Advice for Shaving Troublesome Neck Area

[TFrankMac2140]

I've been shaving with a straight now for about half a month and have been able to get very close and comfortable shaves on my cheeks down to the jawline, however my neck has been causing me some issues. Like many, my hair grows in a different direction around my neck than my face so that a north/south pass is actually going XTG. With a DE I typically go WTG on my neck to alleviate this issue. However, with a straight its much more challenging! Does anyone have any tips or experience firsthand with this? It seems like this is the largest barrier for me to get a complete straight shave in without having to revert back to a DE for this troublesome area.

Thanks gents

 

[Chreees]

I'm in the EXACT same boat as you. A simple WTG, north-to-south pass for me is actually going XTG on my neck. What did I do? Probably not what everyone would do, but I did it... I raised my head high stretching out my neck, took the razor, and positioned it so that I could shave ATG on those little pesky neck hairs. Begone your unnatural-growing-direction hairs!!! It was risky using the razor in this fashion; I had to be VERY careful. But it was the closest I was able to get on my neck thus far. Just watch your angles and be sure to stretch. It's the only way to get extremely close for me on the neck.

It should be worth noting that I have only done that twice since I've started straight shaving... It's really a pain in the arse, so I don't think I'm going to do it all the time. Not to mention it feels quite dangerous. Gave myself a nice gushing cut first time I did it because I got too hasty.

A simple WTG/north-to-south pass and then a simple ATG/south-to-north pass is my usual go-to for shaving, right now. It may not be the smoothest and closest, but it's the easiest and quickest.

 

[Big_OC]

Another newbie here in the same boat. My trouble spot is right at the base of my neck near the center. Something new I tried was leaning my head over as close to 90 degrees as possible and use the same N-S stroke as your XTG pass. It's a work in progress but I did notice it shaved closer.

 

[buca3152]

My hair grows on the neck flat from left ear to right ear. I do the jawling and up first. 3 passes 2 xtg 1 atg. Then I dry my upper face and go to work on the neck. The dry upper face lets me do some major stretching that lifts the stubble. I only go atg on the neck 2 passes and bbs smooth. Dont stretch the wrong way or the hair will lie down flatter and you wont get it. Practice with a dry face and pull the skin up or down orwhatever and see the best angle to raise the stubble so you can get to it.

 

[kirisute]

as with Buca;
working in a couple of stages tends to help me alot with my neck area; which as well as having the hair growth has psoriasis as well!
do the face first; then re-apply lather to the jawline and neck. (though I always apply lather across whole face first anyway; this double lathering will only help on the neck shave)
I stretch from the jawline inwards to centre of face....essentially pulling the jawline almost flat across the jawbone...this gives a really good shave to the jawline area...you can alter that stretch from 3 points on the face. start with your finger tips level with your ear lobe and stretch to the tip of your nose; then fingertips pointing to corner of jawline pulling back to tip of your nose; then fingertips almost at corner of jawline and chin and pulling to tip of your nose..
for the lower neck I find my hair grows back towards the rear of my neck...so i shave down from chin to adams apple, then use that shaved area as a platform to stretch opposite the hair growth horizontally...being sure to also tip my head backwards to give a good angle.
i also tend to find that longer strokes give me far less irritation and tend to flow across the neck area better than the shorter ones i might use on my face.

 

[Firewalker]

My neck hair grows out from the middle so a north-south, south-north shave does nothing but shorten the stubble. There is no way to XTG from the middle with a regular razor due to the cupping that you get under your jaw to the collar bone so I have to clean it up with a DE razor every shave.

I usually leave the stubble alone on my neck after giving a N-S, S-N with a str8 and call it good since I always get weepers when I use the DE to cut across no matter the blade or razor.

 

[Gustav]

I have the same trouble and I have found two things that work for me. The first is a variant of what Chreees describes except that I take a step back and then bow forwards as a polite japanese person would do, then I stretch my chin forwards as far as it will go and then shave the neck hair from ear to middle of the face which amounts to shaving ATG. The advantage of this stooping position is that you can still see in the mirror what you are doing. The other thing I do is essentially the opposite. I press down my chin on to my neck which amounts to puffing out the sides of the neck and then I shave the protruding neck skin holding my razor upside down such that the tang is pointing to the ceiling and the tip of the blade points to the floor. I have also noticed that the smaller razors can be helpful to do these moves. Scything motions, J-hooking style is also an option.

 

[InHotWater]

I would try to look up slightly to straighten the neck out. This way the adams apple will not be a speed bump. ​And as shaving with any razor always re-lather.