DE Shaving for 5 mos - having trouble with neck ATG

[TrendyDystopia]

Any advice for ATG on the neck area just below the chin? Its like the rounded part of my razor (BOG DE safety) keeps bumping into my neck if I come in at 30 degrees or around that. If I change the angle I get a bumpy ride and it catches in some spots and shaves in others. It leaves chunky flakes like I took a dull fork and raked it over my skin.

I think my rounded part of my razor may be to large. I am looking into picking up a merker 33c. Something that isn't so top heavy. I'm getting a decent shave besides that area. Maybe I'm putting to much pressure on myself and just hacking my neck up. Every time I go to do it all I can picture are first impressions or my day to day personal image with people I do know and having a bloody pizza neck.

Any advice?

 

[GearNoir]

Welcome on!

Sorry to hear about your troubles. You mention you don’t have problems with the rest of your facial hair, so you must be pretty comfortable with your razor. Are you stretching your neck out, stretching the the skin, or otherwise attempting to provide a smooth surface on your neck for the razor to do its job?

 

[Canadian Mountain Man]

Welcome to B&B!

I know the troubles of which you speak, also had problems on my neck when going ATG. GearNoir has a great suggestion with stretching to make a flat a plane as possible. Other things that worked for me were to use a pre-shave on my neck and not going exactly ATG seemed to really reduce irritation & burn.

Hope that helps

 

[AimlessWanderer]

I have an awkward spot that I can't easily get the razor into. This means that instead of going right to left like I want to, I have to alternate going diagonally down to the left and diagonally up to the left on the next pass instead. I just can't manoeuvre the blade to go exactly where I want.

 

[Esox]

Any advice for ATG on the neck area just below the chin?

A more rigid design may solve your ATG issues. A post war Gillette Tech, RazoRock DE1 or Teck II. They're the same razor heads on different handles. Or a Fatip Piccolo, especially if you prefer a shorter handle.

Just below the chin can be a tricky spot in particular, and even more so if you have coarse and/or dense stubble and are using a less rigid design.

I always shave ATG and with my Fatip Grande, usually my first buffing pass is done ATG. I've found under my chin that I need to buff that area with my skin tight, and then again relaxed. I dont really understand why, but it seems like when I tilt my head up to stretch the skin, some of the hair shafts retract or something and I have to finish buffing there with my skin relaxed to get the BBS finish.

 

[sandstone]

I have the exact same problem shaving in that area and I do pretty much as AimlessWanderer does. It's not perfect, but it gets the job done. Shaving the neck in general is a fairly common problem. There is a thread here that is dedicated to this issue that has a lot of good info.

 

[NickCutlip]

Welcome to the forum !!

 

[TrendyDystopia]

I have been pulling and stretching my skin and getting in the habit for when I get my first straight razor for awhile now. I watched some youtube videos, read articles, and checked out the thread from the post above. I noticed some different techniques I can try and areas I need to improve in. I popped a blade in and used some water to check the angle of my approach ATG of the neck and it didn't look good.

No matter how good of a lather I work up or pre-shave preparation I do my razor is pulling and nicking and if I make small pass over an area with light lather on it its hacking my face up in tiny chunks and causing razor burn. Really sucks around the lower lip area. I've decided to pick up either an Edwin Jagger 89 or a Merkur 34c. The razor I bought was on sale for $25 (from 65) and now just sells permanently for $25. Its a crappy knock off from the grooming network and from what I've been seeing on youtube they give a bad shave by design compared to the more reputable razor companies.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[Esox]

I have been pulling and stretching my skin and getting in the habit for when I get my first straight razor for awhile now. I watched some youtube videos, read articles, and checked out the thread from the post above. I noticed some different techniques I can try and areas I need to improve in. I popped a blade in and used some water to check the angle of my approach ATG of the neck and it didn't look good.

No matter how good of a lather I work up or pre-shave preparation I do my razor is pulling and nicking and if I make small pass over an area with light lather on it its hacking my face up in tiny chunks and causing razor burn. Really sucks around the lower lip area. I've decided to pick up either an Edwin Jagger 89 or a Merkur 34c. The razor I bought was on sale for $25 (from 65) and now just sells permanently for $25. Its a crappy knock off from the grooming network and from what I've been seeing on youtube they give a bad shave by design compared to the more reputable razor companies.

Thanks for the advice.

Look into a design that fully supports the blade. Thats been the one thing that made my ATG shaving with a DE a lot smoother and more comfortable.

Look at the pictures below and notice how the blade is clamped and held between the base plate and cap. The last 2 are examples of rigid designs.



My Fatip Grande and my Gillette NEW SC. Both rigid designs. The NEW SC has gap, the Fatips do not. That makes them even smoother for me.



A simple search of the forum for the word 'rigid' will yield many results.

For the cost of this razor, you could do far worse.

RazoRock Teck II Safety Razor – ItalianBarber

 

[Canadian Mountain Man]

As it would happen there was an email sent out today by Mantic59 that linked to his tips for neck shaving, some good advice:
10 Tips For A Better Shave On The Neck

 

[carel]

I have a crown on my Adams apple and I stretch the skin to get the stubble away from it. That said, do a very good assessment of the directions of your growth. By going solid WTG first pass I find is very important in the neck area- if I don't I risk slight irritation- then the same with XTG- Move the razor direction around and pull the skin in a more accessible position, even if it is slight, use very short controlled strokes and if you miss the stubble, do not go all dry stroke on the neck, it will cause irritation. I try and avoid buffing on the neck, but if must I follow a bit of restrain not to over do it and if I still feel it could be better, I try and convince myself to do it the next shave.
I do ATG on my neck and really concentrate on the growth direction and pass only once ATG if I can.
I see it this way, on the neck, if not really concentrating on the growth direction, I can easily go ATG or similar on the first and second pass- not good for shaving the stubble systematically down to almost zero.

 

[alex2363]

I have the exact same problem shaving in that area and I do pretty much as AimlessWanderer does. It's not perfect, but it gets the job done. Shaving the neck in general is a fairly common problem. There is a thread here that is dedicated to this issue that has a lot of good info.

Great link

 

[BigJ]

Welcome! Some great insights above. You should also recognize that there is no requirement that you go ATG!

 

[Jer78]

Chunky flakes? I'm wondering if those might be chunks of dry skin that can wreak havoc with your shaving. I got some Cerave from WalMart and it is fantastic. I started using it 2x a day and the upper neck flakes were a thing of the past.

I now use it as a preshave and it's great. It gets my skin in prime condition for the coming assault.

Happy shaves, JM

 

[DTrem5]

when i go up on my neck, I find riding the cap to "just" barely catching the hairs works best. That and keeping my skin tight by lifting up my chin.

 

[TrendyDystopia]

Picked up an Edwin Jagger and been using it for the last month. It shaves like a hot knife through butter with a 3 day old blade, 3 passes each day!

 

[sandstone]

Congrats on your success with the Edwin Jagger! That is great news and thanks for the update.