Can Not get a DFS below my sideburns

[Itzflame002]

I've been wetshaving for a little under a year now, and ive shaved for double that with carts before, and ive never gotten a good shave in this approximate area highlighted in blue (sorry for the bad res) , ive tried everything (WTG,XTG,ATG), and all of these passes yielded nothing but bad cuts and razor burn, it got to the point that it would be noticeable to other people, ive got comments in the likes of "did you forget to shave here?" , i get BBS everywhere else effortlessly and blood free using very basic gear (Lord S625, Nacet and arko) but this area is just hard to conquer.

i wear prescription glasses and this area is out of the lens' so i dont see very well to be able to shave it (if this makes any sense?) so one thing that seems to help is shaving it with a couple of passes using a electric foil razor, which marginally helps making it not noticable socially,although it still feels very rough to the touch.

 

[BigJ]

I suggest you ‘map’ your beard in the problem area, to understand precisely what you are doing with each pass.

 

[Itzflame002]

I suggest you ‘map’ your beard in the problem area, to understand precisely what you are doing with each pass.

i could never grow a proper beard,this is why i ultimately started shaving it daily as it was full of patches, and nowadays i can not stand having more than two days of growth before shaving it all off, from what i understand i'd have to grow it for a week to be able to map it correctly? from the feel of it the problem area seems to grow up as opposed to the rest of my face and neck.

 

[silverlifter]

If you have dark mode enabled, light grey text may be legible to you, but for the rest of us, light grey text on a white background is unreadable.

 

[Guido75]

@BigJ is right that beard mapping is a key component. That said, the blue area is a tricky area as your jaw line may get in the way of your shaving effectiveness. In combination that the direction of growth in this particular area tends to differ as well makes this more challenging.

My guess is that WTG is diagonally towards the ear so whereas ATG is (for your left side - right side is likely to be the mirror image). So your regular WTG in a N-S motion is more XTG in the blue area. And ATG in a S-N is again XTG in this particular area.

The second thing I do is a little bullfrogging in this area. So I tuck my chin in so that the skin becomes more flat in the blue area. Then I shave WTG. XTG for me is . In three passes I get to DFS and BBS depending on the blade and razor.

Razor burn and cuts point to you using too much pressure in this area by the way.

Try that and let us know what results you yield so we can take it from there.

Cheers,

Guido

 

[Itzflame002]

If you have dark mode enabled, light grey text may be legible to you, but for the rest of us, light grey text on a white background is unreadable.

View attachment 1763408

Thanks for the heads up, can not seem to edit but ill copy and paste in black in the next post.

 

[Itzflame002]

for my fellow B&Bers running Light Mode:

I've been wetshaving for a little under a year now, and ive shaved for double that with carts before, and ive never gotten a good shave in this approximate area highlighted in blue (sorry for the bad res) , ive tried everything (WTG,XTG,ATG), and all of these passes yielded nothing but bad cuts and razor burn, it got to the point that it would be noticeable to other people, ive got comments in the likes of "did you forget to shave here?" , i get BBS everywhere else effortlessly and blood free using very basic gear (Lord S625, Nacet and arko) but this area is just hard to conquer.


i wear prescription glasses and this area is out of the lens' so i dont see very well to be able to shave it (if this makes any sense?) so one thing that seems to help is shaving it with a couple of passes using a electric foil razor, which marginally helps making it not noticable socially,although it still feels very rough to the touch

 

[Itzflame002]

@BigJ is right that beard mapping is a key component. That said, the blue area is a tricky area as your jaw line may get in the way of your shaving effectiveness. In combination that the direction of growth in this particular area tends to differ as well makes this more challenging.

My guess is that WTG is diagonally towards the ear so whereas ATG is (for your left side - right side is likely to be the mirror image). So your regular WTG in a N-S motion is more XTG in the blue area. And ATG in a S-N is again XTG in this particular area.

The second thing I do is a little bullfrogging in this area. So I tuck my chin in so that the skin becomes more flat in the blue area. Then I shave WTG. XTG for me is . In three passes I get to DFS and BBS depending on the blade and razor.

Razor burn and cuts point to you using too much pressure in this area by the way.

Try that and let us know what results you yield so we can take it from there.

Cheers,

Guido

i Will for sure try this technique in my next shave, Ty for the words of wisdom!

 

[Guido75]

words of wisdom

Words of trial and error more likely

 

[Jay21]

I wrote up a guide earlier that may help you. I feel that part of the problem when going from cartridges to DE razors is the angle of the blade. You didn't state which angle you shave at, but when I started shaving at a shallow angle, all of my problems went away and I got much closer shaves with zero irritation. I have very coarse, thick, and stubborn hair that lies flat against my skin. It laughs at electric shavers. It openly mocks cartridges. The only winning formula I've found is a sharp DE blade at a shallow angle.

Jay's Easy Cartridge to DE Guide for Noobs

For many people, the transition from cartridges to DE wet shaving is easy. However, for others, like me, it was required a steeper learning curve. I decided to share the method that worked very well for me. I understand that this is very much a YMMV lifestyle. What worked for me may not work for...

www.badgerandblade.com

 

[Itzflame002]

I wrote up a guide earlier that may help you. I feel that part of the problem when going from cartridges to DE razors is the angle of the blade. You didn't state which angle you shave at, but when I started shaving at a shallow angle, all of my problems went away and I got much closer shaves with zero irritation. I have very coarse, thick, and stubborn hair that lies flat against my skin. It laughs at electric shavers. It openly mocks cartridges. The only winning formula I've found is a sharp DE blade at a shallow angle.

Jay's Easy Cartridge to DE Guide for Noobs

For many people, the transition from cartridges to DE wet shaving is easy. However, for others, like me, it was required a steeper learning curve. I decided to share the method that worked very well for me. I understand that this is very much a YMMV lifestyle. What worked for me may not work for...

www.badgerandblade.com

i shave at whatever angle i feel the blade most at against my skin , i've never thought to quantify it. Thanks Will definitely have a read!

 

[NorthernSoul]

That area can be a problem for a lot of people. The issue is usually the curvature of the surface around the jawbone. You have to carefully adjust the shaving angle of the razor as you go around the curve or you will miss some spots. Another problem is you can't see what you are doing very well, so you have to shave by feel. If your grain is like most, try shaving diagonally, as shown.

Another technique you can try is stretching the skin. Stretch the skin with the fingers of your other hand, pull the skin up over the curvature of the jawbone, this will make the area more flat and easier to shave.

PS If you will please just use the default font colors, that way the text will be visible to everyone, no matter light or dark background. You can highlight with the Bold font control, or change the font size. Just leave the colors default. Thanks.

 

[Itzflame002]

PS If you will please just use the default font colors, that way the text will be visible to everyone, no matter light or dark background. You can highlight with the Bold font control, or change the font size. Just leave the colors default. Thanks.

i changed the font color to Blue when i made my original post and it all went downhill from there, could not revert back to the default color so i had to improvise, sorry about that.

If your grain is like most, try shaving diagonally, as shown.

i do not think so, i face (pun intended) a lot of resistance going in this motion , the only motion it does not hurt in is if i go uo from my neck towards my jaw.

 

[Darth Scandalous]

Depending on how much slack you have in your skin, you can stretch that area forward across the jaw bone. This will provide a taut, flatter surface that should help the hairs stand up and run less risk of weepers and nicks, if you maintain a light touch.

 

[NorthernSoul]

i changed the font color to Blue when i made my original post and it all went downhill from there, could not revert back to the default color so i had to improvise, sorry about that.

i do not think so, i face (pun intended) a lot of resistance going in this motion , the only motion it does not hurt in is if i go uo from my neck towards my jaw.

If you face resistance, that is good. It means you will cut the whiskers if your shaving angle is right!

You have probably got the wrong shaving angle, so you are pulling the whiskers instead of cutting them. Experiment with that shaving angle, or do the skin stretching described earlier. Hope that works.

 

[Ron R]

That is a harder area for myself also to clean up because I have aged and skin is slightly bumpier in that area. If you have a razor that is more aggressive use it with a sharp blade like a Feather or Gillette Perma-sharp and try that first just for those areas(2 razor shave or adjustable razor to test with). That area changes shape also so your razor technique has to accommodate that angle change slightly. You might not be able to get it perfect but a lot better to your desired feel or results.

 

[Goblin]

I just want to say that I have been wet shaving with DE razors for nearly 15 years and shaved with cartridges for more than a decade before that (and electrics before that) and I STILL have trouble with that area...if anything, I would say it has gotten more difficult as I get older, as going grey makes the hairs harder and more resistant to the passage of the blade.

Using your photo for reference, I find that in that area, my grain basically always points towards a spot under the earlobe. That means that for a WTG pass, as you work down the sideburn you need to gradually "turn the corner" around the ear to follow the grain, and likewise when working up from under the jaw:

The guy in this photo doesn't really have much growth there, but this kind of illustrates what I mean. Maybe your growth is similar? Have a look, if you don't already know.

The difficulty here is that because the hair is hard and flat-growing, a WTG pass doesn't take much down, but an XTG pass can be very prone to tugging and pulling because the hair is so stubborn. Plus, the skin on the neck below the ear is very sensitive. As a result, I can end up with blotchy looking follicle irritation in an area a couple of inches below the earlobe and behind the jawline - looks kind of like a little mosquito bite.

So, apart from knowing the grain, what are the solutions?

1) Good prep to soften those hairs as much possible so they can actually be shaved.
2) Very sharp blades.
3) Going over the area a couple of times WTG to make sure you get as much reduction as possible before trying to hit it XTG.
4) A good angle and a light touch (as ever).
5) Settle for a couple of WTG passes only for that area and accept that it won't be as clean as you would ideally prefer.

Most of the time I employ points 1 through 4 and then make a decision on 5 depending on how the shave is going, the condition of the blade, etc. Over time, I have learned not to compare the closeness or smoothness of my shave to the next guy. I just try to shave the beard God gave me as best I can, stay mindful with a focus on comfort over closeness, and always keep trying to learn and improve.

 

[musicman1951]

i could never grow a proper beard,this is why i ultimately started shaving it daily as it was full of patches, and nowadays i can not stand having more than two days of growth before shaving it all off, from what i understand i'd have to grow it for a week to be able to map it correctly? from the feel of it the problem area seems to grow up as opposed to the rest of my face and neck.

I can feel the grain direction on my face after one day, so I find it improbable that you will need a week to feel if you're brushing your hand with the grain or against.

Cuts come from incorrect razor/blade angle - often mixed in with too much pressure in a logical attempt to get the incorrect blade angle to cut properly. Irritation is often the result of too much pressure.

I absolutely agree with skin stretching, along with some bizarre faces in the mirror - but who's watching? You want to get the area you're shaving as flat as possible. Clearly that jawline is the opposite of flat without some changes. If you drop your jaw (like a large mouth bass about to eat a bluegill) and stretch the skin upward with your off (non-razor) hand you should be able to get a decent sized flat area. Some shavers prefer a downward stretch, but I don't know if you'll find that as effective.

It's not about going over that area repeatedly, it's about experimenting until you find the right combination of face-making and skin stretching, along with good razor angle and light pressure. It sounds like a daunting task, but there are really only a handful of possibilities and you will clearly feel which one works for you.

 

[euro]

Try to stretch that skin. Tucking in your chin also works.

 

[dmshaver]

Great suggestions in above threads. Just jumping in to say welcome to B & B!