Joe Lerch's advice on neck shaving

Pauldog · Post by **Pauldog** » Sun Oct 16, 2005 9:54 pm

Joe posted a one-page file in his album about avoiding neck irritation. It pointed out something I had never noticed before that should have been obvious - that the neck hairs generally do not go N-S like the cheeks.

So if you want to shave with the grain and avoid irritating your neck, feel it before starting at the top! You'll probably want to start at the bottom instead.

Thanks, Joe.

DesertRat · Post by **DesertRat** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 8:19 am

Also, what helped me in his document, was the advice to shave once with the grain and not try to get a clean shave on this pass. Now I perform one light shave with the grain and one against the grain in this area. Following this advice has helped me immensely.

Kudos to Joe.

javyn · Post by **javyn** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 11:59 am

I still can't break the habit of going a little nuts shaving my neck. On the fourth or fifth pass, I end up burning myself horribly. No I don't do all those passes on my whole face, I just tend to focus on my neck because I feel like I MUST get every little hair off of it.

notthesharpest · Post by **notthesharpest** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 2:33 pm

You need the Anti-Nike razor: "Just Don't Do It"

Joe Lerch · Post by **Joe Lerch** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 2:57 pm

javyn wrote:I still can't break the habit of going a little nuts shaving my neck. On the fourth or fifth pass, I end up burning myself horribly. No I don't do all those passes on my whole face, I just tend to focus on my neck because I feel like I MUST get every little hair off of it.

I'm also compulsive about shaving my neck and I used to have the same problem. That's why I wrote the article.

You can go voer the neck almost as many times as you want without irritation if you do it right.

Many guys are picking up that irritation on the first pass, although they don't feel it until later. So, the first thing to do is figure out which way the grain runs on your neckbelow the jaw and down. If you're like most guys, it runs down on the cheeks and up on the neck, like Pauldog explains. Then the thing to do is take the first pass going up on the neck. At least you won't be getting the irritation on the first pass.

A better thing to do would be to reduce the overall aggressiveness of your shave by going to a "reduction" approach. If you're doing a 3 pass shave that means holding back on going down to skin on the first 2 passes. Just reduce the length of the whiskers so you're left with a light stubble when you start the third pass.

Then, for the third pass force yourself to use the lightest possible touch on your neck. Think of the razor floating over your skin and just barely cutting. Also, shaving the neck will be easier if you stretch the skin flat and taught. It might also help to apply shaving oil before this pass (use a transparent layer of lather over it for slipperiness).

If that doesn't do it to your satisfaction, do touchups of individual areas. Apply a little lather with your fingers and stretch the skin between your thunmb and index finger, then gentle float the razor over the spot in each direction.

That should do it. Let us know ow it works out.

javyn · Post by **javyn** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 8:36 pm

Thanks a lot Joe! I'm still experimenting going different directions on my first pass on the neck. After growing some stubble for a few days and feeling; the middle of my neck acts as sort of a divide, with the grain going away from it on both sides. So an against the grain pass would be a horizontal stroke towards my adam's apple from either side. I've always gone south to north on my first neck pass. Recently trying north to south to hte same effect. It is going to just take a little trial and error before I get it down. I can say this though, tomorrow is definately going to be a healing day! heh

Jim Elliott · Post by **Jim Elliott** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 8:41 pm

javyn wrote:I still can't break the habit of going a little nuts shaving my neck. On the fourth or fifth pass, I end up burning myself horribly.

Switching to an electric razor will solve that problem.

JackieMartling · Post by **JackieMartling** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 9:12 pm

Jim, isn't the freedom to post about electric shaving on a wetshaving board liberating? Too bad you don't offer the same privilege to members of your site, allowing them to speak about wetshaving on an electric shaving site.

rtaylor61 · Post by **rtaylor61** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 9:17 pm

Switching to an electric razor will solve that problem.

This is the primary reason I switched FROM an electric. The irritation on my neck was insufferable.

Randy

AACJ · Post by **AACJ** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 9:19 pm

I will NEVER use an electric razor, my father, who showed me how to shave, died in a freak accident while shaving with one in the shower.

Boy, I miss him!

javyn · Post by **javyn** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 9:24 pm

I suppose I could go to an electric to solve the neck burn problem....but then what would I do to solve the hair removal problem? *grinz

notthesharpest · Post by **notthesharpest** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 10:47 pm

Failing to get a close shave with an electric gives me much worse razor burn than succeeding with a blade does.

"Shaves as close as a blade, or your money back"
Yeah. A lawnmower blade.

I have an electric razor, and I do use it sometimes. In my opinion, it's useful for looking good but not for feeling good.

ARenaissanceMan · Post by **ARenaissanceMan** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 12:09 am

JackieMartling wrote:Jim, isn't the freedom to post about electric shaving on a wetshaving board liberating? Too bad you don't offer the same privilege to members of your site, allowing them to speak about wetshaving on an electric shaving site.

Jim Elliott · Post by **Jim Elliott** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 7:11 am

JackieMartling wrote:Jim, isn't the freedom to post about electric shaving on a wetshaving board liberating? Too bad you don't offer the same privilege to members of your site, allowing them to speak about wetshaving on an electric shaving site.

My board is called Electric Razor Rap for a reason. Considering it is the #1 board on electric shaving today, I must be doing something right.

Austin · Post by **Austin** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 7:22 am

Jim, I find it interesting that someone who obviously enjoys electric shavers chooses to post on a wetshaving board. Are you interested in learning about wetshaving?

BTW welcome to SMF.

Joe Lerch · Post by **Joe Lerch** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 9:40 am

javyn wrote:Thanks a lot Joe! I'm still experimenting going different directions on my first pass on the neck. After growing some stubble for a few days and feeling; the middle of my neck acts as sort of a divide, with the grain going away from it on both sides. So an against the grain pass would be a horizontal stroke towards my adam's apple from either side. I've always gone south to north on my first neck pass. Recently trying north to south to hte same effect. It is going to just take a little trial and error before I get it down. I can say this though, tomorrow is definately going to be a healing day! heh

I thought I was one of the few guys who had this kind of grain pattern on his neck, and now I'm finding more and more.

My best solution has always been to shave forward from under the ear. I do that on the jawline on my sideways pass and I just continue down undeer the jaw. By the time I actually reach the neck I need more of a forward and down direction (to go against the grain). Shaving forward on and under the jaw is easy with a DE, but very difficult with a str8.

My first pass is down on the cheeks (with grain) and down through the horizontal grain area (across grain). For the lower neck, it's up (with grain). On the second pass (forward), I'm going across the grain on my upper face, countergrain on and under the jawline (lighten the pressure as much as possible so I don't go down to skin), and across the grain on the neck (this requires careful stretching). When I get to this point I have stubble I can feel but not see (well, maybe a little in a magnified mirror).

For my third pass I increase the blade exposure and adjust my mind to just float the razor on my face. First, I do two forward swatches on and below the jawline (now I'm trying to shave clean but without pressure, unlike the first two passes, I allow myself to go over an area that already shaved- I only add water before I do that). The two swatches are the divide line for my stroke. Below, I go down and slightly forward with good stretching, again with a light touch, and allowing my self to go over a spot (but you need to be careful because the neck tend to have the most sensitive skin). Above, I shave up and slightly backward. This area is not so sensitive so I don't worry about going over spots, although I still try to just float the razor (because of the increased blade exposure).

I gave you all this detail because I've dealt with a very similar problem for a long time and I found my solutions. They're just some more things for you to try.

javyn · Post by **javyn** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 3:32 pm

Thanks a lot Joe, I really appreciate it. I will try to try all of this tomorrow morning.

Post by **Sam** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 6:31 pm

well, i just cant nail my neck. i have tried straight, feather straight, all sorts of DEs. tonight, i used my SRP straight with a hot pot and then touched up with a mach 3 turbo. stretched, no stretch, every which way. under the goatee i got it a tad bit better, but the hollows of my neck and adjacent to the adams apple, stubble. now when i say stubble, i have to feel around and it is minor stubble. not baby bottom smooth like my cheeks, but you could not see it. i wonder if the featherjector is any better

sam

Joe Lerch · Post by **Joe Lerch** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 7:55 pm

tngentleman1 wrote:i wonder if the featherjector is any better

I've tried all these things and I found the Featherjector better. It's my touchup razor. The reason is it's so sharp that I can float it over the stubble and do countless passes without irritation. On the neck, I find stretching makes a big difference.

I find it interesting that you're trying to use an M3 for touchup. That has to be it's weakest feature because of the pivoting head. I find it frustrating because you can't control the angle of the blade.

rtaylor61 · Post by **rtaylor61** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 8:58 pm

Sam,

Have you tried using a Dremel?

Randy