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Shaving Jaw Line

R

rum

Regardless of what hardware you use to shave with, I wanted to ask how people shave their jaw line.

Do you go 'over' it in downward strokes (perpendicular to it), so from cheek -> neck?

Or do you go along it, so from ear lobe area -> chin?

Reason I ask is a few ingrowns (medium to monster size which is normal for me) that have recently sprung up on the jawline. My hair growth is rather crazy. I have very curly hair that is prone to turn back into my skin all too often. I use a straight mostly, but sometimes a DE.
 
Hi rum, i meet you again. my jawline is strange, basically i can go from my left ear to my right ear with one long stroke with the grain. total asymmetry. then i go north to south, but not 90 degrees with the hair direction, a tiny bit less. going against the grain on the jawline it's almost impossible. it takes a lot of time and care. usually i don't bother.
i wish you can solve that problem soon!

BYE
Davide
 
I start out by following the grain of my beard which basically from chin to ear.

To get a really close shave I have to do the reverse ie ear to chin direction. But even then I have to touch it up.
 
1 st pass: With the grain
2nd pass: across (ear to chin)

after that: blade buffing (very light back and forth 'scraping' on the same spot with the blade to remove left-over stubble. Better practice this one...)
 
I do 2 WTG passes, 1 XTG and 1 ATG.

My jawline is probably my toughest spot. I use the scrubbing tech and j-hook backwards (from south to north) with a 40's SS. I currently use a slim adj on 3-5 for the WTG and XTG and switch to the 40 SS for ATG and scrub of the jawline.
 
Regardless of what hardware you use to shave with, I wanted to ask how people shave their jaw line.

Do you go 'over' it in downward strokes (perpendicular to it), so from cheek -> neck?

Or do you go along it, so from ear lobe area -> chin?

Reason I ask is a few ingrowns (medium to monster size which is normal for me) that have recently sprung up on the jawline. My hair growth is rather crazy. I have very curly hair that is prone to turn back into my skin all too often. I use a straight mostly, but sometimes a DE.

I have very tight, curly hair and use both straight and DE razors. DE Routine ---> My first pass is a simple North to South pass. My second pass is a diagonal pass ear to chin. My last pass is a parallel pass ear to nose. Every pass goes through the jawline, stopping short of going into the neck. If you don't go through the jawline, to appropiately reduce the beard with every pass, you can find it harder to get it smooth on your last pass/touch up. I get BBS every shave, without exception. I had to learn how to angle the razor on the jawline to do this but that is the routine.

You posted in the Method Shaving subforum so...
I was introduced to wetshaving by Method Shaving but I quickly realized that there is no magical product or system. I thought I was incompetent since this was supposed to make shaving so easy and I was still getting bad irritation. You still need good technique. With technique you can get an easy shave with just about anything. Therefore, I left Method Shaving altogether.
 
I asked this same question of CAR day before yesterday when I was at his shop, as I had a few spots right below the jaw line that I could never get to clear. His recommendation was in the second and third forms, as I did this area, make the following changes.

1. In the second form, go ear to chin and j hook down toward the adams apple in one long pass as I cross the problem areas

2. In the third form, j hook up toward the cheek as I cross the problem areas.

I tried this yesterday and it is the best I have ever done in clearing this area. With a little more work here, I think I may actually reach a BBS state below the jaw line. How cool is that?

Charles also said many people NEED to do some S-N passes in Q3, but recommends doing this in a finishing pass just in the problem areas.

Hope this helps. It worked for me.

Brad
 
That's my toughest area to get smooth. I go:

1) North to South
2) South to North
3) Ear to chin
4) Chin to Ear

And sometimes repeat. Usually that gets it smooth enough for the day.
 
I start out shaving with the grain.

Then either with the grain again.

Then if necessary, cross grain,

Then if that doesn't do it, I'll shave against the grain. (which I really don't like to do.) At that point, I'm golden. No blood, no irritation, no nothing. It's all good.

I use a Merkur HD with a Derby. I know they are not that popular here, but, the extra level of gentleness, when you use it on your neck, goes a long way. As always, your mileage may vary. (YMMV)

With DE shaving, "Every day is a new adventure." :001_smile
 
Regardless of what hardware you use to shave with, I wanted to ask how people shave their jaw line.

Do you go 'over' it in downward strokes (perpendicular to it), so from cheek -> neck?

Or do you go along it, so from ear lobe area -> chin?

Reason I ask is a few ingrowns (medium to monster size which is normal for me) that have recently sprung up on the jawline. My hair growth is rather crazy. I have very curly hair that is prone to turn back into my skin all too often. I use a straight mostly, but sometimes a DE.

My approach is Every Which Way including down! I also use a technique very much like skin stretching, but simpler and as effective for getting it clean, smooth and doing so bloodlessly. These two reads may help you.
 
The jaw line is a very tricky area for me. I think I drew a spoon of blood from it before I figured out what to do. So, I grew a 1 week beard and studied the growth direction. That's downwards and to the side, so I always shave this way, always WTG. This area of my face is very prone to cuts and can't stand even a slight XTG, let alone ATG (which, by the way, I never use). If I pull my cheek up and towards the nose, the wiskers allign horizontally and I can shave them that way.
 
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