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pulling skin

I remember reading somewhere that when you pull your skin tight to shave with a st8, you shave in the opposite direction that you are pulling. If this is true, do ya'll do that for the chin area as well? I've tried, but the skin on my chin doesn't "stretch" very much.
 
There was a GQ shaving article that mentioned that one should not pull at all. I am not sure if they were referring to a straight, but it was referring to a barber shop shave. What is the consensus?
 
For wetshaving, I have made the experience that stretching the skin greatly improves the closeness of a shave: I also would not want to try straight shaving without stretching the skin, because one would lose control over blade against skin movement.

In my opinion, the direction in which you stretch your skin depends more on the direction your beard grows.

When you stretch against the direction of growth, i.e. for instance stubble grows straight downward between the ears and the jawline, then by stretching the skin upwards, the stubble is drawn out over the skin surface just a little more than normal. If one would stretch the skin downward, this effect would be lost. This means that in a pass shaving with the grain, one would shave in the opposite direction one pulls, but on a pass against the grain, one would stretch and shave in the same direction.

For the chin, the same holds true, personally, I stretch the skin there by pulling my lower lip into my mouth and opening the jaw to bring the portions of skin normally on the jawline under tenion and up on a more vertical position (hope this made sense).

Best regards,
Marc
 
When I shave with a straight I find the results are best when I have the skin pulled towards the razor. So if I'm shaving down my cheeks I pull the skin up. Further, if I'm shaving up my neck I pull the skin down.
 
The simple fact is stretching the skin is like using a strop. Its mandatory with a straight to get a good shave. Anyone who would suggest not to stretch is either a rookie starting out or someone who is not getting very good shaves.
 
When I shave with a straight I find the results are best when I have the skin pulled towards the razor. So if I'm shaving down my cheeks I pull the skin up. Further, if I'm shaving up my neck I pull the skin down.

I also use the web between the index finger and the thumb placed just below the chin and pull downward while going XTG. It's the easiest way I've found to get really close on my chin.
 
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