I wasn't holding my mouth right

I have been at this for a few months and I haven't been able to get a BBS without major irritation. I resigned myself to think that I would never get a comfortable BBS because I can't make ATG passes without irritation. I was shaving yesterday and I remembered seeing many people pulling the skin tight and making faces to stretch the skin they're shaving, so I gave it a try. I made one WTG pass and 2 XTG passes (one left to right, one right to left) like I always do and I had a completely BBS shave. I was feeling my face 8 hours later and still could only barely feel stubble.

Just to make sure this wasn't a fluke, I repeated it today with different soap to see if I could get the same results. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! The only drawback is that I tried to squeeze an extra day out of my blade, which was a mistake.

My neck is a different story. The skin is pretty sensitive and I've learned the only way to shave it and not get irritation is to make 2 WTG passes and call it good. I'm always tempted to try and get it smoother, but every time I try it is bad. I can live with this.

Just for posterity, my setup is EJ89L, TOBS shaving shop shaving cream yesterday and VDH deluxe today, finished with razorock alum stick and homemade aftershave.

Congrats on progress! The facial contortions and stretching can be great for a lot of hard to reach areas.

Congrats! My neck is always tricky, still trying to find a perfect tecnique.

Good work!

Thanks guys. I always thought you had to have an ATG pass to get a BBS but I guess that isn't true for me. I wish I could get my neck as smooth as my face, but I know it's just not in the cards for me.

breadstick said:

Thanks guys. I always thought you had to have an ATG pass to get a BBS but I guess that isn't true for me. I wish I could get my neck as smooth as my face, but I know it's just not in the cards for me.

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Don't give up on it for a future goal, but don't put such attention into it now.
The neck is a frustrating area for many many people.
Go with what you have now, and periodically revisit it. As your skill and technique improves, you'll come to a point where you are getting much better results without even thinking about it.
I have a very troublesome neck, with swirls and cross growing patterns, and I seldom got a close shave on the sides of the adams apple in the beginning.
Over time your own particular way to address your own particular growth pattern will develop, and you will get far better shaves than you were at the beginning.

Don't give up on getting smoother. I have been experimenting with my neck, what I have been doing is shaving in a circle instead of what I thought was ATG or WTG or XTG, and what I am figuring out is this...I don't know exactly which is the perfect direction, but with all directions I can get it smooth. eventually I will figure out what the perfect "hybrid" direction...

Great ideas. I think I'll take a break from the neck for a while and slowly try to get back to it in small areas.