Unable to shave my neck with a DE!

Hey guys,

So I had my second DE shave today which was much better than the first one.

The *main* problem I am having now is that I am unable to shave my neck with my Merkur 1904

My neck has barely any fat in it, and so there is a lot of curves, and I find it extremely hard to shave it.

I am now doing the 3 pass method: First 2 with the grain and the 3rd against the grain. The only way that seems to work a little but is the 3rd pass. The first 2 it seems only serve to irritate the heck out of my neck while shaving practically no hair.

With my 3 blades cartridge, I used to do one pass with the grain and a second pass against the grain and I used to manage to get at least 85% removal on my neck. But with the DE so far, I am failing


What is the solution? How do you guys with lot of "geometry" on the neck do it?


Thanks.

It took me a while to get all of the different directions of the grain down pat on my neck. Everybody has different directions of growth, especially on their neck. I would make sure that you know exactly the direction of growth. Also, try doing across the grain instead of against the grain. Double check your blade angle. The last piece of advice I would give you is to try to stick you head back so that the skin of your neck is more exposed. This technique is called the "bullfrog" by some (i.e. mantic). I do this and turn my head slightly, which i find works best for me.

To shave well on the neck area you have to stretch your skin, using your free hand.
Doing so you create a flat surface that is much easier to shave.
And remember to go with the grain first.

make sure you are dividing up the regions based on the direction of hair growth. so for example WTG might be upwards at the bottom of the neck.

.

I'm in the same boat as you.. no fat on the neck with lots of angles. I haven't mastered getting an irritation-free shave on my neck but I'm a lot better off than when I started. Keys to my improvement have been:

• No pressure! The rest of my face can accept some pressure as the skin is a lot tougher and the terrain is much more even. This lead me to use the same pressure throughout leading to little nicks.
• As stated earlier don't necessarily use the same stroke throughout, especially on the 2nd and 3rd passes. You'll know (by the tug) when your XTG pass is going ATG in a particular area.
• Save your problem area for last, thus allowing that hair to soften up more.
• For the 3rd pass & touchups I use the super-lather squeezed out of my brush. I just keep the pile of it in my left hand and apply as needed.

Just slow down, and don't go the same speed on your neck as you would the rest of your face. Don't be afraid to stop after a pass or two in order to let your neck continue healing for a week. Then go back for the 3rd.

If you get irritation, the first thing I'd do is to cut out the ATG pass, nothing causes more irritation than that. Try one pass north/south and one east /west and maybe one diagonal. Are you sure your lather is good enough? Try using canned Gillette Series gel for comparison and see if that feels better. If your razor hardly shaves any hair on the first two passes, I think that you are missing on the angle of the razor. If your angle is good, the blade should either cut your whiskers or your flesh

Improper angle appears to be the primary culprit.

Thanks for your replies.

What is "XTG"? (Across the Grain?)

Is there a place that describes these definitions and techniques?

Jobol said:

Thanks for your replies.

What is "XTG"? (Across the Grain?)

Is there a place that describes these definitions and techniques?

Click to expand...

http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/index.php/Abbreviations

The importance of lather, pressure and direction all come together in a big way on the neck. Many members have neck problems to some degree. As Future asked, make sure your lather is good - really, really slick - lather and too much pressure are important in preventing irritation and angle and direction are important for getting close. Experiment and eliminate one at a time. Good luck!!

Jobol said:

What is the solution?

Click to expand...

Moar practice. Seriously. It will come with time. Take it slow.

I agree. It won't come overnight.

Also important (at least for safety razor shaves): Dont over stretch, because this leads to ingrown hairs. You can stretch your skin enough with just facial contortions.

Make sure that your prep is sufficient (try a hot shower or at least a hot towel for a few minutes), but what works for my sensitive skin is to apply some sort of lotion under my shaving cream before that ATG pass.. hold the razor by 2-3 fingertips to prevent any pressure at all, and tilt your head up to get a better shaving surface.. lock the elbow and watch that blade angle, you should be irritation free in no time!

Silverstar said:

Also important (at least for safety razor shaves): Dont over stretch, because this leads to ingrown hairs. You can stretch your skin enough with just facial contortions.

Click to expand...

I am still relatively new, and I am sure that different people have different experiences, but in my own particular case, I find that at least when I am shaving WTG and XTG that I can't stretch my skin too far. the more I stretch the better the shave I get on my neck. That being said, I have yet to get my whole neck to even a DFS, while (By my standards at least) that has become routine on my face. That being said, I try to avoid ATG on my neck cause it does cause my skin to be irritated.

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Bill