Thread: Hard to get to place on my neck...

...it's about 1-2" each side of my adam's apple and about a 2" circular area. I want to shave against the grain (horizontally from back to front) but can't seem to reach it with my TI 6/8 Blond Horn razor. I can shave the rest of my face with, across, and against the grain for a truly "baby's butt" shave. But I'm having a hard time reaching this area. Right now I use my Merkur Classic Heavy to finish it, but for a hardcore straight user that's cheatin' . I'm wondering if going to a 5/8 or even 4/8 razor would help although I actually need a shorter and narrower blade. Going to a 5/8 would just give me a narrower blade. I don't think they're any shorter than a 6/8...are they? Would either case help? Thank you.

Put a finger on each side and twist the skin. Even a couple of degrees helps tremendously.

That's a good tip from mparker. It's called skin displacement by some guys; basically if you have a piece of skin that's tough to shave, sometimes you can move it somewhere else on your face to flatten it out.

It works for the jawline, adam's apple, parts of your neck...

Josh

Great recommendations guys. Thanks.

Tom

You can also look up and to one side. This will help stretch the skin. Use your fingers to stretch it some more, from below and behind.

I will agree that by playing with stretching and pulling you can usually find a shaving solution to just about every problem area. Personally I find my adams apple to be one of those exceptions. I have a very prominent adams apple that comes to a sharp point and then drops off to a deep depression. No matter the pulling or stretching I can't elevate that area high enough to shave it unless I use the tip of my razor to dig into and thats not feasable.

The skin stretching for me has worked wonderfully. I shaved only with a straight back in the late '70s and early '80s till I grew a beard that my wife loved. Kind of got out of the habit then as a DE seemed to work better on the neck, cheeks and lower lip. It just "fit" better. Though at that time the only stretching I did was lifting my chin. I didn't use the other hand to stretch the skin. Since shaving off all facial hair (first time in 28 yrs) for a part in a play about a year and a half ago, I started using the straights again (glad I kept my 3 favorites). For the current play I'm in, I wear a handlebar moustache and muttonchop side whiskers. It ends tomorrow. Then I plan to take off the muttonchops. A little later I will grow back the beard to keep my wife happy and my face a bit warmer for the winter. But the skin stretching techniques I've learned on the forum should make going around the beard with a straight razor a pleasure. Thanks to all who make this forum possible!