Need advice on shaving corners of mouth

[gregory56]

I’m having trouble shaving the area right outside the corners of my mouth. The WTG pass, is fine: I move the blade from the mouth out.

Going inwards or upwards is perilous and when I’m most likely to nick myself.

Any advice?

 

[silverlifter]

Are you gurning? On the N→ S pass, I find opening my mouth as wide as possible, rolling my lips in and using my tongue to push the corners out allows a close pass. Nose to ears and reverse, I just flatten the area as much as possible by pulling my jaw down. I don't go S → N as that is against the grain in that part of my face and it is no fun at all.

 

[smudge]

I poke my tongue into the very corner of my mouth, which rounds the area out enabling it to be attacked from any direction.

 

[McBlade]

Any advice?

I only ever do a single WTG pass with a straight. If I'm going for full-on BBS, I'll pick up a DE.

 

[Kyle89]

I poke my tongue into the very corner of my mouth, which rounds the area out enabling it to be attacked from any direction.

Sums it up perfectly !

 

[SilverSteel]

I’m having trouble shaving the area right outside the corners of my mouth. The WTG pass, is fine: I move the blade from the mouth out.

Going inwards or upwards is perilous and when I’m most likely to nick myself.

Any advice?

Based on my own experience, my beard is denser and coarser around my mouth which can cause some increased resistance when the razor tries to cut through. My advice would be to:

1. Make sure you are not intuitively increasing the pressure or the angle of attack of the razor against your face to counter the increased resistance. Your touch should always remain feather light and the angle of attack low. Do another light pass if required to get that area clean, but never increase the pressure.

2. Get a sharper edge on your razor to cut effortless even through those denser parts of your beard grow

 

[Phoenixkh]

The explanations for how to use one's tongue are exactly what I. It really works. My only difficulty is seeing what I'm doing in the magnifier, lighted mirror I use for around my nose and the corners of my mouth. The back of my shaving hand blocks the mirror. I've gotten used to doing it by feel, even though it looks precarious. I go gently... smooth upper strokes... those little, pesky whiskers disappear.

 

[Seelector]

I only do WTG passes around the corners of my mouth. I end up with too much redness and irritation if I go XTG or ATG here. 95% of the closeness with 0% of the irritation is a worthwhile tradeoff to me.

 

[gregory56]

2. Get a sharper edge on your razor to cut effortless even through those denser parts of your beard grow

Now that’s another topic all together! I have a couple threads going in the honing forum on this one.

 

[gregory56]

Thank you, gentlemen, for all the suggestions.

What worked for me:

If we split the area by the mouth opening: upper and lower.

For the lower corners, I used my tongue to press out the skin creating a convex surface. This was for all passes. I also pulled the skin toward my ears (I rub a wet finger on an alum block so that it will grip the skin).

For the upper corners, I opened my mouth wide and curled my lips in (pressing the skin out with the tongue made it worse).

Blade handling: slow, gentle, and very short strokes; and, when working on the lower corners, using the toe. This is where an SR really shines in how one can control and place the edge.

 

[H Brad Boonshaft]

Yup, I have some wild beard growth at the corners of my mouth too. I do all the gymnastics offered above, open mouth, tongue, and shave S/N using the heel and holding the razor with both hands for better control.

Of course, the heel must be fully and well honed. The heel should be honed around the corner, not just the straight part and cannot have a heel corner.

I don’t get these guys that advise not fully honing the heel and toe of a razor and only shave with the straight parts. I use the whole edge.

Try 2 hands.