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If you suffer from irritation on your neck, read this.

. . . Turns out that for many men, myself included, the beard grows downwards from under the chin (no surprise there), but then turns 180 degrees and grows upwards for the last inch to two inches going down. Right at the most sensitive part of your neck, the bit that often burns and gets inflamed after a shave. . . .

The solution? Very simple. I start shaving from the bottom up, until I feel the razor start hitting the ATG bit, then stop and shave down from under the chin, again stopping as soon as I feel the direction changing. Takes a bit of practise, but very soon it becomes second nature.

Second pass, I would just go straight from bottom up, to under the chin for the ATG pass. Mostly I don't bother going down again, because I don't want to risk the irritation, so yes the bottom bit is never BBS, but it is irritation free and looks much better than an inflamed turkey neck. . . .
I have been doing this in reverse for some years now: southward from the chin down, then northward from the bottom of my throat up to the changeover point. It surprised me too to find that my throat beard hairs grow in at least 2 different directions!
 
Some of us can't handle against the grain at all, and that's why I think it's important that we don't tell newbs that they should always aim for three passes. That can be a recipe for disaster. I have been wet shaving with a DE since 2015 or so, I have my technique down. I have tried shaving against the grain with one of the mildest razors (Gillette Slim on '1'). I still hated the feeling of the blade pulling my hair. Now I just do one pass. Irritation sucks. I know anytime I try to shave my neck without adhering to the grain, I get lots of cuts and bad irritation.

I shave XTG on my chin and above, WTG on my mustache, and mostly WTG on my neck (I try my best, but since the hair changes direction so much, I mainly just try to avoid shaving ATG there). Then I relather my mustache and go XTG. Touch up sideburns. Done. Since milder razors didn't help me to perform more passes, I stick with the efficient razors I like (the Fatips, I have many of them).

I have found that very mild razors tend to work best with a very sharp blade. If you your razor is pulling by the time you get to your third (ATG) pass, you need a much sharper blade. I have a coarse beard and very sensitive skin. I have found that four passes (WTG, XTG, ATG, and clean-up (mostly ATG) works best for me. I normally start with a moderately aggressive razor on the WTG pass using a moderately sharp blade to mow down the majority of the stubble. However, as I progress, I use a less aggressive razor with an even sharper blade for each pass. If I use a blade that is not sharp enough, it will tug and it will hurt. I had that experience recently when I tried using some vintage UK make Nacet Platinum blades. They were not nearly sharo enough, to my dismay.

The razor I use for my clean-up pass is a VDH/Weishi TTO that is supposed to be one of the mildest razors available, but when equipped with a very sharp blade such as a BIC Chrome Platinum or Nacet, it will get me near BBS with no irritation. For those with sensitive skin, do not estimate the importance of your shaving soap. If I use a lower quality soap, I will get irritation.
 
Every blade feels like it's pulling on the ATG pass, in my experience.

That is certainly possible. What is your pre shave preparation. I always shower before my shave using a shampoo and conditioner on my beard as well as my head. That properly cleans and hydrates my beard making it much easier to shave.

Are you doing a good job of beard reduction on your WTG and XTG passes? By the time you get to the ATG pass, most of your stubble should be gone.

Are you shaving at the proper angle with your razor on the ATG pass? As you progress from WTG to XTG to ATG, the blade angle should decrease (the handle angle should increase). By the time you get to ATG, you should be shaving "off the cap" so that the blade is slicing through the stubble rather than trying to scrape it off. That is one advantage of the design of a SE razor, you hold the head of the razor flat against your skin so the blade and do the job it was designed to do.

Since "every blade feels like its puiling", which blades you have tried and how long do you use them before changing blades?

Right out of the package Feather blades are the sharpest DE blade but people with coarse beards like mine only get 2-3 good shaves from a Feather blade. Feather blades dull quickly. Do Feather blades tug on their first shave?

There are several blades that are not quite as sharp as Feather blades on the first shave, but they become even sharper as the coating wears off. These super sharp blades are: Gillette PermaSharp Super (not the 7 O'Clock Permasharps), 7 O'Clock Super Platinum (blacks), BIC Chrome Platinum, and Gillette Nacets. I do not normally use these blades on my WTG and XTG passes, but love using them for ATG and cleanup.

Another option that might work for you is purchasing a single edge razor to be used for ATG passes. I am not fond of the GEM style SE razors, but many people are. I have a vintage Schick Type L injector razor that use Schick injector blades. There are modern versions as well. I tried some vintage Schick blaes, but was not impressed. The new Schick injector blades are made in China and are super sharp. Personna also make injector blades. I also have an ATT SE1 razor that uses Feather Artist Club blades. The AC Professional blades are super sharp as well. If you cannot find a DE blade that is sharp enough to shave ATG without tugging, I suggest you explore SE razor and blade options. The SE blades are more expensive than DE blades, but they are thicker and the edge tends to hold up longer, so they do not end up being more expensive in the long run.
 
That is certainly possible. What is your pre shave preparation. I always shower before my shave using a shampoo and conditioner on my beard as well as my head. That properly cleans and hydrates my beard making it much easier to shave.

Are you doing a good job of beard reduction on your WTG and XTG passes? By the time you get to the ATG pass, most of your stubble should be gone.

Are you shaving at the proper angle with your razor on the ATG pass? As you progress from WTG to XTG to ATG, the blade angle should decrease (the handle angle should increase). By the time you get to ATG, you should be shaving "off the cap" so that the blade is slicing through the stubble rather than trying to scrape it off. That is one advantage of the design of a SE razor, you hold the head of the razor flat against your skin so the blade and do the job it was designed to do.

Since "every blade feels like its puiling", which blades you have tried and how long do you use them before changing blades?

Right out of the package Feather blades are the sharpest DE blade but people with coarse beards like mine only get 2-3 good shaves from a Feather blade. Feather blades dull quickly. Do Feather blades tug on their first shave?

There are several blades that are not quite as sharp as Feather blades on the first shave, but they become even sharper as the coating wears off. These super sharp blades are: Gillette PermaSharp Super (not the 7 O'Clock Permasharps), 7 O'Clock Super Platinum (blacks), BIC Chrome Platinum, and Gillette Nacets. I do not normally use these blades on my WTG and XTG passes, but love using them for ATG and cleanup.

Another option that might work for you is purchasing a single edge razor to be used for ATG passes. I am not fond of the GEM style SE razors, but many people are. I have a vintage Schick Type L injector razor that use Schick injector blades. There are modern versions as well. I tried some vintage Schick blaes, but was not impressed. The new Schick injector blades are made in China and are super sharp. Personna also make injector blades. I also have an ATT SE1 razor that uses Feather Artist Club blades. The AC Professional blades are super sharp as well. If you cannot find a DE blade that is sharp enough to shave ATG without tugging, I suggest you explore SE razor and blade options. The SE blades are more expensive than DE blades, but they are thicker and the edge tends to hold up longer, so they do not end up being more expensive in the long run.

I can definitely recommend GEM style razors. In my case, it's the Blackland Sabre with the level 1 plate using a Personna GEM SS PTFE blade. Just had my smoothest shave ever after coming from a titanium Timeless .68, which is pretty darn good itself.
 
I often read that a lot of my fellow shavers suffer from the same complaint that made my shaving experience bearable at best, hell at worst.

It only took me 35 years to solve the problem that has been annoying me, and I would love to claim that I solved it myself, but the truth is I saw it somewhere on one of the many shaving tutorials I watched and decided to try it. It worked.

Turns out that for many men, myself included, the beard grows downwards from under the chin (no surprise there), but then turns 180 degrees and grows upwards for the last inch to two inches going down. Right at the most sensitive part of your neck, the bit that often burns and gets inflamed after a shave.

Why does it matter? It matters because when you shave down from under your chin, the first part is WTG, but right at the most sensitive part, it turns into ATG. If you have a sensitive skin, this is a recipe for disaster.

The solution? Very simple. I start shaving from the bottom up, until I feel the razor start hitting the ATG bit, then stop and shave down from under the chin, again stopping as soon as I feel the direction changing. Takes a bit of practise, but very soon it becomes second nature.

Second pass, I would just go straight from bottom up, to under the chin for the ATG pass. Mostly I don't bother going down again, because I don't want to risk the irritation, so yes the bottom bit is never BBS, but it is irritation free and looks much better than an inflamed turkey neck.

These days I flinch when I see the guys shaving straight down from under the chin. Each to his own, but it never worked for me.
Good thread, Biltong & Boerewors. I wondered why my attempts to use a very mild DE "WTG" on that bit of my neck were always turning out so badly.

Trying what I thought would be ATG (and make the result even worse) finally worked, with no irritation. Thank you. :a14:
 
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