I know many members here speak of "trouble spots" when it comes to shaving, and for the longest time I assumed this was why I had so much trouble achieving smoothness under my chin. Once I gained a bit of confidence I started stretching and blade buffing to get it smooth, but have recently had issues with ingrowns in that area. While inspecting this irritation I came to the conclusion that I have spiraled hair growth, otherwise known as a "cowlick" under my chin/neck area. It is really difficult to go WTG and get it short enough to finish ATG because of this. Does anyone else have a similar issue or a method to approaching a cowlick? At some point I want to try straight razor shaving but I'm sure Ill need to master this portion of my face with a DE before anything else.
Straights way different than a DE bro....for me anyways....im sure most would agree with me. If you wanna try a straight go for it man I personally dont think theres much you can learn from DE shaving that will ready you for a straight other than stretching techniques and the obvious of not moving the blade sideways....but thats just my opinion im not claiming its the truth... but I love it! But its a hellacious hassle trying to keep up with the honing which is why both my straights are sitting unused...because I cant afford to have them sent off and rehoned.....I wish I could do it myself but I dont wanna mess up my blades. But if you like to feel old school then try it out bro! Thats why I love it....I love the feeling of nostalgia. My first "straight" wasnt actually a straight at all it was a parker shavette......and man them things are more brutal than an actual straight....I STILL cant use that thing hardly without slicing myself good...they are straight up zombies craving flesh lol...I rarely use my shavette but its a damn good little razor I just never had much luck with it in the nick/slice free department. My actual straight razors on the other hand (both vintage) are amazing performers. But like I said I cant afford to have them honed so they sit lonely and neglected for now lol...but good luck man!
Yeah I have the same kind of chin hairs, seem to go every which way. Finally gave up, and now do a 4 pass. With, against and across from both directions, maybe a little buffing, but then try not to worry about it and concentrate on the areas where BBS is achievable. I have odd hairs all over, individuals that seem to defy the crowd and grow in some odd direction, but it is kind of fun figuring them out and hacking them off.
Knowing what is going on is a huge part of figuring out the mystery you have happening on your chin, so congrats. You can do the 4 pass as mentioned above or you can just attack from all of the angles that you need to. I have a cowlick on my neck which doesn't sound as tricky as the chin. Good luck.
thank you for the advice, I suppose ill keep experimenting with different angles and a bit of buffing. I think I need to work on buffing technique because I find it difficult to keep little pressure with a strict angle in that repetitive motion. Especially under the chin area.
I too purchased a Parker shavette and while I haven't cut myself yet, I can see how dangerous they are. The money side is what keeps me away from straights as of now. I feel confident I could learn maintenance technique but I've already spent more than enough on DE equipment!
I have a cowlick on my right cheek, just above my law line, with a strip of hair below it down my neck that grows upward toward my jawline. This is a tough area for me each time I shave. Since it's a swirling pattern, you've gotta come at it from all directions to get it smoothed out. Knock it down gradually north/south, east/west, west/east, south/north. Something I've been doing lately is puffing out my cheek to stretch the skin and help get the spot smooth. You mention it's under your chin, you can puff it out like a frog and that should help you buff it smooth. My hair through that section of my chin grows sideways, so I have to puff out there, too, to get it smooth without irritation.
Yeah I know exactly what you mean because I have one of those spiral pattern growths on my neck as well. I personally do a little bit of blade buffing. I also shave downward in a diagonal criss-cross pattern right over the spiral area using a DE.
My problem area is on the left side of my neck. The hair grows straight down in one spot, down to an angle to the left in another, and parallel with my jawbone in another. I end up having to pull the razor one way, go to another way, and then do a complete 180 off of that. It's pretty annoying.
I've an odd spot about the size of a sunflower seed just above the left-side jaw-line. It gets down to DFS at the same rate as elsewhere, but going for BBS ... it resists vehemently! I'll need to hit it from every angle with a water shave ... then, after plenty of buffing and J-hooking, I'm lucky if it'll be BBS. So, I just leave it at DFS now-a-days and don't worry about it. Adds character!?!
Like Latherman87 said DE and SR are two different animals hunting the same game. So mastering DE before SR isn't neccesary at all. However honing and "especially" stropping are important skills to learn to do correctly for SR shaving. As for your cowlick I have hair than does similar things, most people do to at least some degree I think. You just need to work with your hair growth and remember a not completely BBS shave doesn't mean its a bad shave. I had several spots that were a pain( tip of chin, under neck below and to the right of chin, below ears under jaw) I've worked on them two years now and some of them are getting better, it just takes time. Heres what I do: 1st pass down(I don't call it a WTG (with the grain) pass because my grain doesn't go the same way). 2nd pass across ear to chin on cheeks, and upward bottom of neck to cheek/chin. 3rd pass across chin to ear and kind of diagonal ear to adams apple on neck. 4th pass touchup Freelance( up, down, across,diagonal, J hooking, buffing what ever feels right). I stop when I can feel my face has had enough and try and do better the next day. Light pressure is my ally and my cult. My main aim is to shave with out major irritation or razor burn, if it get BBS great, if its DFS so be it, as long as it don't hurt..
Blade buffing and J-hooking like in mantic's videos seem to really help with my neck area. I have the same problem of two cowlick circles on either side of my neck. I do a first pass of North to South, then follow up with blade buffing usually
I think i have the same problem, it's either side of my adams apple, but whatever way i shave i will get irritstion there, and redness. How can i prevent that? Many thanks,
I think my entire face is a cowlick some times. My neck grows up and at an angle, jaw line side ways towward my nose,checks and side burns grow down, under my chin goes every wich direction. I have 1 spot on the left side of my face between the corner of my mouth and my chin that grows so thick and coarse I can get a chainsaw thru it. I gave up on trying for a BBS shave with a DE razor. I can get damn close but if I need BBS, I go for the gillette fusion and even the theres alot of touch uping and buffing going on.
Definitely practice & knowing my beard was the key. I initially started by doing another pass specifically on the swirl of hair on the right side of my neck. Now I can generally get it in 3 passes with a touch up (buffing) for a great result.
I definitely have a cowlick n my neck. I've had to figure out the best way to shave it through trial and error. I started by figuring out what direction I could make a single pass without irritation. The I figured out what direction gave a second irritation free pass. I continued until I discovered four passes that gave no irritation and left me BBs or nearly so.
