What happens when you skip the XTG pass? Don't forget that it's still possible to use too much pressure with one of those contraptions so you may be irritating the fudgenutters out of your face. Is the blade fresh? I only got a few shaves out of the cartridges before it started to be unpleasant,not to mention my beard hair clogged up between the blades so I had to constantly rinse it out to shave well. It could be dry skin, too much pressure, a dull blade, sensitivity to that ASB or some combination there off. Try to eliminate as many variables as possible, ie, use a fresh set of blades and only go WTG and use some aveeno or other mild lotion as your only AS and see what happens.