Thread: Is this normal

Ok so I finally got my razor back to Shave ready condition, but I find myself still having to shave against the grain to get maximum closeness after doing 3 wtg is this typical or am I doing something terribly wrong or shaving without a sharp enough razor. Thank you everyone for your input in advance.

Possibly depending on how your hair grows, I do 3 passes myself (WTG, ATG, XTG) I once tried doing multuple WTG and it really didn't give me a close shave at all

The 'normal' progression is WTG, XTG and then ATG, however, sometimes if I am in a hurry, just do XTG.
With a shave ready razor you shouldn't need to do more than one pass in each direction to get the desired result (that's the goal anyway) - having said that, good technique is important to achieve this (I haven't got there yet - I still need to do some touchups).
Multiple passes in any direction is asking for razor burn IME
Don't forget to wet your face and relather between passes, too.
Let us know how it goes

I could be wrong here... I haven't been at this art very long... but it is my contention that:

1 pass WTG with a shave ready razor is going to reduce the beard to a level that cannot be reduced with additional WTG passes.

That's why the next step is to go XTG... and again, with a proper shave ready razor, your beard should be reduced as much as it can be without any more XTG passes. Next step, ATG one pass...

Of course, there are "touch ups" that may be required because of technique and odd angles of your face, but overall, I think the above holds true.

Can a veteran confirm my thoughts?

I just realized that I said the same thing that Havachat45 did... Guess I should have read ALL the posts instead of immediately responding heh...

Originally Posted by Havachat45

The 'normal' progression is WTG, XTG and then ATG, however, sometimes if I am in a hurry, just do XTG.
With a shave ready razor you shouldn't need to do more than one pass in each direction to get the desired result (that's the goal anyway) - having said that, good technique is important to achieve this (I haven't got there yet - I still need to do some touchups).
Multiple passes in any direction is asking for razor burn IME
Don't forget to wet your face and relather between passes, too.
Let us know how it goes

Ok that makes me feel a little better. I'm still unsure how sharp is sharp enough as I am still very new to this . I have two razors a John shaw that I use and a Aj Jordan that needs some help, I'm comtenplating selling or trading them for a good shave ready razor .

Why not just send them to one of our honemeisters?

Do one with. One across. I rarely do against as my skin doesn't like it.

Different strokes for different folks...

Some people do two wtg passes.
Some people do wtg, xtg.
Some people do wtg, xtg, atg.
Some people do wtg, atg.

Lately I have been doing atg, xtg. After a couple of years of experimenting, that's what works best for me right now.
Who knows what it will be a year from now?

You just have to try different things and find what works best for you. As you gain experience, you may find that what works best changes from what works best now.

I don't know why, I guess I didn't think of that, or it could be my subconscious saying that I can't wait that long. Thank you for everyone's input I'll keep trying to see what works best as I am very new to this. Thank you all again