Thread: Tried ATG

There's a good picture of how it _should_ work in the stropping Wiki:

Razor stropping - Straight Razor Place Wiki

Look at the diagrams labelled "Correct Stropping" and "Incorrect Stropping".

The "correct" stropping technique may bend the strop around the spine, but it doesn't bend the strop around the edge.

Charles

Okay I understand now. Thanks for the help!

---

I also tried ATG today doing 3/4ths of one cheek and a little of my upper lip. I got a few weepers on my cheek which I'm not happy about and my upper lip was just a disaster.

I think I made a mistake in skin stretching. I stretched the skin in the opposite direction than I usually do for my WTG passes, so I think that made the hair less taught and may have been the cause for the weepers...I think.

Awesome Thread guys. Covered all my Noob mistakes here. I found that if i strop after the WTG then i move onto the ATG made a huge difference.

There is a reason why ATG on the upper lip is called the "Fool's Pass." I don't do it and while I know some do, most of the ATG shavers I know don't do ATG on the upper lip. Simple reason: one slip, you badly cut your nose.

Also, it's not necessary in most cases. First you do the coup d'maitre for the WTG pass. Then you can do XTG center-out. If you keep the edge vertical, you'll actually be undercutting some of your mustache growth, kind of partial ATG. You can then to XTG edge-to-center.

I also find an oblique stroke XTG, holding the edge at a slight angle to the path of travel, undercuts the whiskers on my upper lip well enough so that ATG is not possible.

Good luck, but frankly, it sounds to me like you're trying to move too far too fast and asking for trouble.

Originally Posted by gull

I tried ATG on my upper lip and it didn't go well at all. My lather was off, I knew that. My razor wasn't sharp, I knew that too. So why did I go ATG? Because I'm stupid.

The razor went smoothly over. I had some pulling, but it was alright and I thought I did a good job till a few moments later when I saw a ton of little red dots.

Sometimes my razor sticks in place. What does that mean? I'm scared when it happens because I don't know if I should push harder or not.

That's a good idea! I'll work on tweaking my XTG passes and see how it goes. Usually my XTG passes are smooth and easy, but they never remove much hair.

You could cover your nose with the strop then if you slip you will only achieve another nick in the old strop.

I know of some guys that don't even use the atg pass because they get good results without it from practice and it hurts their skin.