Newbie with a ruined neck!

[psfred]

Definitely do NOT use more pressure! Map your beard for sure.

My beard grows strangely around my neck, and I've found that I need to make a stripe from ear to chin at the base, slightly downward, straight down around my adam's apple, then up and toward the left ear for the rest of it except under my right ear.

No single direction at all, you need to figure out what direction and where gets the job done with the least blade action. I shave ATG, get good to excellent shaves in one pass with a bit of touchup when I'm on my game, you will need to figure out what works for you.

Again, do NOT add pressure! Trust the edge to cut the hair, as it will until you have many many shaves on it.

Keep the blade angle as low as possible, too -- too many of the shave videos on youtube make me wince, those 60 and 70 degree blade angles have to scrape like crazy at anything but exceedingly light pressure!

Peter

 

[alex2363]

Definitely do NOT use more pressure! Map your beard for sure.

My beard grows strangely around my neck, and I've found that I need to make a stripe from ear to chin at the base, slightly downward, straight down around my adam's apple, then up and toward the left ear for the rest of it except under my right ear.

No single direction at all, you need to figure out what direction and where gets the job done with the least blade action. I shave ATG, get good to excellent shaves in one pass with a bit of touchup when I'm on my game, you will need to figure out what works for you.

Again, do NOT add pressure! Trust the edge to cut the hair, as it will until you have many many shaves on it.

Keep the blade angle as low as possible, too -- too many of the shave videos on youtube make me wince, those 60 and 70 degree blade angles have to scrape like crazy at anything but exceedingly light pressure!

Peter

+1

 

[The Dude Abides]

Definitely do NOT use more pressure! Map your beard for sure.

My beard grows strangely around my neck, and I've found that I need to make a stripe from ear to chin at the base, slightly downward, straight down around my adam's apple, then up and toward the left ear for the rest of it except under my right ear.

No single direction at all, you need to figure out what direction and where gets the job done with the least blade action. I shave ATG, get good to excellent shaves in one pass with a bit of touchup when I'm on my game, you will need to figure out what works for you.

Again, do NOT add pressure! Trust the edge to cut the hair, as it will until you have many many shaves on it.

Keep the blade angle as low as possible, too -- too many of the shave videos on youtube make me wince, those 60 and 70 degree blade angles have to scrape like crazy at anything but exceedingly light pressure!

Peter

You got it. I shall map.
I've seen the videos too and I really wonder about it-- it looks like a real scrape session.

Now I've entered into this cycle where I screw up my neck and wait till it heals and screw I up again. If I wait until it totally heals then it gets irritated by the growing hairs.
Yesterday I used a little trimmer on it to see if I can get it to heal without growth irritation.
Really though I'd like to just get back in there.

 

[The Dude Abides]

Hi and welcome!

I have a Weishi razor and struggle to get a goot shave with it. It is such a super mild razor that to get anything close to smooth I have to use pressure and lots of repeat strokes which then often ends in irritation. You may find that a more aggressive razor and less pressure suits you better.

I wondered about that. In all the reading I've done I never understood what "aggressive" and "mild" meant in this context. On my second shave it really did feel like a mild razor. I can't afford anything else right now but this is a good thing to know.

 

[kmain]

You just have to experiment. I get my worst shaves from my Merkur Futur and Merkur Slant even with a very light hand I still manage to nick myself.

My favorite razors are the Merkur 34C and the Mongoose SE Alumigoose.

Blades are subjective as well.... Feathers are really easy to cut yourself with if you aren't careful even with mild razors. My go-between razorblade is the Astra SS or Personnas... I avoid Merkur and Derby blades however as I find them to mild/dull.

Technique since the razor does not adjust to face you have to just let the razor do the work... sort of let it glide over the face with the slightly effort... do not press... after a while you'll get a technique down. I can shave 3 passes in less than 5 minutes now to include lathering and cleanup.

 

[The Dude Abides]

You just have to experiment. I get my worst shaves from my Merkur Futur and Merkur Slant even with a very light hand I still manage to nick myself.

My favorite razors are the Merkur 34C and the Mongoose SE Alumigoose.

Blades are subjective as well.... Feathers are really easy to cut yourself with if you aren't careful even with mild razors. My go-between razorblade is the Astra SS or Personnas... I avoid Merkur and Derby blades however as I find them to mild/dull.

Technique since the razor does not adjust to face you have to just let the razor do the work... sort of let it glide over the face with the slightly effort... do not press... after a while you'll get a technique down. I can shave 3 passes in less than 5 minutes now to include lathering and cleanup.

This weishi of mine came with 5 feather razors-- I think I'm going to try that soon. Very curious what the difference in blades will be like. I can't afford another razor, so I won't be able to experience a more aggressive razor for a good while.

 

[The Dude Abides]

I'm very happy to report two good (not great) shaves! On Friday night I found myself alone at home with the kids asleep so I jumped in the shower and had a shave. It went very well! I didn't bleed once and had a much easier time of it. I slipped into old pressure habits but I still had only minor irritation afterward. My only complaint is that it wasn't a close shave throughout.

The next day I found the time to shave again and I did! Given my first experience (Fri, Jan 6, my neck was so messed up that I wouldn't shave for another 4 days) I was shocked that I would have such slight irritation that I'd be able to shave days in a row. It went well! I had one slight nick and again, I didn't get the closest shave throughout, but I'm glad I did it. I imagine closer shaves will come with time and practice. I'll definitely shave again tomorrow.

 

[Mad Man]

Persistence, practice, pay off.

Well done.

 

[DeepFried]

Thanks for the heads up!


I actually had my second DE shave today. It went better than the previous one. First, I really learned how to make a good lather. The kind of lather one could be proud of.

Second, I only did a pass and a half or so with the DE before doing the last pass with my cartridge shaver. I was already bleeding quite a bit and it wasn't looking good yet so I quit while I was ahead. It wasn't a great shave, but it went better and I should heal up more quickly this time around. Then I'll jump right back in.

Ok my diagnosis: you're being way too ambitious.

When you start out your goal is not to get a BBS shave, its to get a shave that you can walk away from with no blood and no irritation. Patience and tolerance for patches of stubble is needed, then when you've got more experience you can take a more aggressive angle. With the neck in particular there is quite a learning curve as you learn the direction of the grain and what strokes you need in particular areas to work with both the geometry and the grain.

 

[Old beard]

In some ways shaving is like spray painting. To lay a good even layer of paint you keep the gun level with the surface of object you want to paint. This is achieved this by moving your shoulder and not your wrist. Moving your wrist makes a heavy spot in the middle and light spots on the end of each stroke. When you are shaving you don't want to take a heavy spot out of the middle. ( ouch ). Move from the shoulder vs the wrist.

 

[Njguy1977]

What I find works for me is I shave with the grain twice then against the grain once. Its not bbs but its irritation free and good enough. When I do shave my neck tho, zero pressure, always look up and to the right side for right side shaving and vice versa for the left and do it slowly. The key is flatness of your skin to keep the proper angle of the razor thru the entire shave. Once im done with the third pass a quick feel for rough spots, some j hooking lightly with more cream and its wife approved. It takes some practice to find what works for you but when you do keep the same routine. HTHYO.

 

[Attercop]

I tried a lot of products before I found a non irritating combination. I never had rashes, only once in a while I would get a ingrown hair/ razor bump.

What did it for me was MORE AGRESSIVE razors. I tried all the 'mild' and 'beginner friendly' ones you see recommended. Nope. More agressive, no pressure, fewer passes. I can get away with 1 pass across the grain and some touch ups if I shave daily.

 

[Njguy1977]

Sorry meant to say up and to the right for the left side and up and to the left for the right side of your neck.

 

[California Cajun]

Hi,
I've been lurking for a little while and today I finally decided to take the plunge after completely messing up my neck yesterday morning.

A few weeks ago I read about safety razors for the first time and I found myself doing a lot of research until the moment I felt as though my life wouldn't be complete without a safety razor. I've never, ever been happy with my shaving results with cartridges.

I don't have much money so I went on amazon.CA and got myself a Weishi Heavyweight Butterfly and some astra blades to start. I've read that the merkurs are better but truly, I could only justify getting the Weishi to start.

Anyway, long story short, I have a beardso I only ever shave my neck. Yesterday I fell into old shaving habits as I used the safety razor for the first time and I totally cut my neck up. This is as painful a dhave as ive had in my life. My wife says my neck looks like raw liver. I see there are videos here and I guess I'll watch them until I've psyched myself up enough to get back in there. Thanks for any and all support. Just reading through the etiquette guidelines here, I feel like I've come to the right place.

Notice the direction the whiskers grow in the areas you want to shave, and attack it accordingly. The fewer strokes and the less pressure you apply, the more comfortable the shave. You will work all of this out with time and experience.

 

[seattleshaver]

Work on not getting any irritation. Until you can do that the rest doesn't matter. Use less pressure and really pay attention to the fact that your neck is a cylinder and therefore work on stretching the skin to create a flat surface.

When you are trying to shave an already irritated neck nothing you do is going to work.

 

[The Dude Abides]

Ok my diagnosis: you're being way too ambitious.

spot on. When I ordered my Weishi I was disappointed that It didn't arrive on my wife's birthday because I expected to have the most perfect shave of my entire life for that fancy birthday dinner. It arrived the next day and I proceeded to completely destroy my neck.

 

[The Dude Abides]

I tried a lot of products before I found a non irritating combination. I never had rashes, only once in a while I would get a ingrown hair/ razor bump.

What did it for me was MORE AGRESSIVE razors. I tried all the 'mild' and 'beginner friendly' ones you see recommended. Nope. More agressive, no pressure, fewer passes. I can get away with 1 pass across the grain and some touch ups if I shave daily.

My next shave will be with a feather blade that came with my razor. I'm nervous/excited. I can't afford a more aggressive razor right now, so lets see what the blades can do.