1.5 Months into new hobby... and attained ATG BBS! WOW!

[bjmacnevin]

This morning I attained shaving nirvana. Well, sort of. Perhaps just a milestone.

Dovo Ebenholz
Tabac

Warning: my beard doesn't like to be shaved and it grows kinda' fast (about 1 mm a day). So I've been taking this slowly and still have a mustahce because, frankly, I don't want to bleed out. LOL

So I lathered up, stropped, then did:
Pass 1: WTG
Pass 2: XTG

Still had lather, still had a blade... thought: let's go for it.
Pass 3: ATG

Rule #1 I had to keep reminding myself: PULL SKIN TIGHT.
Rule #2 I had to keep reminding myself: Small strokes for now.

What I found was that as long as I pulled my skin REALLY tight (okay not ridiculously nice) I was able to go ATG! When things got tough, I realized I'd slacked up on the stretch.

So I used several hot wash cloths afterward, then alum to tighten pores back up (ouch). Then Nivea aftershave balm (had to apply 3 times and massage it in). And finally some moisturizer (2 applications, massaged in well).

My face feels irritated, but there was no folicular bleeding (if I'd done this with my cartridge there would have been). Got only one small nick on my chin.

Don't think I'll do this every day unless my face adjusts to it like PRONTO. But wow! It's TOTALLY doable! I imagine that with a freshly honed blade it'd have been easier yet. Will definitely try this again!

Gotta' say: this was only because the Straight Razor has so far been TOTALLY IRRITATION FREE for me! No ingrown hairs! I'm 41 and this is the first time in my life since I was 13 that I haven't had acne caused by ingrown hairs!

There's no way I'm going to let my son (now only 3) start with a cartridge thing when he's old enough. LOL

[JoeSomebody]

That is Fantastic! You have crossed another milestone. Something that may make this easier is close attention to your angles. The last pass ATG should have a pretty flat angle, maybe 5 degrees, at least until you become more proficient. And a sharp razor always helps. Going ATG is where blade sharpness really shows through. Good Luck!
Regards,
Joe

[roughkype]

Hello and congrats! Like you, I was in my 40s when I began this and like you, it was the first time without ingrowns/acne since acne first reared its ugly heads on my face.

Yes, ATG does rely on an emphatically sharp blade and a low angle. And I agree with you, that it's not for every day. But it's a fun goal once in a while, like on weekends.

Best wishes to you.

[MuskieMan33]

Nice!! I'm still waiting on the day that I can say the same. Right now I just shave WTG and ATG, works fine for me since my whiskers/beard aren't as thick as a lot of peoples. However I do find that if I take too much time in one area (specifically under my chin and neck area) that I'll get some mild irritation the following day. Some days are worse than others, but things have definitely improved since I started! The other thing that I'm working on is getting everything completely smooth. I can shave it all, no big deal. However I'm still mastering the direction of my hair growth and how to manipulate the blade to work for me to get the absolute closest shave. I notice that I can get everything else great except for my side burns (kind of hit and miss here) and the right side of my neck under my jaw, and around my adams apple. Although I get everything shaved, some spots aren't quite as close (to the touch).

Maybe I should skip going ATG and start doing WTG and XTG instead, then after that for a while, throw in the third pass... In fact, next shave I'll give that a shot and see how I like it. I don't think I'm ready for a 3 pass shave yet, I want my skin to get used to the two pass first, when I master that then I might go for the third.

Also, Ill give pulling my skin a little tighter a shot, see how that works. That could be the problem, who knows. haha. Sorry for the long post. Back in my cartridge days (3 months ago), I didn't know that shaving could be a science.

[BobH]

That is a great milestone to be passing through. The biggest thing for me to avoid a lot of stinging after shaving was to have a really sharp blade and watch the angles closely especially ATG. I go ATG on my face but on the neck I use a diagonal stroke instead. I do a 3 pass shave every day and know right away if I goofed up even though I got a clean smooth shave if it stings a lot when I put on Thayers. Rarely do I have to resort to after shave balm like Nivea. It really does keep getting better.

Bob