I shave going every which way, except for my upper lip and the sides of my mouth. On my face, with skin stretched taut, I go with the grain, then sideways, then against the grain. On my neck with skin taut, I go against the grain first, then a sideways motion, then feel for spots I might have missed, hit them if any, and wrap up with swaths going with the grain. I’ll then check for any other rough spots, and hit them going against the grain if I find any. At the sides of my mouth I go against the grain only.
It takes me about ten or fifteen minutes to shave.
When I first started shaving I actually did give myself some spectacular cuts. I remember one time I peeled about 4 inches of skin off my shin, just like a wood shaving in a handplane…
OK, now that you’ve all stopped cringing - two reasons women shave against the grain on their legs and men shave with the grain on their face.
The skin on anyone’s legs is tougher and less sensitive than the skin on their face, so less likely to result in cuts (though as my opening lines points out, it can happen)
The hair on women’s legs tends to be thinner and finer than men’s beards, so takes less force (something I hadn’t learned way back when but I got it now) and thus the razor is less likely to break the skin.
As pointed out, when women women shave areas with delicate skin, like the bikini/groin area, then are advised to go with the grain, not against it. The fact that most women’s pubic hair is heavier and denser than their leg hair is another factor in favor of shaving with the grain.
My husband uses this method. He has a very heavy, very dark beard, and needs a close shave. He does get some ingrown hairs in the beard area, but then he gets ingrown hairs everywhere he has hair, whether he shaves or not.
Am I the only one here who shaves in every direction it takes to get a smooth shave? I lather up, shave the cream off, and have my fingertips loaded with more shave cream. After I run the razor past a stretch of skin I run my fingers over it in various directions to see how smooth it feels. If I feel stubble, I apply a little more cream and shave in the direction I felt the stubble.
I don’t know about you guys, but my beard seems to grow in all different directions. It’s like I have cowlicks everywhere.