Razor bumps on neck...Help

Hey guys,
I've been DE shaving for about a month now, and I'm not 100% satisfied. My cheeks and jawline look great after my shaves, but my neck gets irritated and I get bad razor bumps, mostly on the bottom inch of my skin, all the way across. I've recently noticed that this part of my neck has no real pattern as to how the hairs grow.

I'm using:
Weishi razor (I've tried Merkur, Israeli, and Derby blades)
KMF unscented
AOS Fine badger
3 Passes: 2 with the grain (straight down), and 1 ATG.
Thayer's Rose
Anthony Razor Burn Repair on my neck

I'm getting really frustrated with DE shaving; I'm starting to wonder if it's the right thing for me. I've been changing my technique, paying close attention to proper angle and pressure, but with the same results.

Murray has also shipped me a Merkur LHC and a Gillette Tech to try, and I've ordered a Gillette Slim Adj. I'm still waiting to try those.

What do you think is wrong?

Spencer

Spencer,
The neck is notoriously difficult to master. The two biggest culprits are razor angle and pressure. Between these two, pressure is the biggest enemy. Further, going directly against the grain on the neck can also cause issues. Doing so will often times snag the hair and nip off a tiny amount of skin along with it. These micro-cuts can easily become irritated or infected as you sweat. Also due to the minor swelling from the cut, they can easily develop into an ingrown hair.

Be patient, and diligent with your attention to technique. Everything will slowly fall into place.

I'm still a noob, and have similar issues, though I think maybe not as bad. Would anyone suggest stretching the skin (aka pulling it taught) on the neck? Would this most likely cause more pain and suffering than good?

Just trying to get some more info out there

I had very similar results on my neck prior to DE shaving. However, I found that shaving UPWARDS (S_N) on my neck, or with MOST of the grain (I believe that every man's beard grows crazy funny on the neck, but the majority, or so I hear, have stubble that grown S-N) has eliminated ANY and ALL irritation/bumps completely. Perhaps once a week, I'll shave ATG in certain spots on my neck that don't get too close shaving WTG, but otherwise, I leave it at just a few passed WTG per shave. It gets it close enough to be presentable, pretty darn smooth (says fiance), and, most importantly, irritation free. Hope this helps!

Ryan

Kyle's on track here.

Ryan above mentions the tendency for the lower neck whiskers to grow upward in many men. So you may want to map out beard direction there and rethink your stroke order and stroke direction.

One suggestion I'll recommend is to add the use of an Alum bar post shave. It seems to help many who are suseptible to bumps/ingrowns.

-- John Gehman

clint said:

I'm still a noob, and have similar issues, though I think maybe not as bad. Would anyone suggest stretching the skin (aka pulling it taught) on the neck? Would this most likely cause more pain and suffering than good?

Just trying to get some more info out there

Click to expand...

From my experience stretching the skin will of course give you a closer shave, but you will also have a higher chance of causing razor rash/burn. That said, taking good passes WTG and XTG *before* you go ATG will minimize your suffering, and will get you a very close shave without the need to stretch. Just make sure after each pass your skin is nice, wet, and relathered!

You might have to throw out the compass Spencer. N-S, E-W may not be exactly how the grain of your beard is running and going against the grain on the bottom of your neck sounds exactly like what I was doing before mapping it.

If you take very short strokes as your shaving N-S, just as soon as you feel that blade tug against a hair, stop right there! That just could be the exact point that the grain changes on you. Move over a little and repeat that N-S very short stroke and see if you experience that same tug on the same line.

Keep going around and with the lather that's left on your lower neck, you should have a clear line to see exactly where you need to change direction at.

I hardly ever go atg on my lower neck, using xtg strokes and if I want to get a little closer, I use cheveron strokes, ( v ^ ) with a very light hand and that cleans it up pretty well for me.