Recurring Shaving Problem.

[RB3812]

I've been a DE Wet Shaver for several years. I use the original Gillette Fatboy that I bought in college, and I also have a Gillette Slim Adjustable and a Super Speed. I use Proraso Sandlewood and Derby blades. I do a two pass shave, first WTG, then ATG after relathering. For the most part I love my shave routine and am satisfied with the results....BUT....
I very seldom am able to get a really smooth shave on my neck, and the areas below the jaw line. Any tips or techniques out there that you can recommend would be appreciated......Thanks

 

[Adam18]

Try a XTG pass after your initial WTG, and then re-lather for your final ATG pass. On my cheeks and chin above the lower border of my jaw, the two pass WTG, re-lather, XTG routine works well. But for my neck, I need the third ATG pass. I've found that WTG, XTG, ATG works much better on my neck than just the WTG, ATG routine. Good Luck !

 

[jidn]

I had the same problem. I found the hair under the jaw was growing in different directions. So my passes weren't doing what I thought they were. Could that be the same problem?

 

[RB3812]

Could be....maybe I'll try Adam18's XTG in addition to my two passes. Thanks to both for commenting.

 

[WeAreLegion]

This may sound obvious, but life your chin and look toward the ceiling. My neck was the hardest part to get smooth and irritation free before I learned that simple technique. It will flatten your neck so that it gets all of the hair.

 

[Einar Son of Ragnar]

I just stopped worrying about little spots that I had to go out of my way to intentionally look for.

My shaves are 100% better, with 100% less irritation, than when I was using disposables or cartridges. For me, that's enough.

I feel like a slacker now tho

 

[bobskins]

my neck, also, is the most difficult as i'm older and the skin is looser. on the ATG pass, i pull the skin tight at the bottom of the neck and shave carefully and slowly.

There's always a plan B.

 

[rabidus]

On my first pass below my jawline, I shave from center outward.

<--- --->

On my second pass, I shave from South to north.

^^^^^^^^

Then I shave from outward to center without relathering. I only have to shave close to my Adams apple for this pass.

---> <---

Above my jawline, I only shave WTG/ATG.

A Fatboy on level 6 works great for me. I lather twice and am able to go over areas multiple times without getting irritation. BBS everyday.

 

[SABOTEURw]

Counting passes and calling acronyms (no disrespect intended) never helped me at all. The only rule I've observed is

* Go over the area as many times it takes, in whatever direction I can, to get the shave that I want.

The only way I was able to actually DO this, though, was to embrace shaving products that promoted "slickness" or "glide". This "Gliding Factor" facilitates less friction to the skin, allowing me to use more strokes. I can't use more strokes if I shave in a manner than renders my face/neck irritated. The "Gliding Factor" helps avoid that irritation.

The other side to that coin is using minimal pressure to the razor. EXTREMELY important for the neck and chin. I can't get a close shave if I don't use the number of strokes necessary to get the job done.

Finally, you cannot rely on product alone. WARM/HOT WATER is highly effective in removing stubble. Try keeping your face/neck moist and going over the area repeatedly&#8203; AFTER product is removed until stubble is no longer felt. THEN move on to your next pass. It may also help if the next pass consists of a different product too. This practice has enabled me to expose and remove stubble previously "hidden" when I relied on one product.

This, of course, is SUGGESTION. "YMMV" should be something more than an acronym tacked to the end of a post. It should encourage you to examine the EFFECTIVENESS of what you're doing. If you decide it doesn't work for you, try something different. But, don't just change WHAT you use, change HOW you're using these products as well.

 

[adamchur]

Same here, I have no difficulty getting BBS on my cheeks, chin and top lip, but my jawline and the left side of my neck are like a jungle
If I overdo the left side of my neck I get irritation and ingrown hairs, although the ingrown are fewer and further between now that I've got a bald patch where I plucked most of them out of my neck with tweezers
If I'm staying at home, I'll make do with WTG, ATG.
If I'm going out I'll do WTG,XTG,ATG

Either way, I finish up by buffing S-N & N-S everywhere below the jawline

I can't get BBS for love nor money, but it feels fairly smooth when I run the back of my hand along the grain
The way I see it, DFS doesn't look any different to BBS - it just grows back a few hours earlier, so the difference between DFS and BBS is no big deal when I go out at night...............

In Spain, the customary greeting for men is to shake hands, with the very occasional "man-hug"
The customary greeting for a man and a woman (platonic) is to kiss on both cheeks, very close friends will have a quick peck on the lips

The way I see it, when a woman kisses me, she'll kiss me above the jawline, so she won't even know how smooth my neck area is
If I happen to meet the woman of my dreams when I go out one night and it turns out that she's got a fetish about kissing a man's neck and insists on BBS.............

I'll just have to cross that bridge when I come to it

 

[Highspeedlane]

I'm with [MENTION=108689]adamchur[/MENTION] here...the neck is one of the most difficult areas to due to its combination of contouring and relative sensitivity. I'm far better off settling with a zero irritation DFS than struggling and paying the consequences for trying to get closer. No one at work notices the difference in closeness.

 

[atoms8791]

I usually do a 3-pass shave. For my face, the order is WTG, XTG, ATG. On my neck, it's slightly different. To minimize irritation, the 1st pass is WTG, the 2nd is lightly ATG, then the last is more like a clean-up pass with some j-hooking and blade buffing in the trouble spots. I find that gets me pretty much where I want to be without too much headache. No one is examining my shave that closely except for me.

Making sure you have a good idea of hair growth direction is important, as [MENTION=87432]jidn[/MENTION] mentioned. Sometimes your pass isn't cutting like you think it is.

 

[Von Luckless]

I usually do three passes (with, across and against the grain) but I'm becoming convinced the hair just under my jaw line grows in small circles that change direction on a daily basis just to be awkward. I can almost get a BBS, but I'm starting to accept that "almost" may be the best I can get.

 

[Chevyguy]

I just stopped worrying about little spots that I had to go out of my way to intentionally look for.

My shaves are 100% better, with 100% less irritation, than when I was using disposables or cartridges. For me, that's enough.

I feel like a slacker now tho

I don't worry about the little rough spots either, usually you can't see them anyway, and no razor burn.

Clayton

 

[Graydog]

I seem to do a 4 pass shave everyday , The neck is a problem for many guy's. Stretching the skin has always helped with my neck
what I have found is for my final pass I use both hands , My left goes in front of the blade and pulls the skin tight right before the blade mows the remaining stubble down ,works for Me.
BBS every time

 

[JGUN]

I don't think anyone has brought this up yet, but in my experience with derby blades I had a lot of neck irritation using them for a short period. Once I changed to a sharper blade (Gillette 7 O ' clock black, feather, etc) I never really had the irritation anymore. I don't know if you have already tried other blades, but it may be worth a shot!

 

[MaineYooper]

I also have difficulty getting a smooth shave on my neck, and I can easily irritate the area by over shaving. I have noted that when I make the skin tight (nice flabby neck skin!), it feels smooth until I look down (like at a monitor or book). As I have to wear a tie for 12 hours at work, too much stubble on the neck combined with a collar can create irritation.

What I found was a technique called bullfrogging, where you make the skin sort of puff out rather than pull tight. Mantic59 made a youtube video, and there are several great threads here and here.

 

[muzichead]

Another of those YMMV thread for certain but, I'm with [MENTION=105048]Graydog[/MENTION] on this one. I do a 4 pass shave every time I shave. I do this for a few reasons though and with some success it seems, at least in my head it is!! I do a WTG / ATG / XTG S-N / & XTG N-S which basically is the cleanup pass. I figure I have all that lather on the brush already so why not. I am doing a cleanup pass so why not a complete 4th pass. Makes perfect sense to me. The length of stroke really helped with the end result of my shave. I found if I took longer strokes and cleaned the razor head more often, the shave was cleaner and more irritation free. I think this has become more successful as I have progressed through my razors and learned more of what works for me in a razor and what doesn't. I will point out that things have drastically improved when I finally slowed myself down during my passes and made sure each one was with very little to no pressure at all. This was key to it all. I know I read about little to no pressure in it seems like thousands of posts now, but it never really sank in. I take the time to think about each stroke during each pass and it is starting to become 2nd nature it would seem now...

 

[sandstone]

I also have difficulty getting a smooth shave on my neck, and I can easily irritate the area by over shaving. I have noted that when I make the skin tight (nice flabby neck skin!), it feels smooth until I look down (like at a monitor or book). As I have to wear a tie for 12 hours at work, too much stubble on the neck combined with a collar can create irritation.

What I found was a technique called bullfrogging, where you make the skin sort of puff out rather than pull tight. Mantic59 made a youtube video, and there are several great threads here and here.

Good advice above. Another helpful neck shaving thread can be found here. It's probably safe to say that the reason that there is so much information available on the subject of neck shaving is that most of us have difficulties shaving the neck area.

 

[BigJ]

Some excellent advice. Mapping my beard really helped my shaves.