Here's something I learned a long time ago and it will seem simple to many of the more experienced shavers on here but it's a tip that could help somebody just starting out. If you are only just starting with a DE it may seem like there's a lot to learn and something which always intimidated me a bit was mapping the growth of my beard. Then I discovered an incredibly easy solution which might work for you too, especially if you have irritation at the bottom of your neck. If you try going down with your first pass all over except for the bottom inch of your neck, when you get to there, flip the razor and come up. I know it's very general to say but the typical grain pattern in men is down on the cheeks, moustache area, chin and top half of the neck and up on the bottom half of the neck, so you may find your first "with the grain" pass has actually been against the grain in the lower neck area, which will cause irritation to many of us. I don't worry about fancy grain mapping, since I've been doing this the permanent red line across the bottom of my neck has disappeared! Hope this helps someone at least!