Thread: ATG, how to?

Originally Posted by riooso

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

Excellent Richard, I thank you, excellent!

I now have a reason to add a fourth pass to my shave, therefore allowing myself to enjoy the shave even longer. I will now add an opposite direction XTG pass on the cheek area.

Funny how it all evolves, I used to think it was great to be able to do a 1 or 2 pass shave and be done in under ten minutes with a DFS....now, I do my best to stretch it out as long as possible. The scuttle is also a nice add-on, the hot lather is great, very soothing.

Originally Posted by Phrank

Excellent Richard, I thank you, excellent!

I now have a reason to add a fourth pass to my shave, therefore allowing myself to enjoy the shave even longer. I will now add an opposite direction XTG pass on the cheek area.

Funny how it all evolves, I used to think it was great to be able to do a 1 or 2 pass shave and be done in under ten minutes with a DFS....now, I do my best to stretch it out as long as possible. The scuttle is also a nice add-on, the hot lather is great, very soothing.

Thanks for the compliment. By the way, I get all this done in under ten minutes. I am not advocating speed but I find that it is just a natural groove that I have gotten into that allows me to shave every day with a straight. It is therapeutic for me on many different levels not the least of which is that if I don't shave I am plagued with blemishes and the like. Nothing worse than a 62 year old guy with zits.


Take Care,
Richard