Thread: ATG, how to?

When you stretch for ATG, you want to place your finger such that you are shaving toward the finger where possible. This way, you are encouraging stubble to stand up straighter, not lay down tighter to the skin. Obviously, this means that a dry grip & smooth glide are essential, so your blade doesn't skip/jump and slice the stretching finger.

I was thinking about this last night.
When I first started a few months ago I couldn't believe that people could get by with just a WTG or a WTG and XTG. I was doing doing a WTG, XTG, ATG and still touching up with a cartridge. Over time though, I stop having to use the cartridge. And last night I realized that I hadn't done an ATG in over a week. The reason I hadn't done an ATG was because my shave was close enough not to require it. Practice and experience has made my shaves better and closer.

When I first started, the lather on my razor after a WTG pass looked like a lot of lather with some little black specks in it. Now it has a solid dark line of hair with lather behind it. Practice will bring you to that point.

The ATG is still important to know, but I hope that soon you will not need it everyday.

And +1 to deepwoods about slicing your fingers. I popped my middle finger on a skip while learning. No serious damage, but *ouch*.

Me, I am still a WTG kind of guy...even after shaving straight for 8 years. Plenty close if done correctly. Otherwise, my neck looks like it was pepper sprayed.. :O

ATG begins and ends with a sharp razor. If your razor is not super sharp it will be a very difficult experience.

Thanks for the tips so far.
Seems there is still a long way to go for me
I'll start by holding the razor a few times in other ways than the normal one.
That's one of the things that's most difficult for me.

OCD I don't think I've read a better post lately and I agree with what you said. The other thing that really made a difference in my ability to get ATG strokes comfortably was being able to nail a really slick lather with good cushion. I've dumped a lather and started over if I screw it up and want a really close shave.Good lather and face prep+sharp edge+light pressure+skin stretching= comfortable ATG passes. The best single choise I've made so far was to spend part of a day with a mentor, the second was to attend a meet-up.

make sure it's a good and sharp razor
and I always do a side slide

it's a scary thought but works magic

Originally Posted by Siguy

Congratulations on taking it slow!

Have you "mapped" your beard growth? If you make drawing like so:

Attachment 169328

IMPORTANT: You must drop your angle to 7-15 degrees in an XTG/ATG pass or you will pay! I will come to your house and take your styptic away!

or, you'll need a styptic the size of a thermos

I have often read that ATG is not necessary to achieve a super close shave. It can not be done by everyone due to skin types that will cause ingrown hairs and the like. When you head off on the ATG adventure is up to you but be advised that your razor skills should be top notch and that includes honing. By razor skills I am including the ability to control minute differences in pressure between the toe and the heel. This is all IMHO stuff so here goes.

To cut a beard hair as short as possible it must be cut ATG whether it is sideways, pointing up, or pointing down. This only makes sense because if a hair is cut with the grain I do not see how it can be argued that it would be cut as short as a hair cut perpendicular, skin stretched to expose the hair, and against the grain. Each part of my face has hairs that grow in different directions and the sum total is that all directions must be shaved. I do a four pass shave North to South, XTG out, XTG in, and finally South to North. Each pass picks up a different hair growth pattern. You must make sure that your skin is taunt when shaving ATG, or any other direction. Hitting a fold of skin with a razor is not good. Shaving a cheek, for me, involves stretching skin with my finger just above where my sideburns end. I do overlapping strokes and as I go along I have the razor at a very shallow angle and very gently increase pressure. Some call it "riding the edge" where your razor edge is rolled back to the point that the cutting edge is a fraction of a millimeter above the skin and thus the added pressure will not cut you. Takes a lot of practice but just make sure that your razor is taking a very shallow cut when you get started and it will come to you.


Hope this helps. There are many techniques and everybody's face is different so you are going to have to adapt different things to what is needed in your particular situation. Takes time and patience. A superb shave is crafted and there really is not cookie cutter solution that works for everyone.



Take Care,
Richard

Agree with most of the above. I'd do the WTG , XTG , repeat and then once you're sure that most whiskers are gone then the ATG.
Or if if you like. Use your DE to a BBS then relather and use the SR, ATG on a clean canvas. Good practice.