Shaving the neck

Okay Guys I am about 3 weeks into using a straight, I currently have 2 and both seem to do an excellent job, I have gotten past most of the bad habits of incorrect angle and to much pressure and also am picking up some speed on my stropping and have not managed to nick or cut it yet my main question is shaving my neck, I had been using either a DE or SE razor prior to this and it was fairly easy to do my neck area, going WTG is without issue and going ATX not so bad either but it seems that the only way to get that BBS on my neck is to go XTG which I find almost impossible to do without getting a bad rash, I did for the fist time today use some "King of Shaves" pre-shave oil and it was so much better but I don't want to rely on adding another thing to my daily shave like the oil so what can I do to get the BBS on the neck area, the Mrs. said she thinks the shave is fine and for the most part the BBS is there except just below the jaw line and the only way to get it is by turning the straight so I'm almost at a 45 degree angle or more which is awkward and the with the length of the razor makes it harder.

For me the real problem is around the adam apple where the grain is in odd direction and some diagonal moves are needed.
For below the jaw line, can you just stretch the skin with one hand to get the touch area to move above the jaw line?

Well here maybe I can better show it, I have to attempt to run the razor in the direction from the tip of my finger down towards the hand at about this angle, basically from my ear towards the center and it's pretty tough with the razor being as long as it is.

I've got a similar issue. mine maps parallels my jawline essentially, chin towards ears.

I do a mostly N-S (WTG-XTG) pass first.
second pass used to be a 45 degree in from the outside and up pass towards my chin.
third pass was a repeat.

then I transitioned once my skill improved, to doing a horizontally held blade, in and somewhat up scything motion, with J-hooks up onto the jaw line and cheek, for two passes. that's as good as I'm willing to invest effort into. the payoff hasn't been worth it otherwise, to date.

to get a truly BBS shave, I'd have to scythe down and in like you're indicating. too hard to maneuver the blade, too much irritation, too much effort to try to make it work.

so I don't. I'm satisfied with what I can get, and the only person who doesn't know it isn't BBS is me, or the person that rubs my neck in the right direction. that hasn't happened yet either.

It can be tricky. If I were you I'd not try to go that direction at this point. At the point where your finger tip is, my beard grows towards your finger, the opposite of yours. After a year and a half I can barely get it against the grain without bleeding. Its not worth the trouble. Over time I figured out at least three different directions I can shave each part of my face. I get dfs to near BBS everywhere, but it has only been recently that I have gotten the last couple spots (the area you point to and the outside ends of my moustache area) to that level of closeness.

Panther308: My neck maps the exact same way as you indicate and the one place that is my nemesis is the place you have indicated in you pic. My first pass on the left side of my face is wtg n-s on my cheek then I pull the skin from the jawline up onto my cheek and do an earlobe to chin pass, this pass is for me mostly atg. That leaves the place you have indicated and my first pass on this place is n-s xtg the second pass on that spot is s-n again xtg the third and final pass is a very difficult manuver and requires very slick lather and a very light touch combined with a very sharp edge. I tilt my head up and to the right as far as I can thus stretching my skin as tight as I can in the indicated area. Then with the razor in my right hand with a standard grip I shave from my ear towards my adams apple atg with the tip of the razor just below the jawline. I have to use a VERY light touch with very slick lather and a laser sharp edge as I find this area to have a few little valleys that require the use of the heel of the blade and super light pressure. I can't stretch the skin here as much as I would like so it has to be a very delicate stroke. I then have to do just a little touch up with just water on one or two little spots and I come away with a 99% BBS shave. I have been shaving with a straight for 6 months and am just over 100 shaves and it took me quite a while to become skilled enough to make this move and not get cut. The advise that was given to me was to let go of perfection and just have fun and not worry about a perfect shave. As time and shaves go by your ability to make more challenging strokes will become easier, keep at it and keep asking questions. I hope the description given makes sense and will help you to achieve success in this area.

I faux xtg shave by stretching my skin in a different direction than the atg s/n pass. It's not perfect, but with a careful close angle and a real light touch, it gets done. I also tend to shave smaller areas under my jawline, using half the edge or less. I think this lets me stretch my skin a bit more effectively than those wide, sweeping passes that cover a whole side.

I will practice what you guys are preaching, I am overall very pleased with my ability after just a few weeks and I guess I am trying to rush that BBS and find myself sometimes doing a 3-4 pass trying to get it and then I either get nicked or irritation so practice, practice and practice.

Learning to stretch your skin will make your shaves much smoother with less irritation. Also rinsing between razor passes with cold water instead of Warm will reduce your irritation.Do you use an alum block immediately after your shave. If not using an alum block may help with preventing your irritation. Good Luck and keep us informed with your progress.

Go go to YouTube and search for the three pass shave. Watch the video of the gentleman listening to classical music during his shave. His video really helped me develop an effective three pass shaving technique.

I like that video with the classical music but as somebody else mentioned in the comments, he doesn't have anything to shave off before he starts!

This guy makes it look really easy like GeoFatboy, I still think I'm using to much pressure.

My lower neck's hair growth angle is a mess, too. I am getting closer to achieving really good DFS results, though, since I starting using both hands to shave with and stropping in between passes. Also, I switched to a round-nose point which allows me to cut at the odd angles at which my Henckels spike point would draw blood.

Well I tried something different today, I found a jar of the Mrs. Noxzema and had heard about some use it as a pre-shave so I thought what the heck why not, well either my technique is getting betting or the Noxzema with cold water rinses between my passes made the difference because I had a wonderful irritation free shave and feel as if I got the best shave so far, BBS in alot of spots and DFS in most but the biggest part was no irritation.

KW Driver said:

I've got a similar issue. mine maps parallels my jawline essentially, chin towards ears.

I do a mostly N-S (WTG-XTG) pass first.
second pass used to be a 45 degree in from the outside and up pass towards my chin.
third pass was a repeat.

then I transitioned once my skill improved, to doing a horizontally held blade, in and somewhat up scything motion, with J-hooks up onto the jaw line and cheek, for two passes. that's as good as I'm willing to invest effort into. the payoff hasn't been worth it otherwise, to date.

to get a truly BBS shave, I'd have to scythe down and in like you're indicating. too hard to maneuver the blade, too much irritation, too much effort to try to make it work.

so I don't. I'm satisfied with what I can get, and the only person who doesn't know it isn't BBS is me, or the person that rubs my neck in the right direction. that hasn't happened yet either.

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Your situation mimics mine, same beard pattern same result. I'm ok with it

I do a clean up pass in those areas on moist skin, no lather. It works for me and takes off what would be the 5 O'clock shadow. I rinse, towel dry, then rinse out the brush giving a bit of dry time. Then a very light ATG pass with a good straight. No irritation and no stubble. I too found it almost impossible to get into the difficult areas consistently, but sometimes I did, and this was what was going on, a repeat pass with no lather and little moisture.

Cheers, Steve

Well Guys getting better, have been using Noxzema as a preshave and seems to help the neck area alot with the straight but now I added a spike point to the mix so I gotta figure out how not to nick my neck.