Post-newbie neck irritation. Biggest variable.

I am at the point where my technique is good. After a long time, I have finally figured out the extremely complex pattern of my beard growth. But I still get neck irritation from time to time. I have now figured out the most important variable that determines whether I get neck irritation. It is definitely the blade.

When I was a real newbie I didn't see a huge difference between blades. I have now changed completely. Although many gents love the Feathers, I just cannot use them. No matter how pressure-free I make my shave, my neck gets irritated. The Derbys and IPs, on the other hand, are just perfect. Because they are more forgiving, I also get a better shave on the rest of my face. I can push my technique a lot further with them. Dullish blades, such as the Walmarts, just don't give a decent shave no matter how hard I push them. So I need something in the middle.

I understand the theory that says a sharper blade is better no matter what. I wanted that to be so for me, and I have tried the Feathers many times at different stages of technique. I have finally concluded that I just cannot use them. My neck loves the Derbys and IPs. And despite the many negative opinions about them, I also like the Merkurs and the German Wilkinsons.

Michael

+1 to your neck problems. This is my area of greatest uncertainty. As I've been experimenting with blades (I'm a newb as well) I can't really comment on the blade aspect of it, but what I have noticed is the insane beard pattern on my neck. There is one spot in particular that is in a swirl pattern. I have no idea how to shave that sucker without aggravating part of it. Most of the time I've had decent success with just plain N-S passes on my neck and avoid all other directional passes.

daniel said:

+1 to your neck problems. This is my area of greatest uncertainty. As I've been experimenting with blades (I'm a newb as well) I can't really comment on the blade aspect of it, but what I have noticed is the insane beard pattern on my neck. There is one spot in particular that is in a swirl pattern. I have no idea how to shave that sucker without aggravating part of it. Most of the time I've had decent success with just plain N-S passes on my neck and avoid all other directional passes.

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I also have a whacky growth pattern on my lower neck. This may come with the territory of having curly hair. I have found that the prevailing direction is more NW to SE than N to S. But even so, the Feathers irritate when I do that. I usually go NW to SE in the first pass, then a very light N-S in the second. And that's it.

Michael

Prof Michael --

I too learned that lesson --last fall. Some guys look down their nose at the 'Red-Pack' Personnas, but they're the 'best' of the blades I've yet used. Sharpness in the Derby+ range, but the smoothest shaving blade I've encountered. The Derbys and IPs are excellent. I find the Feathers a bit much.

'Sharp + Smooth' beats 'Super Sharp Only' every time. 'Sharp only' carries you only so far.

-- John Gehman, also shaving badly for 35 years. . .

I'll have to re-visit Derby's. I've found in my little bit of experience that Merkur blades are super smooth. I have the least irritation with those. I'm using Israeli's right now with pretty good results as well.

MichaelB said:

I also have a whacky growth pattern on my lower neck. This may come with the territory of having curly hair.

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Have you tried the slant? It might help to cut through your crazy growth pattern.

Michael,

It sounds as if you're doing very well... and, that you're able to get BBS, with the exception of your neck.

Doctor Simon posted, a long time ago, about not going for BBS... at the sink. It's kind of like rolling a strike, in bowling... but, there's that one pin that's still rocking. Some days, it falls... others... well, there will be other days.

Going against the grain, and risking razor-burn, and ingrown hairs, just isn't worth it. Your shaves are probably very presentable, and since you've taken time to find blades that work well for you, it may be just best to let "good" suffice!

Tchau,
chop-chop

chop-chop said:

Michael,

It sounds as if you're doing very well... and, that you're able to get BBS, with the exception of your neck.

Doctor Simon posted, a long time ago, about not going for BBS... at the sink. It's kind of like rolling a strike, in bowling... but, there's that one pin that's still rocking. Some days, it falls... others... well, there will be other days.

Going against the grain, and risking razor-burn, and ingrown hairs, just isn't worth it. Your shaves are probably very presentable, and since you've taken time to find blades that work well for you, it may be just best to let "good" suffice!

Tchau,
chop-chop

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Bruce,

Surprisingly, on some days I do get darn close to BBS. On most parts of my face I can go XTG and even occasionally ATG. As long as I am very careful on the lower neck. Because of my curly hair, I used to have a serious ingrown hair problem. DE shaving has almost completely solved that.

Michael

vincentl said:

Have you tried the slant? It might help to cut through your crazy growth pattern.

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Vince,

This is a sensitive subject with me. 90% of my face loves the slant. I really wish I could be a full-time slant user. But because it too tends to give me neck irritation -- even when I barely allow two molecules of blade to touch skin -- I seldom use it. I have tried Vision, Futur, Progress, and Gillette Fatboy. But the razor I keep coming back to -- my every-day standby -- is the HD.

Michael

There's no easy answer for me either concerning the bottom of my neck. How close I get to BBS depends on how much time I have. I can get BBS with no pain if I use lot's of lather and pay very close attention to grain with 3 or 4 reduction passes. I hurt myself if I try to rush it at all.

My major problem area is my upper and lower chin. Here's where I've developed the WTG, XTG, ATG, "J"hookingGilletteSlideCropCircle Stroke!

My best shaves lately have been with the Slant Derby/Feather which also turn out to be the quickest.

I am glad somebody started this topic. I was just contemplating today how to deal with my neck irritation issues. I received my Merkur HD "Hefty" from Jim at Vintage Blades, LLC and my blade starter pack from LetterK on Saturday. I tried the Merkur blade that came with the razor and my face felt like I had been in the sun too long. I then switched to a derby blade on Sunday. Everything was going swimmingly until I got to my lower neck. Again razor burn. It took two doses of Thayers to get it under reasonable control. Because I have to wear collar shirts to work I had to switch back to the mach 3 on Monday. I am guessing it is my technique because I am so new to doing this. I am open to any suggestions as to how to minimize or eliminate neck razor burn. An additional note: I have been using proraso shaving cream in the green tube.

Bnice5000 said:

I am glad somebody started this topic. I was just contemplating today how to deal with my neck irritation issues. I received my Merkur HD "Hefty" from Jim at Vintage Blades, LLC and my blade starter pack from LetterK on Saturday. I tried the Merkur blade that came with the razor and my face felt like I had been in the sun too long. I then switched to a derby blade on Sunday. Everything was going swimmingly until I got to my lower neck. Again razor burn. It took two doses of Thayers to get it under reasonable control. Because I have to wear collar shirts to work I had to switch back to the mach 3 on Monday. I am guessing it is my technique because I am so new to doing this. I am open to any suggestions as to how to minimize or eliminate neck razor burn. An additional note: I have been using proraso shaving cream in the green tube.

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Honestly, after a year and some months of DE shaving, it is still very very hard for me to shave my neck BBS with no irritation. Nearly impossible, in fact. As a rule, I shave my neck only with the grain, and somewhat across. I would suggest sticking with that.

-Mo

Bnice5000 said:

I am open to any suggestions as to how to minimize or eliminate neck razor burn. An additional note: I have been using proraso shaving cream in the green tube.

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My first couple of DE shaves tore my neck up. I have since learned that when somebody says zero pressure, they really mean it on the neck area. You can get away with a bit of pressure on the cheeks and chin, but the second that you put pressure on your neck the blood starts to flow and red patches spread. Now that I have declared my neck a zero-pressure zone my shaves have gotten better, but not BBS unless I spend an hour shaving (which would be nice, but impractical). I have come to the conclusion that the only way to get my neck BBS is to figure out the best way to shave is to figure out the grain. I may need a circular razor to do it, but it can be done.

Although I do two no-pressure passes on my lower neck, I am able to get a decent shave. But iot took a fairly long time for that to be so. Accept mediocrity for now and let it improve gradually. On my first pass I start with the lower neck. Very light, short strokes, NW to SE. On my next pass I do a light N to S. That is all I do on the lower neck. Again, it took a while, but now I get a pretty good shave there.

Michael

I just used my HD for the first time today and was able to get a very close shave on my neck without irritation. I have been using a Gillette tech (thanks to slcsteve!) and while it is a very forgiving razor, no matter how hard I tried, zero pressure and limited passes still ended up with some irritation and so-so results. With the extra weight of the HD it was much easier to for me to apply zero pressure and with the additional aggressiveness of the HD, I was able to get a great shave on my neck. I used derby's in both razors, just FYI.

Razor angle seems a likely problem.

I may be sticking my neck out but I think that most people find the neck area more difficult. After a year + of DE shaving and working on my technique I still have almost BBS shaves everywhere but the neck and then neck is almost a daily battle of trying not to get irritation. Even looking at the different directions it appears that many people still have difficulty.

Grasshopper, To true get the best shave you must become the razor...

Spattz

I used to have a huge problem with the neck. I've learned that I need to make my WTG/XTG passes count. The more hair I have left, the harder it is to make the ATG pass irritation-free.

I get this line at the bottom of my neck where the irritation is. I'm pretty sure it's the angle being wrong at the transition.

Neck hair seems to grow in all different directions

I was just thinking to myself that I needed to figure those pesky neck irritations....Now I find that I'm not alone! Am I relieved or disappointed that there may be no forever perfect situation with the dreaded neck burn. My shaving has improved dramatically, but I still have to worry about those crop circles of curly neck hair that just don't want to cooperate. I find that the Slant Bar and Feather combo work the best for me, but I still need a light touch atg pass to knock out the shadow. Anybody use a Curel-type lotion as a pre-shave? It seems to work best for me - even over Corn Huskers and Proraso Pre. I do like the Proraso for post shave, however.