The answer is shorter. Milady's stroke-technique guidance states this directly: use shorter strokes around the mouth, over the ears, and in other tight areas.
The same section pairs this with a general-area rule — use strokes of 1 inch to 3 inches to avoid shaving too far from the stretching point — and recommends developing a medium stroke speed rather than a very fast or very slow one. The specific adjustment for tight, detailed areas is shorter strokes, not faster ones.
Milady Standard Barbering, 6th ed., Ch. 13 (Shaving and Facial-Hair Design), p. 344: "Use shorter strokes around the mouth, over the ears, and in other tight areas."
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