Oh also forgot I always use Porasco pre/post cream after the shave: Cold water rinse Leave face wet Dry hands - take a small amount of cream rub in hands smear over wet face and leave it to settle in. This always zaps any redness from my face and leaves it cool Simon
This is a helpful discussion! I've had similar issues, but so far just with a Fusion and goo. I'm hoping switching to a DE and lather this weekend will help. I think my grain goes towards the middle, at an S-N angle (maybe curving to straight S-N at the adams apple). With the fusion, I've found that I don't get any irritation if I just do N-S, but it's also not a very close shave. I've been playing around with other directions hoping that some of it will transfer to the DE, but I haven't found anything particularly satisfying. It does seem like a lot of the irritation comes from the blades tugging on my skin, and then the skin starts to fold on itself, and disaster ensues (missed spots, cuts, etc). I can't decide whether stretching the skin helps, or bullfrogging helps, or longer strokes, or shorter strokes, etc. The bullfrogging seems to help a bit, but maybe just because it forces me to use less pressure. Anyway, I'm sure once I switch to the DE either 1) this will all be better, or 2) I'll be back at ground zero but finally with the possibility of future success.
Beard on my neck runs W to E. I don't seem to get a good sheve either WTG or ATG, the angles are all wrong and nothing seems flat eough for the blade. I've recently started doing a pass from NW to SE, then another from NE to SW, this has helped emensly. My neck is also the only spot on my face were I can apply NO pressure.
This week I think I have found my solution. Last pass below the jawline i do a ATG w/ a J hook. Look at mantic's advanced video for reference if you don't know what that is.
So what is the trick to achieving this when the blade is flat, but the neck curves (from vertical on the neck to horizontal on the jaw)? I've been trying turning about 30-deg north or south to get the razor head more parallel to my skin, or bullfrogging.
There is some sound advice going here! Just too add my two penneth.. I had similar issues & it boils down to figuring out what works for you. These have all been mentioned in one form or another, this is how it went for me. Get your technique sorted. Razor & blade combo ( HD & Feathers or Merkurs work for me ) I have not heard many people bad mouth the HD. Shower before shaving Lather on the old diamond. Important, I think. I do WTG, Across the grain. against the grain & touch up. If your technique is sorted & your blade in tip top condition you should have a BBS. Rinse Alum Rinse Dry & apply a good ASB. There are some good ones talked about on TSD. Above all enjoy!
Sorry, I've been away from the computer for a few days. I'll try to explain again what I'm asking.... Shaving E-W towards the middle seems to be what I need to do on my neck, and having the blade perpendicular to the floor is what you need for that. The problem is the curve of the neck.... Here's a VERY crude drawing... To get a good shave, the blade needs to be parallel to the skin, but it's very hard to do that while keeping it perpendicular to the floor. The main ways I can think of to fix that are to 1) bullfrog so the neck isn't so curvy or 2) turn the blade so it's more parallel to floor and moving south to north. I haven't had huge success with either one, though. Does that make any sense, or am I thinking about this too much?
Thanks, I should've been able to figure that one out! I was so busy looking down to bullfrog that I never thought of looking up. My guess is look down for the jaw, up for the neck. I'll have to try it tomorrow...
As mentioned, check out mantics vids on utube. your dwg paints the wrong picture as you should be tilting your head back. If you are doing this already i think your blade angle is wrong or your applying too much pressure too the razor ( trying to get BBS with one pass ) your blade is duff & or your lather is not asa good as it should be. When making changes only do one at a time. Good luck
I have a similar problem on my neck. I try to tilt my head back and try to stretch the neck as straight as I can. With a normal width of a DE I cannot get this part taken care of, even with J-hooking. What I do is using my Fusion in the problem area and it seems to work just fine, at least it is less damaging than the DE I tried so many times. This is the reason I keep my Fusion around!
You know, I've been doing it so long now I do it subconsciously...I'm having trouble recalling off hand. Hopefully I'll remember tomorrow while I'm shaving. But I think I do a combination of a tilt back, bullfrog, and head turn depending which part I'm trying to get. I don't think there's one position that allows you to get the whole neck in one fell swoop. For the head turn, I'll look right if I'm shaving the left side, and look left for shaving the right. I don't have quite the deep curves on my neck as in your drawing, though...
