Thread: Ear to chin

What's the best way to go ear to chin on the neck and jawline? Did the grain map and it looks like mine is consistently right to left.

I do not have the ability to go ear to chin on my neck. I do however do an unusual pass on my law line the is sort of ear to chin. It is not easy to describe but I will try.
The skin stretch is the key. So it goes left side of the face, left hand with the razor right hand stretching. To stretch, arm over head and pull back and up finger on cheek almost on the jaw line, head goes back and to the right, left shoulder drops, razor passes tip to the throat. I have to usual turn to the mirror and adjust my grip so I can see. That gets me from the corner of my jaw to near my wind pipe on the underside of my jaw. I am yet to be able to find a edge to center stroke that works on my neck. I usually do a 2 pass shave that gets me a super close shave which other people cannot see is not a perfect BBS shave. I stopped looking for a complete BBS shave, simply because a very close, comfortable shave is all I need. I can still feel small areas where it is not an absolute perfect shave, but it is still way more close and comfortable than any other method of shave. Comfort is the most important aspect of my shave.

My right jaw line has horizontal growth, chin to ear. I do a north to south, then south to north to get most of it. At this point it could be fine, but my hair is so dark and the left side grows north to south, this results in my skin looking darker in one spot. To get even closeness to both side, I have the razor in my right and the left pulling my chin to my left. Razor is flat on face with extra gentle and slow strokes as the same spot is ultra sensitive. My hand grip is more of a chef's grip on a kitchen knife, first finger and thumb almost on the stabilizer to get the most control with the scales straight with the blade. To aid in stretching, I open my jaw (lips closed) and "turn" it to my left ear as well as puffing out my cheeks *just* a little. This balancing act lets me control the flatness of my cheek with respect to the jawline.

It's a little convoluted and the most complex component of my shave. Took me about 2 months to get the courage to try this and another month to perfect it.

Thanks guys. Will try these suggestion and see what I can come up with.

The hair under my jaw grows from the middle out toward my ears, but I cannot find an easy and comfortable way to go with the grain there.

I just settle with a north-south pass and a south-north pass for my whole face and find that gets me sufficiently smooth. Anything else just causes irritation if not outright bleeding.

Originally Posted by drzebra

The hair under my jaw grows from the middle out toward my ears, but I cannot find an easy and comfortable way to go with the grain there.

I just settle with a north-south pass and a south-north pass for my whole face and find that gets me sufficiently smooth. Anything else just causes irritation if not outright bleeding.

This is about where I'm at with it. My hair is angled just downward enough for an upward stroke to feel like it's going against the grain, but it primarily grows east-west. If for whatever reason a 2 pass north to south, then south to North shave isn't going to be close enough for me the first pass will be a normal North-South pass to clear up the majority of the hair. The second pass, I will use what I would call an upward scything stroke. That is, the blade arcs over the skin like a scythe, or windshield wiper, in an upward sweep starting with the held horizontally with the toe pointed back toward my ears and ending with it tilted upward and toe pointed more toward my chin/jaw.

I don't do this often because I have trouble keeping the pressure light with normal strokes, and that problem is exacerbated with a 'fancy' stroke like this. Sometimes the razor burn is pretty gnarly, but that's a problem with the hands not the technique.

I had the same issue - the hair on my neck grows west to east. OCDShaver posted a pic a while back with a grip that I have slightly modified to execute that ATG pass on my neck. In the picture below he demonstrates the grip. I've modified it a bit by creating the same angle in the pic but still holding the shank by the stabilizer. It allows me to scythe the stroke more easily. Works for me but I don't have a very sensitive face.



Thanks to OCDShaver for that great tip!

Adam

At least for the jawline, I always just stretch the skin and pull it up towards my cheek so that I'm shaving it more on my cheek rather than underneath my jawline. Works like a charm.

I do a n/s slicing stroke. Razor is flat to the face and blade is 45- 50 degrees instead of 90 on a normal stroke.

I took a picture this morning of the grip I modified from the grip shown to me by OCDShaver. I hold at the tang which allows an East to West stroke on the right side of my neck using my right hand. I actually keep this grip and use it with my right hand to go over the left side of my neck as well. I do this as my third and last pass.

Adam