HOW ABOUT THAT JAWLINE??? TRADE SECRETS???

[Squire]

Those field baths were just awful! jr/John

Oh we didn't bathe, which was a plus. The more you smelled like the jungle the less you were bothered by mosquitos.

[slackskin]

Wendell - As for roughing it, how about going from Holiday Inn to Holiday Inn in a station wagon without a reservation?

[brothers]

Wendell - As for roughing it, how about going from Holiday Inn to Holiday Inn in a station wagon without a reservation?

I can't speak for Wendell, but yes, we've done that. It's more fun that way, right?

[Squire]

Roughing it means no room service.

[fallingwickets]

My idea of roughing it is staying

thanks for the interesting thread, gents. I have the exact opposite experience to john in that right after my shave (one pass only) is when i feel the rough spots the most, but a little while afterwards and during / after shower I always say to myself, "what rough spots were you crying about earlier?"

clive

p.s. I'm on septic too and a bit of a water nut to begin with, ergo I shave in the morning and shower at night in order to give the tank a break / time to discharge

[bernards66]

John, I don't know why I did not get back to this thread sooner but I'm glad to hear that my suggestion was of some help. I kind of stumbled upon the technique back when these shave forums were young. We started to get into more refined and area specific techniques like 'blade buffing' around that time. Doing it with just water was too rough on my skin but adding more regular lather seemed to cut down on the effectiveness. Obviously I needed a little lubrication but only a thin coat and I hit on the idea of using one of my Harris's shave sticks in the manner I described. It seemed to work and some other members, like Sam, picked it up. Interestingly, I was shaving with a Schick Injector at the time and that style razor seemed ideal for this technique. When I switched back to a DE I sort of quit doing the blade buffing and just lived with a slightly less BBS shave along the jaw line ( chuckle ).
Regards,
Gordon

[JRTASTER]

Well, Gordon, the tip surely helped... a lot. There is so much learn and so much knowledge accumulated here,
it still amazes me!
I learn a lot even reading the SOTD thread to see what SMF-ers actually use every day.
Rarely a week passes that something new to me doesn't sink in...and I've been shaving
for over fifty-five years.
Thanks again for yet one more tip to improve my shaving experience1
jr/John

[notthesharpest]

Another possible angle for you to consider (note the cleverly-prescient pun) :
You get generally a good shave, right? That means, for you and for me, the jawline is a geometry problem more than a shaving problem. Whichever direction your shaving strokes are going, you may need to change it for the jawline - and it might be different on each side, because your left and right can have different or irregular hair growth patterns (it's genetic). I've had good success with changing my jawline stroke away from what's in most "how to shave" diagrams. What I do now is easiest to describe this way: First pass is normal, but on the second pass the jawline gets a "chin-strap" - starting at the back of the jaw on my right side, continuing sideways under my chin, and finishing under the jaw on the other side. I do only a narrow band in this direction; the neck and the cheeks still get a "normal" second pass.


Don't feel that you're supposed to follow my shaving strokes literally - but do follow my example of "when you're getting good shaves except for one part of your face, try shaving that spot in a different direction".

Also (really the same thing) try using your wrong hand. Unless your wrong hand really shakes or something, it's not difficult to do, and it forces you to come at those hairs differently.

More controversial: I think it takes more skill to shave tricky areas when using a so-called "mild" razor. The jawline was brilliantly easy for me when I used one of those "nasty monster" razors like a Futur, because the blade hangs right out and it's nearly impossible to miss. (While I was a "raw noob", I once also sank the Futur's blade pretty deeply into my chin. Luckily it was a neat clean straight-on cut with a brand-new sharp blade, with no slicing motions or twisting, and it healed quickly.)

Definitely not controversial: It's quite possible that with your favourite razor the jawline will magically shave better for you, while with a pretty-good razor it might never turn out quite as good. My favourite double-edge is an old Merkur slant-head - but again the message isn't "use the kind of razor I like", rather "if you have the luxury of choosing razors, take your time, try some, and get comfortable with whatever works best."

(Actually, I also get a smooth easy irritation-free jawline from a Gillette Fusion, and the fancy blade lasts me 20 shaves, but SHH! DON'T TELL!! And I still use the DE most days because I like to.)

[CMur12]

Now that is an answer truly worthy of notthesharpest!
David, it's good to see you.

I agree that it is harder to get difficult spots with a mild razor.

- Murray

[JRTASTER]

Sharpest
Good post and provocative.Your point about the direction of hair growth seems to jive with my actual experience.
I am conscious of this if I go too long between shaves and the stubble, very light hair, but coarse to the touch, can be felt if
not seen; the weird hair growth pattern feels more obvious, particularly along the jawline.

The Cobra Classic has for 2 months been been my razor of choice and a more effective shave tool is hard to imagine; I don't
think I want to handle a more "aggressive" razor; my early experiences with the Gem OC and Merkur Slant convince me of that.

As to the "wrong" hand, you raise another interesting issue...my left hand holds my fork, my right holds a handgun and
throws a baseball.. yet it seems neither is the "right/correct" hand for shaving, tho' the left gets used 95% of the shave.

Finally, your "chin strap" stroke fascinates me...I visualize the entire stroke executed with one hand only, obviously.
You say you start on your right jaw.. but with which hand do you hold the razor...it seems it could only be your left??
Thanks,
jr/John

[brothers]

David, you've once again shown your talent, by outlining in the written word, something we may have been doing, or trying to do, but without a cogent plan of attack. Thanks for pitching in here and discussing these useful options. In my case, the jaw area is where I get the first indications that my blade or Trac II cartridge might be losing that ideal edge, and it's about time for a change. When I can't seem to fix it by doing what you've written about, I make the change. Best regards!

[notthesharpest]

Sharpest
Good post and provocative.Your point about the direction of hair growth seems to jive with my actual experience.
I am conscious of this if I go too long between shaves and the stubble, very light hair, but coarse to the touch, can be felt if
not seen; the weird hair growth pattern feels more obvious, particularly along the jawline.

The Cobra Classic has for 2 months been been my razor of choice and a more effective shave tool is hard to imagine; I don't
think I want to handle a more "aggressive" razor; my early experiences with the Gem OC and Merkur Slant convince me of that.

As to the "wrong" hand, you raise another interesting issue...my left hand holds my fork, my right holds a handgun and
throws a baseball.. yet it seems neither is the "right/correct" hand for shaving, tho' the left gets used 95% of the shave.

Finally, your "chin strap" stroke fascinates me...I visualize the entire stroke executed with one hand only, obviously.
You say you start on your right jaw.. but with which hand do you hold the razor...it seems it could only be your left??
Thanks,
jr/John

Oh, sorry for the confusion - it's not one stroke as such, just a path that I follow, using several short strokes. I'm not coordinated enough to go from ear to ear in one swell foop. Even with the short strokes, it was a clumsy thing to get used to, but I figured my particular "sideways beard" would get cut better by a sideways stroke, and that turned out to be true.

I haven't actually used one of those razors, but I'm convinced that in terms of effective & efficient hair removal, anything you can't do with a Cobra Classic simply can't be done.

With the pattern I described, I used to switch hands half-way across; now it's right hand all the way. (The way I begin it is simple - if you start at your right sideburn shaving downwards with your right hand, you're almost there, just move down a bit.) By the time I get over to the left side, my chin is pointing pretty far to the right, so that I'm not fatally stabbed by my own elbow. But as I said before, this might not even be the move for you - and if one hand doesn't work well, try the other one, or switching, or whatever.

Trying this sideways-under-the-jaw pattern with a straight razor has been pretty daunting, because for me it seems to require both a clumsy grip on the razor and the stereotypical throat-slitting motion, at the same time, which somehow makes me nervous. So I mostly just don't. Maybe one day I'll figure out how to do it so it doesn't feel clumsy.

The conventional wisdom says that for maximum smoothness you find the direction of hair growth just as you described, shave "with" it (i.e. the smooth way) first, and "against" it (the rough way) last. For me, essentially all my jawline hair follows a track pointing away from my left ear past my chin and toward my right ear, so the jawline part of my final pass is from the right ear to the left one. My first pass isn't the exact opposite though - I find that any first pass that's not against the grain is good enough for me, so I shave more up & down for that.


That was a lot of words. I hope a couple of them made sense...

[brothers]

Today was the day I couldn't even get the chin strap effect to catch those pesky stubbles on the lower jaw area, and the Trac II cartridge had to go. This is always my beard's "tell" when the razor or blade is losing ground.

[dosco]

Another possible angle for you to consider (note the cleverly-prescient pun) :
More controversial: I think it takes more skill to shave tricky areas when using a so-called "mild" razor. The jawline was brilliantly easy for me when I used one of those "nasty monster" razors like a Futur, because the blade hangs right out and it's nearly impossible to miss. (While I was a "raw noob", I once also sank the Futur's blade pretty deeply into my chin. Luckily it was a neat clean straight-on cut with a brand-new sharp blade, with no slicing motions or twisting, and it healed quickly.)

Interesting. One of these days I'll have to get me one of them "monsters." Sounds a bit intimidating, though, because my 1970 Gillette SS is considered "very mild" by many/most however in my opinion it is my most aggressive razor compared to my Techs.

(Actually, I also get a smooth easy irritation-free jawline from a Gillette Fusion, and the fancy blade lasts me 20 shaves, but SHH! DON'T TELL!! And I still use the DE most days because I like to.)

Does this mean you get 20 full face shaves, or 20 shaves of just your jawline?

I haven't tried a Fusion lately, but when I made the jump to DEs I noticed the Fusions gave me crappy shaves after the 5th or 6th shave ... in light of the fact that I can get great shaves with much cheaper (and endearing) equipment, I am not so sure that I will ever return to a modern Gillette cartridge.

[notthesharpest]

Another possible angle for you to consider (note the cleverly-prescient pun) :
More controversial: I think it takes more skill to shave tricky areas when using a so-called "mild" razor. The jawline was brilliantly easy for me when I used one of those "nasty monster" razors like a Futur, because the blade hangs right out and it's nearly impossible to miss. (While I was a "raw noob", I once also sank the Futur's blade pretty deeply into my chin. Luckily it was a neat clean straight-on cut with a brand-new sharp blade, with no slicing motions or twisting, and it healed quickly.)

Interesting. One of these days I'll have to get me one of them "monsters." Sounds a bit intimidating, though, because my 1970 Gillette SS is considered "very mild" by many/most however in my opinion it is my most aggressive razor compared to my Techs.

You're altogether correct. Somehow though, speaking very subjectively and with no evidence, I think of the 1970 Gillette SS as "mild but a bit rough" and a Futur as "aggressive but somehow in some way a bit less rough". I have no idea how that works or if it's even true. I sold my Futur.

(Actually, I also get a smooth easy irritation-free jawline from a Gillette Fusion, and the fancy blade lasts me 20 shaves, but SHH! DON'T TELL!! And I still use the DE most days because I like to.)

Does this mean you get 20 full face shaves, or 20 shaves of just your jawline?

I haven't tried a Fusion lately, but when I made the jump to DEs I noticed the Fusions gave me crappy shaves after the 5th or 6th shave ... in light of the fact that I can get great shaves with much cheaper (and endearing) equipment, I am not so sure that I will ever return to a modern Gillette cartridge.

20 full shaves, BUT I "cheat" - once against the grain works just fine, no first pass required for me with the Fusion and a good traditional lather. You should use what works for you. Do make sure your lather and preparation are good, though - if your beard isn't softened properly, it will eat up blades much too fast, regardless of your choice of razor.