E-W and W-E on the neck

[joshuastar]

my neck hair grows from my left ear towards my right. I can't keep straight which side is east and which is west on my face.

anyways, I'm having trouble figuring out how to shave WTG and ATG on my neck. going XTG is not a problem, as that's either N-S or S-N for me.

I'm using my right hand for the record.

whatcha say whatcha say?

 

[Mr_Spiffy]

I have a similar issue, where my hair grows nearly E/W from my adam's apple toward my ears. Wouldn't mind a couple tips, myself.

 

[Krodor]

can't help with the lower neck (there my beard grows upwards), so there I do 2 WTG (up) passes and 1 ATG (down).

about halfway up the neck, the grain flips and grows downwards. So there I do a WTG (down) and two opposite XTG's. I do those XTG's by using the heel end of the razor, bending my head back and pushing my tongue against the roof of my mouth so my under-chin pooks out some. Skin stretching starts near the ear and pulls hard towards it, and my razor glides below but parallel to my jawline. Right hand holding the razor for left side in the ear-to-chin direction, opposite on the right side. For the chin-to-ear, I tend to use right hand holding on right side and vice versa, skin stretching starting at the chin.

 

[drathgeb]

For my neck I generally just go one pass N-S then two passes S-N. Solely due to ease of the shave. My neck hair is not too thick though

 

[cameraflier]

same here.

me: I do a N-S, then N-S, then quasi-daigonal S-N pass that's closer to ATG. It's not quite ATG, but it helps. My neck will never be BBS, but it's plenty close enough for work and wife.

 

[RaiserLiebe]

my neck hair grows from my left ear towards my right. I can't keep straight which side is east and which is west on my face.

anyways, I'm having trouble figuring out how to shave WTG and ATG on my neck. going XTG is not a problem, as that's either N-S or S-N for me.

I'm using my right hand for the record.

whatcha say whatcha say?

I'm 6 months into DE wetshaving. I too have a beard which also grows W-E (from left to right ear) except one swirl on R neck).
I go WTG W-E (left to right) on pass 1; ATG N-s on 2; ATG (E-W) on 3), then XTG S-N on 4th pass. I am careful with prep, angle, and light pressure so even with all this, I rarely get nicks, redness, burn, or irritation. And I generally get a close, comfortable shave DFS or even BBS occaisionally.
Cheers,

 

[Mr_Spiffy]

That's fine with a DE, but it's much more difficult to get the longer blade of the straight in position for the shave E-W/W-E. I imagine that you may have to use the blade with the tang down for the lower neck, and then point the blade in the opposite direction to get the upper neck, while tilting your head to try and straighten the skin out and utilizing grips that can get this done. I did have better success going at, as cameraflier calls it, a quasi-diagonal pass. It's between XTG and ATG, and appears to do pretty well. Still... more practice/experimentation is needed.

 

[OkieStubble]

I have a similar issue, where my hair grows nearly E/W from my adam's apple toward my ears. Wouldn't mind a couple tips, myself.

My neck also grows east to southwest. Is southwest a direction in shaving? Anyway, I try to shave my neck not directly east with the grain but at an easterly, southwest, trying to go at a diagonally + downward angle, instead of straight across my neck from one side to the other giving me a better chance against nicks and irritation from trying straight across east to west grabbing skin or adams apple.

I then do oppisite for against the grain. An upward diagonally angle going from west to northeast? The skin on my neck handles this better than straight across from ear to ear.

 

[BakerAndBadger]

Thought this was a discussion about prevailing winds or something!

The hair on my neck grows upwards for about 40% of the beard and down and towards the ears for the rest. I generally only bother doing a WTG but when I want a special shave I'll do two WTG and then one ATG - obviously changing the direction of my blade to go ATG on the neck.
Then I have my chin line which is even more towards the ear on a horizontal plane, there I'll do an ATG without stretching the skin, I lean in towards the razor so that my neck puffs out.

Generally though I'm lazy and not too bothered about an exceptionally close shave on the neck, my cheeks, chin and lips are more important!

 

[Predict]

My neck hairs grow from middle out towards ears. I lift my chin as high as I can and star at the chin and go out and down kinda diagonally across and with the grain. My neck whiskers are far too thick to try atg.

 

[BearHeart]

My neck wiskers go from left to right. I do a N to S, L to R, R to Left.

 

[Kentos]

I used to think I was doing a really good jog with my E-W stroke on the neck, until I saw the type of growth some of you Gents have on the neck and realized I was sorely lacking in neck stubble. Since then I have stopped and moved to a scything motion on the neck and lower jaw line. If you slide the razor in the direction of the hair growth you get a WTG, and against the growth would obviously be ATG.

So hold the razor parallel to the floor closest to your adams apple. Then, as you move up perpendicularly to the floor push the razor towards your ear while maintaining the razor's orientation to the floor. Skin stretching, a light touch and balls of brass are required with your first try it out. Eventually you can use this stroke on your whole face to get a smoother closer shave, and it is less hard on your edges too.

Good luck! And be careful.

 

[Doc226]

I have some hairs that go E-W and W-E, I use the stroke Kent describes, basically I do 2 passes in this area both XTGish

 

[Kentos]

I have some hairs that go E-W and W-E, I use the stroke Kent describes, basically I do 2 passes in this area both XTGish

If you do it really well, I find it can replace the final ATG pass in many areas.

 

[joshuastar]

balls of brass indeed!! thanks for the tip! Uh...I'll pray about it...