newbie needs some tips for neck area

**themilkman** · 09-19-2010, 04:02 AM

hi all,

i am new to DE shaving and had my first DE shave yesterday. Overall was very impressed but struggled with my neck area. Any tips on getting a close shave on the neck?

**MRast01** · 09-19-2010, 04:44 AM

Patience!

Angle, pressure, etc.
Shaving with a DE is different than shaving with a cart. razor. Most seem to have a little trouble learning their neck. Map the growth pattern, your beard might not grown in the same direction.
Personally, I can't get BBS on my neck w/o irritation. I can get a CCS or DFS everyday with no irritation, and that is my goal.

Take your time and enjoy the experience.

**mretzloff** · 09-19-2010, 08:46 AM

Welcome to Badger & Blade!

**Loric** · 09-19-2010, 08:48 AM

Welcome to B&B and wet shaving.

Everyone has trouble with the neck. The things that helped me most were proper preparation, proper grip on my razor, and paying extra attention to the direction of hair growth on my neck.

The hair on my neck, for many men hair grows in a different direction here. Mine grows mostly east to west instead of north to south on my neck. After I learned this I changed the direction of my passes on my neck to accommodate this. For instance my WTG pass also goes east to west here, while on my face it is north to south.

Proper preparation of the face and beard will go along way too. My routine starts with a HOT shower, where I rub hot water on my face periodically. Immediately out of the shower I apply a preshave product, shave oil, or even a shave stick. Then I gather my stuff, and face lather. All of this really seems to make a difference for me. I can get away with a little less prep now that my technique is coming along, but I still try to do as much as I can.

The last big break threw for me was proper grip on my razor. Everyone proclaims no pressure on the razor, but what does that mean? For me it means to balance the weight of the razor on my pinky and then balance the razor with my other 3 fingers. The grip for me has to be very loose. So that if I was to pluck the razor our of my hand there would be almost no resistance.

Good luck and I hope this helps some.

**rtt** · 09-19-2010, 09:24 AM

and mine grows N-S on the top half and S-N on the lower half.. makes for a very interesting shave. Took me quite a while to figure this out too

**mblakele** · 09-19-2010, 11:35 AM

Excellent advice so far. I'll add that it's better to have a little stubble than a lot of irritation.

For my own shaving I find that a little gentle stretching helps. I make an "O" face for the upper lip, draw in the bottom lip for the chin, and use a big grin to smooth out the curves below the jawline.

**Luc** · 09-19-2010, 02:04 PM

Practice!

No pressure as always, make sure that you have the right direction as most shaver have different directions on the neck causing them problems...

**dpmtherrien** · 09-19-2010, 06:04 PM

Originally Posted by Luc

Practice!

No pressure as always, make sure that you have the right direction as most shaver have different directions on the neck causing them problems...

+1 on this. Just take your time and don't try any fancy moves now. Just go WTG, this will give you a presentable shave, and allow your technique to develop. Pretty soon you'll wonder what all the trouble was and you'll be getting great shaves.

**rm71** · 09-19-2010, 06:24 PM

Welcome. My tip is as follows - go WTG twice, then ATG slowly with no pressure.

**wildbill51** · 09-19-2010, 06:38 PM

Welcome from the land of OZ

I'm having the same trouble with the neck - just trying to be patient

**ackvil** · 09-20-2010, 04:36 AM

Welcome to B&B.

If you go through some of the other posts on the forum you will see this is an area that many have trouble with. For me, the most sensitive area is my neck. I have hairs growing in every direction on my neck and very sensitive skin there.

Preparation, lather, no pressure and blade angle are vital. One thing you have to be careful with DE shaving is to make sure you are not putting any pressure on the blade. Let the weight of the razor do the work. To assure this I use two fingers and my thumb to hold the razor very lightly. I hold it as lightly as I can without it falling from my hand.

In time you will find the right blade and will prefect you technique. It will just take time.

**shawnmaze** · 09-20-2010, 12:34 PM

The thing that I learned from someone was to keep blade angle straight through the bottom of neck. There is a tendency to "hook" the blade with your wrist as the handle approaches the bottom of your neck/collar bone. DON'T. That is one reason for shorter handles. That is also the bad habit I had from cartridges.

That and the pressure thing. You have to resist the urge to press the blade as if your going to grip and cut the hair closer. Just keep doing short, smooth, light, reductions. Before you know it, you will have unlearned your bad habits and you'll be shaving effortlessly with no irritation.

**njpaddy** · 09-20-2010, 07:35 PM

It'll come. Just don't make too many passes. The first couple of weeks I had the same problem. If 2-3 passes didn't do the trick, I switched to my Sensor for the spots I missed. It does take a little time to get used to DE but it's worth it in the long run.