I figured out what works for me!! It hit me like a bolt of lightning while I was shaving today!! The hair on my upper neck grows in a backward direction, ie heading from my chin along my jawbone, with a very slight downward angle. Until this morning it was the one place I could never get a painless BBS, it was always either smooth and sore, or rough and comfortable. Today as I was doing my second pass across the grain on my face, pulling from my ear to my nose, I just kept doing that right down onto my neck. Normally that would be extremely painful, but the secret is DO NOT STRETCH THE SKIN. In fact, I did the opposite. I put my chin down a little in order to give myself a double chin and make everything nice and round down there. Lo and behold, it was suddenly just like shaving my face! NO IRRITATION AT ALL!!! Now, this doesn't apply to the very bottom of my neck's shaving area, where the hair goes all crazy. That part I'm resigned to never being able to get BBS because of the way the hair grows. (Going BBS down there results in blood and pain no matter what I do.) Anyways, I wanted to share this with everyone, it revolutionized my shave this morning. I can't believe the results!! My first truly BBS shave!!!
The Secret to a BBS neck!!!
- Thread starter Dansk
- Start date
If I were to do that, I'd have more chins than the Hong Kong phone book.
Not really. Just trying to work in that great line.
Hmm. I've been waiting for someone to post this sort of thing. Fact is, what you describe is what I used to do with the Mach3 and such for years to shave my neck. It was always a bit more nerve-wracking than doing the cheeks, but I could usually get by with BBS or close-to-BBS without much irritation. Since the switch to my Merkur HD, I've had to adjust my technique a bit (namely, just go more slowly and add a few more non-ATG passes), but I still do the neck-scrunch thing when I do my final pass.
Anyone else out there ever try this?
--Joe
Anyone else out there ever try this?
--Joe
I've been doing this ever since I started with a DE... I didn't realize people did skin stretching on the neck...
I am not quite sure how you mean! Can you please post a picture? 
You could have saved many people posting this earlier
I suppose
It just kind of... seems natural to me. trying to stretch the skin on the neck just accentuates the jawbone and makes it harder to shave there. But putting my head down smoothes that part out, as it eliminates the corner.
Kevin,
Glad you found out what works for you. It's cool to get BBS with no irritation.
Glad you found out what works for you. It's cool to get BBS with no irritation.
I find this works well for me under my chin, but everplace else I have to stretch.
This is exactly why I do this for parts of my neck... because it's concave there's no good spot for the razor, and sometimes it just catches the corners (obviously not good).
just under my chin is the hardest place to shave. Whatever I do, I alsways miss two big spots. I'll try this *chin down thing*
I too have crazy directional growth on my neck which often results in irritation after shaving. I will try your technique and thanks for the post!
- Thread starter
- #15
I'm curious to hear what other people think of this when they try it, and I'm happy to see I'm not the only one that it works for. I'm definitely doing this from now on, my face has never felt this good before!!
DING! DING! DING!!!!
Learn to do this, and then learn the direction of growth under-chin and on throat, and you're home.
Returning to DE shaving, it took me a month or two to dope this out, but then it all came together. BBS or very-near-BBS w/o weepers, bleeders, scuffs, nicks, or irritation ever since. You're on the way!!
-- John Gehman
Nice one Kevin and congrats on BBS ! 
I remember mantic (Mark) mentioning about comparing neck surface to facet of a diamond and when I checked the thread out, it was a thread you started ! mantic's advice certainly helped me visualise what I was trying to achieve when it comes to that tricky area called the neck and I am now irritation free in that area and coming close to BBS. I am certainly going to try out your way tomorry! Tnx mate !
Lance
I remember mantic (Mark) mentioning about comparing neck surface to facet of a diamond and when I checked the thread out, it was a thread you started ! mantic's advice certainly helped me visualise what I was trying to achieve when it comes to that tricky area called the neck and I am now irritation free in that area and coming close to BBS. I am certainly going to try out your way tomorry! Tnx mate ! Lance
If I were to do that, I'd have more chins than the Hong Kong phone book.
you crack me up!!!
I don't need to see more than one chin that early in the morning even if they are all mine!!!
seriously, glad you found something that works for you.
Raf
Please tip your waitresses....
Tried what I shall think of as the "bullfrog" method (or if you're English, the "Gordon Brown chin-drop") this mornning and it did seem to help, presumably by making everything convex instead of concave. Thanks!
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