I was constantly trying to attain the UBER BBS feel, and skinning myself alive, in the process. For the longest time I hid the fact that I did not acheive BBS on every shave, ashamed that my brethren would mock me for doing so.

And then someone posted an article from Craig the Barber about shaving for comfort, not closeness. I found that there were multiple people who purposely did not get BBS quality, simply because doing so would give them extreme irritation. Some people have such coarse hair that going ATG would cause horrible burns, instead of baby-soft skin. For this reason, I shave to attain the closest possible shave while still getting no irritation. Now I live to get Baby-Butt SOFT, not baby-butt smooth. Moisturizers and after-shave balms, creams and soaps, prep and cleanser. These are my mantras not.

Don't kill yourself in the search for smoothness.

Hi All,

Thanks for the feedback. This will help me immensely. Take care.

It's important to remember that it's just a shave. Tomorrow the whiskers will have grown out, and you won't have a BBS shave anymore. Shaving isn't a competition, and BBS is a goal that doesn't really have to be achieved. The goal is to get a shave that YOU are happy with, not one that the wet shaving community has to applaud as perfect.

The neck is a difficult area, after almost 4 mos of SR Shaving I still find myself doing 3 passes and then cleaning up the neck with a DE... But the trick I've found to comfortable multiple passes is ZERO pressure.... If I'm conscious of my pressure and use almost none, I can do many many passes without irritation,

This is harder then it sounds, but once you master it makes all the difference in the shave IMHO