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The Neck Area Shaving Info Thread : post tips, suggestions that would help others.

This is the most asked about and troublesome shaving area. (Even after 8 years I still have issues) Please help out by briefly giving your best advise, insider secrets or anything that would help our members.

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mswofford

Rest in Peace
Lather up and run your finger just ahead of your shave stroke to find direction of growth (with lather on it's easier) and shave in your chosen direction; WTG, XTG etc. for that pass. After doing this a few times you'll know your "beard map". For stretching I just tilt my head back as far as I can and still see in the mirror.
 
Lather up and run your finger just ahead of your shave stroke to find direction of growth (with lather on it's easier) and shave in your chosen direction; WTG, XTG etc. for that pass. After doing this a few times you'll know your "beard map". For stretching I just tilt my head back as far as I can and still see in the mirror.

This about covers it. You probably already know to avoid pressure. Won't help, but WILL hurt.
 
I try not to get anal about following my grain as precise as possible. I know that sounds counter-intuitive, but I'll explain: on my upper neck, my hair flows slightly down and out towards my ears. On my lower neck, it flows diagonally up and out to my ears. If I was to try to shave purely WTG, I'd be holding my razor at odd angles and I'd be adding unneeded pressure to compensate. Therefore, on my upper neck I shave N-S, and on my lower neck I shave S-N. It is much easier to hold the razor at the correct angle by doing this. I am a firm believer of doing what is comfortable, even if you're not shaving purely WTG. If it isn't comfortable or it isn't producing desirable results, then you need to switch something up. As with anything in this hobby, YMMV.
 
Beard Map and shave only as close as needed for that day..
If its SAT/SUN, I only go WTG two passes. Good enough for College football and God. I save the closer shave for work days. I also enjoy shaving at night, gives my irritation a chance to mellow out while I sleep ( that and I am a lazy *** who sleeps til the last possible moment). Good Luck!
 
Map your beard.

There you go. DON'T follow diagrams you see online or in books. Your face and neck is not that face and neck. Find out what your pattern is.

You will never get every whisker everywhere with a WTG/ATG pass. they grow all over the place on my neck, and I'll wager the same for a lot of other members here. Try to get a method down where you can get a DFS in two passes.

Don't press down like that poor cartridge-using, grimacing person is doing in Alex' post.

Don
 
I do a N2S pass over my entire neck. Generally, this is WTG over most of my neck, but not everywhere. I leave the left side alone after the first pass, because experience taught me that going over it again leads to irritation and redness.

The right side gets a complicated combination of J-Hooking and XTG, that takes care of the one trouble spot that defied every shaving method I tried for 35 years.

Finally, I go ATG under my chin, and another WTG, N2S stroke over my adam's apple.

It took me about 2 years to figure it out, and I suffered a lot of bad shaves and redness and irritation before I developed this method. Even so, some days the shave turns out better than on others.

As others stated earlier, you have to map your own beard, but don't get all caught up in drawing it out on paper and trying to read the diagram while you're shaving. Just feel around with your other hand. Be prepared for a few mistakes, but eventually, you'll get your pattern down and shaving the neck will become easier and faster and you'll be able to do it without even thinking about it.
 
This is a great topic. Right now I'm still wrapping my head around the fact that above the jaw line everything on my face is symmetrical and has a clearly defined grain. Below the jaw line, nothing is symmetrical and in the bottom inch or so of my beard, every hair seems to have it's own direction.

I've had some success doing a sort of modified Gillette Slide where I'm holding the razor diagonal to the direction of the stroke, but working that out with the bizarre pattern on my beard is tricky.
 
This is a great topic. Right now I'm still wrapping my head around the fact that above the jaw line everything on my face is symmetrical and has a clearly defined grain. Below the jaw line, nothing is symmetrical and in the bottom inch or so of my beard, every hair seems to have it's own direction.

I too have a situation like you're describing. There is one patch in particular on my neck where straight up, south-north, what a textbook would assume is ATG... is WTG. And, of course, it's right next to a spot where the opposite is true.

So, it pays to "map" the way your whiskers grow. Until I learned about that on this forum, I was shaving ATG without knowing it, with dreadful results.
 
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Do an initial WTG and then a XTG. Very lightly on each pass. If your good try a ATG. Remember to hover just a tad above the skin. Don't worry for BBS. As long as it looks shaved and neat.
 
So, it pays to "map" the way your whiskers grow. Until I learned about that on this forum, I was shaving ATG without knowing it, with dreadful results.

Oh yes, my map is a work in progress. Unfortunately I think my follicles get together every night to try and re-draw the map...:a52:
 
I'm not sure how much this will help others but I usually uses a straight razor now. I state that first as it impacts these next statements. The single best tip I can ever give is map your hair pattern wtg, xtg, and atg. Now with a DE razor or SE just use as light of a touch and let your razor do the work. Secondly only do an ATG pass on your neck every other day at most if you use a DE. Here's another tip instead of doing a ATG pass do a reverse XTG.... (Same as the XTG, but the opposite direction).

Now a straight razor on my neck my hair growth goes from west to east WTG. So this makes shaving ATG or even with the grain very difficult with a straight razor. So here's my tip do again a XTG and reverse XTG which for me is north to south then south to north. That method keeps me at zero irritation and a great 3 way smooth DFS feel. The last tip I can give is also with a straight razor and that is to shave at 45 degree stroked both north to south at 45 degree angles which is similar to a WTG pass then the opposite south to north at 45 degrees east to west similar to a ATG pass..... This works great but there is a bit more risk for irritation. With a DE or SE I or you should be with care able to get s great neck bbs, and even with a straight razor near BBS. Hope that helps someone.
 
I'm not sure how much this will help others but I usually uses a straight razor now. I state that first as it impacts these next statements. The single best tip I can ever give is map your hair pattern wtg, xtg, and atg. Now with a DE razor or SE just use as light of a touch and let your razor do the work. Secondly only do an ATG pass on your neck every other day at most if you use a DE. Here's another tip instead of doing a ATG pass do a reverse XTG.... (Same as the XTG, but the opposite direction).

Now a straight razor on my neck my hair growth goes from west to east WTG. So this makes shaving ATG or even with the grain very difficult with a straight razor. So here's my tip do again a XTG and reverse XTG which for me is north to south then south to north. That method keeps me at zero irritation and a great 3 way smooth DFS feel. The last tip I can give is also with a straight razor and that is to shave at 45 degree stroked both north to south at 45 degree angles which is similar to a WTG pass then the opposite south to north at 45 degrees east to west similar to a ATG pass..... This works great but there is a bit more risk for irritation. With a DE or SE I or you should be with care able to get s great neck bbs, and even with a straight razor near BBS. Hope that helps someone.
Nice to see you posting, nice advice too.
 
I have been on a quest to get a great shave on my neck. But the problem is that by attempting this I am doing something like four passes on the neck and a touch up. Which might all be great except that I am now starting to get irritation on my neck and then there is the matter of taking longer in the bath than my wife.

But all is good...I have decided that whith my growth pattern on my neck, I am resolved that I will never get every single hair and stubble. I can get BBS on my face for the most part and a DFS on my neck. And with this, I am happy. After all, I didn't get into wet shaving to start my day disappointed. I got into wet shaving to spend a little "me" time and start the day off right.
 
I've learned not to do ATG on the neck - 2 XTG passes.

My growth there is generally E-W on one side and W-E on the other. So pass 1 is S-N and pass 2 is N-S, maybe "cheating" just a tad toward ATG. But never directly ATG! (once was enough)
 
If you pull the skin down (toward the clavicle), you have to shave up, or the tension detracts from cutting power. Good for me, since S-N is WTG (-ish). Then, steep cutting angle N-S, aka buffing, but press skin upward above the crease, applying the same tension-power principle.
 
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