Ranting: Why is the neck area so hard? I've never had a true BBS shave.

I can get my cheeks and sideburns completely BBS with one ATG pass every time, every day. Same goes for the small patch of hair under my lower lip.

Everything else seems to be a borderline waste of time to shave with a straight. For the life of me, I can't figure out how to get a smooth shave off of my upper lip, chin, jawline and neck. Each time I shave with a straight one of two things happens:

a) I shave WTG in the trouble areas and have to finish with a Mach III for an almost BBS shave.
b) I shave WTG and ATG and my neck feels like my neck was dipped in Hell's fire. Far from BBS, and then I still have to go over it with the Mach III to get it smooth. At this point it feels burned and raw all day. It looks like I was hit by a razor burn bus square in the neck.

Other than ranting, I don't know what to expect from this thread. I will say that I have watched hours upon hours of YouTube videos on shaving and I've read tons of threads here as well as the Wiki page. All of these are FULL of good information, but little of it has helped me. I've tried different soaps, brushes, prep methods, hot water, cold water, steam towel, WTG, ATG, XTG, One pass, two passes, three passes, pulling skin tight, not pulling tight, played with every blade holding angle between 0 and 60ish degrees and whatever other trick there is out there.

My razor is RIDICULOUSLY sharp. I really don't see the issue there, it almost has to be my technique, but I have run out of new techniques to try....

If I can get a true BBS shave ATG on my cheeks and sideburns, why can't I get the same off my neck and jawline without destroying my poor skin???

I still can't get all of my neck as smooth as my face. The skin is slacker there, making stretching difficult, and the stubble grows in weird directions, making true ATG impossible in some spots.

You've probably already seen these suggestions elsewhere, but just in case you haven't:

- leave it a few days, and check the growth direction of the stubble all over. Make sure that what you think is ATG on a given patch is in fact ATG.

- use less pressure. If you're getting razor burn, you're possibly pressing too hard without realizing trying to get a closer shave, but it doesn't seem to work that way, at least for me.

- try different stretching from directions - if you've been pulling down from the bottom of the neck, try pulling up from the cheek, or vice versa.

HTH

Many have the same issues so you are not alone. I've been using a straight well over 10 years now and I have issues with my neck too. For the most part here is what I've learned. You can have areas that are not BBS and still have a very good shave. BBS is not the hallmark of a good shave. I can shave with an electric razor and have total BBS including neck however 6 hours later I have stubble. Next, some razors are simply better than others for the neck. Razors with a real smile are great as are razors that are shorter. Also make sure your razor is indeed shave ready. I know you say it is but are you sure? Also some radical skin stretching is also in order on the neck. The type and direction of stretching will depend on the contours of your neck and your growth pattern.

How long have you been using a straight? The areas you say you have success with are the easy parts the others are the difficult ones. It almost sounds like you have not been at this long and don't yet have really good facility with the instrument.

Everyone is going to tell you the same thing that the neck is the hardest spot to shave. Not only does the beard grow in every possible direction but the skin surface is full of peaks and valleys. In spite of these challenges, I can get my neck completely smooth most days. As thebigspendur mentioned, some razors will make the job easier and more successful. Here are a few tips that worked for me.

1. Some spots on my neck simply don’t respond to a WTG pass. It’s a useless waste of lather to even bother. The hair clings so closely to the skins surfact that going WTG has no effect. Why bother? In this case I will either begin with a XTG pass or even immediately go ATG. Each person is different so this may not be an option for you. But if you find your WTG pass is useless, consider your first to be XTG or XTG on a sharp angle. Each pass has to be productive or you risk some nasty burn. So make each one count.
2. Know the direction your beard grows and really stop and consider how the razor is going to need to attack that area in order to get it smooth. Think hard about what grip you’ll need in order to achieve true XTG and ATG passes. Your opposite hand may need to be used in order to get the angle right. You may need to hold the razor with the blade up, down, or sideways in order to achieve your goal. They are all possible.
3. Use your alum block on your fingertips to make gripping your skin easy. You’ll need that in order to stretch the skin. Keep in mind that stretching the skin away from the direction of hair growth tends to make the hairs stand up a little more, making it easier to chop them down.
4. Finally, think of your neck like a puzzle. If you need to grip the skin in position A to shave position B, you know you need to shave A first in order to clear the lather. You may need to shave something else first in order to get to that. Know what your order of operation is going to be. You can develop that over time. But once you figure it out, it suddenly comes together and you’ve arrived.
Good luck!

Ah, the Frustrated Neck Shavers Club adds a new name, along side of about 90% of us. :D You'll finally figure it out for the most part, but it'll probably remain the most challenging part of the shave for quite awhile, if not always.

I've tried every angle, stretch, blade angle and prep too. I can get it pretty darn good, but never perfect. The best time for me on the neck is right after honing my razor. It's the sharpest for the next few shaves that it's going to be. I can get that near BBS even on the very lower neck, my bane, but after a week of shaves it begins to be harder again.

Keep at it, you'll finally get there. :)

:gl:

Howard :)

Yea, like everyone else has said that is a problem area for most. It has taken me about a year to get to the point where I am satisfied with the neck/chin portion of my shaves. No special hints except to say time and slowly evolving technique should eventually lead you to satisfaction.

Bob

If you're getting burn you're either using too much pressure, using too steep of an angle or doing too many passes over the same area. I'm not sure what else to recommend other than to ease up on the pressure, lower your angle and keep passes over the same area to a minimum :)

I get BBS on some of my neck by stretching the skin until it rides up above the jawline where it's easier to shave ATG. It helps if you turn your head down until your chin almost touches your chest. Whatever I can't get that way I clean up with "guillotine" strokes. If your razor is in tip top shape and you are economical with your strokes you should be able to get BBS everyday without feeling like you dunked your head in acid. Until you get the hang of it though you may want to shave WTG only at least half of the time.

under my chin is like that the hair grows towards my left ear and what i have to do to even get decently smooth is look at the ceiling start on my neck going upwards and then scythe the blade so it goes in the right direction.

on my neck it helps if i use the point and the heel to get into the hollow and take hairs in ver small patches

Ha. I have read accounts of those who do two passes, a little touch up, and get bbs in what seems like 15 minutes, and think, geesh,what's wrong with me.

I'm way new, (4 mos), shaving approx every third or fourth day. I posted similar woes about the neck not too long ago. For me, the neck's kinda like golf. Some days, it's pretty darn good. Other days, I can't do much right. Bumps on either side of Adam's apple, and below jaw line under chin is also difficult. Keep testing the limits on blade geometry, slicing/scything motions, direction, etc.

I will even take a break mid shave and grab the crox balsa strop or 5 micron paper on glass while lathered up, and I am the noobs noob at the honing and stropping process. Seriously inexperienced, but am learning via YouTube U and the osmosive (if thats even a word) process offered here on this forum.

A little anesthesia in the form of your chosen beverage never hurts. (I find shaving in the evening, after work, a much better way to go.) Again, way new , so please give preference to the advice of those more experienced...

After revisiting more YouTube videos I decided to try scything. I think I found the secret to the elusive BBS shave. I started to try it on select areas like my chin and left jaw line while I shaved the rest of my face the same as I have been.
Every spot that I successfully "scythed" came out perfectly BBS with one pass, even the thick bristly whiskers on my chin. The Mach III had nothing to cut when I went back to touch up.

Now ill try this again adding more face to the scything motion tomorrow at my next session! If I can figure out good angles of attack on the rest of my face over the next several weeks I may be ok.

On another note, while performing this guillotine motion, I see what folks say about the squeegee effect. It doesn't feel like its cutting hairs at all. Feels more like "wiping" them off my face. I seriously couldn't feel it cutting anything. At first I had to feel to see if it cut any hair but that's when I found it left only perfectly smooth skin! So far this guy is a happy camper and although my neck is once again a bit raw from my traditional methods, I'll try scything it tomorrow and post results.

The scything stroke is good to clean up the neck of us heavy-bearded ones. However, getting BBS requires excessive pressure and leads to the abuse to the neck area and causes other problems such as ingrown hairs, much as with modern, mulitblade razors! As I started, I listened to old Lynn on this subject and realized that perfection is never to be had for most of our beards. It is better to be kind to your skin than to obliterate it! JMHO!

The scything stroke just glided over my skin with only enough pressure to keep the blade on the skin. I'll try the neck with the same light pressure and see what happens. I'm feeling confident that I can get a BBS shave from a straight, it's just going to take time to find the strokes that are going to work.

Scything and sometimes actually doing less preshave prep on the thinner neck hairs helps (so that they are a bit stiffer when you shave; be careful though!)

If your blade is truly shave ready, you only need enough pressure to wipe off the lather. Also on my WTG pass, the spine is almost touching my face. I feel your pain about the neck area...my beard grows all the way down my neck. You might try skipping the XTG pass. I go straight from WTG to ATG on most of my face. Good luck.

Did a WTG and an ATG pass today. BBS on the cheeks and sideburns. The neck was actually hit and miss with the BBS. I mean, it was close but just not quite there. I'm gonna try on a new soap in the morning and see if it improves the shave. I feel I am getting better every day so maybe 100% BBS isn't too far into the future.

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Originally Posted by Gotdzel

Did a WTG and an ATG pass today. BBS on the cheeks and sideburns. The neck was actually hit and miss with the BBS. I mean, it was close but just not quite there. I'm gonna try on a new soap in the morning and see if it improves the shave. I feel I am getting better every day so maybe 100% BBS isn't too far into the future.

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I've found scything to be the only way I can get BBS on my neck as my hair grows horizontal and thus can't get ATG, and you say about it being hit and miss, if your scything is all in the same direction, try going the other direction, like 1 pass move the razor with the toe leading, then for the next pass lead with the heel.

For me I 'scythe' towards WTG for my first pass, then my second scythe towards ATG. Both of these are N-S. The rare occasion I do a 3 pass I'll add a S-N scythe towards ATG. Usually the first two's enough for me. So depending on how your neck grows maybe try that? It works for me so you never know, may work for you too :)

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Originally Posted by OCDshaver

...3. Use your alum block on your fingertips to make gripping your skin easy....

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Good idea! When I re-lather certain parts, sometimes areas needed for stretching also become slippery. That might help...