Problems Over The Upper Lip

It took me months (many months?), but my routine is -

1) a gentle north-to-south pass while using my mouth muscles to stretch out my upper lip. I start with the blade right under the nostril approaching the skin at an almost 90 degree angle and then, very gently, "roll" the edge down as I move the edge southwards until, about halfway down the lip or more, the razor is in its usual angled position when I finish the stroke by my upper lip. one side towards the middle, another towards the outer portion, and a last one down the middle. Then the other side.

2) If I need to shave that area more closely, I will blade buff with a very light touch and adjusting the angle when I'm closer to the midline, going XTG from the outside towards the middle. Occasionally I will angle upwards slightly. I do not try ATG as that causes too many problems for me.

Hope this helps! Good luck.

I've still not gotten that down perfectly -- at least to the point where it matches what I could do with a cartridge. It takes more work to get my upper lip perfectly smooth and there is always a little spot where I have more chance of a nick if I take it to BBS. But having an adjustable so that I can buff in that area with a Slim set at 2 is a godsend for me.

First pass down (WTG). Additional passes out from the middle (XTG). Combination of short strokes. Also, make many "funny shaving faces" to stretch the skin and use off hand to move nose tip around. It is not a pretty process, but it works.

I'm new and have this issue too. I also have the same growth pattern. What I do is go with the grain two or three times, gently, but on the last pass use my tongue to push out my lip in stubborn areas. Finally, I use a gentle blade buffing technique, always going with the grain or just slightly across. This gets me a very close shave on a daily basis. It took me a while to get comfortable with blade buffing, but it's the only technique that works for my problem areas...and I have to go with the grain in those areas to avoid irritation.

Thanks for all the suggestions. This is a problem area for me too. My first pass was north-south and my second pass was south-north and always uncomfortable as the blade dragged and bumped along. Today I went from corner of mouth to center for first pass and reversed for second. The hint about using the tongue inside the upper lip to smooth the area was also helpful. Bottom line: much smoother shave today... closer and no irritation.

I'm quite sure that backing off on any pressure will enable you to shave that area. Pressure is often the cause of most irritation.

A thoroughly useful tip I read was to move your head instead of the razor. Put the razor with the blade just touching under your nose, and then nod upwards with your head. I've used this for irritation free upper lip shaves.

I forgot to add to my earlier post that I cover very little "real estate" at a time on my upper lip at any given time. I tilt the razor (or maneuver my skin) and then work my way up the mustache area on the XTG passes. When I get up right under the nose and nostrils, I'm using just the end corner of the blade and making tiny, quarter-inch strokes. I've gotten pretty good at it, finally, but it took some doing.

ouch said:

She looked over at me with a glazed eye and some bovine perspiration on her upper lip area and she said.....

Click to expand...

"Just get me wasted An' you're half-way there
'Cause if my mind's tore up, Then my body don't care"

I had similar problems as everyone else, but over the last year have found a method that works well for me. I do two passes XTG ( one from each direction) I use an open comb, so there's a lot of lather left behind which allows me to also do a wtg pass each time as a sort of cleanup. I'll then on my third pass go atg very lightly and then because there's still lather left behind I'll do some light buffing which cleans up any whiskers left. I think the key is the super light touch and not trying to take too much with each pass. I know there's people who warn against aggressive open combs, but I've found I get a much closer and comfortable shave all around because it's not scraping all the lather off which allows for some good cleanup strokes during each pass.

Lots of good ideas here. Let me give one more. Try using one drop of shave oil only in the upper lip area. Massage the oil into the lather. This provides much better glide.

Growing a 'stache is how I cured my upper lip shaving issues once and for all