One year into SR shaving, my current problems

So its been a little over a year since I picked up a straight razor and my face and I couldn't be happier. All is well, yet there is still one issue I am constantly facing. I can get a fairly close, bloodless, with-the-grain shave any day. However, my troubles lie in going back and doing an against-the-grain shave. Maybe the hair is too short, maybe I have sensitive skin, or maybe something is wrong with my razors, but all of my ATG shaves are always bloody and really rough after WTG passes. I'm going slow, have good lather, and my angle is good, it just feels like the hair is really short and stiff to get a smooth shave.

I have a similar problem for a few days after I shave. I can't shave after 2-3 days because the hair is too short and almost stiff, going ATG would definitely cause some blood loss, almost as if I need to wait until the hair is long to have a smooth shave.

Anybody have similar experiences? Any advice?

Thanks!

Have you tried going across the grain?

I'm on the newer side for sure, (been shaving with a shavette for a few years, "real" straight for a few weeks) but I have somewhat similar issues. It doesn't matter if I'm using my shavette, double edge, or straight. This last shave I had a lot better results doing my ATG pass with cold water and a wet lather. The cold water was soothing, and when the nicks came I just dipped my hand in the cold running water then patted the area. It was deffinitely the smoothest ATG shave yet. I followed it with Vit. E oil and my face and neck felt great by morning. Again, I'm a noob so I'm sure others can and will give you better advice but I just wanted to throw my .02 in because it worked great for me. Good luck, and thanks for posting. I looked forward to the advice given.
Matty

I notice that for me at least the times when I get nicks or discomfort from going ATG is when I don't stretch my skin properly. It seems if I get lax on actually pulling my skin taught (especially on my neck) I will always have razor burn or nicks. And for me I'm still learning to get the closest shave on my neck. I'm doing a XTG the grain Scything stroke at the moment and it's really close.

A baffling situation, but something there is not right.
It could be you did not invest enough time in beard prep. It takes a few minutes to hydrate the hairs well. Could it be that you prep well before you start shaving, and then take so long doing the first pass that the hair dry out before the atg?
Alternatively, you are using too much pressure while shaving.
Alternatively, you are not stretching the skin well.
Alternatively, your razors are not sharp enough.
Or possibly, something I did not think of :shrug:

Very hard to pinpoint a specific cause, but my guess is it could be one of the above reasons, or perhaps even a combination. Go slow and eliminate the candidates as you can. I am sure it will pay off.

Best of luck.

Few things that I have found work for me.
I only do 2 passes in week, with and across grain, and only shave every other day usually with a razor that is honed on a coticule.
These shaves are close for a working day but not glass smooth. The thing for me is skin kindness most of the time which prepares my face for the 3 pass shave at weekends for my lady. I like the edge my jnat gives for this as it is very keen and smooth, smoother than a de.
In fact I would say the honing is important for this in terms of smoothness, quite an important factor for success. I personally like to re strop for the third pass and the trick is the use a very low angle (spine almost touching the skin) and go very light touch on stretched skin. pressure will cause the whiskers to lie down. I always use a scything stroke also.
Other things that help are good prep, try towels over lather which I do occasionally. I have them hotish not scolding, this can cause irritation.
Another thing that helps me is good after shaving procedure. I rinse with plenty of hot water and then gently cleanse with a facial cleanser to remove all soap from the pores, no hard rubbing, again rinse with plenty of hot water. After I've stropped razor and tidied up I will rinse in cold water and gently dab dry with a clean towel. As for alcohol aftershave, some guys find them irritating but I don't, I like em as the astringency is what I want and they cleanse the pores further keeping things nice and sterile. In the winter I have been know to throw in balm as the climate can dry out my skin at times. In short be kind to your skin, what ever that takes, I never have any problems or ropey shaves.

Hope this help?

Joe

To add to the good advice above, I suggest trying an ATG pass only, not being preceded with a WTG pass. Not all people's faces and beards can handle that, but I have the feeling it might for you because of the slow-growing beard.

Try to shave dry atg, that's how I learned the right angle with my kitchen knife, your skin are more sensitive dry or something;) Btw only do like 1cm or u get a rash...

Controversial from a newbie but just my opinion. Don't listen to to much advice to start with. You must find your own way by elimination. If you have leathery old skin like me - no problem - scrape away in any direction with a blunt blade and it smooth as silk. Your skin is probably different but there are so many combinations. I'm afraid you have to try them all and eliminate as str8fencer said. It's worth it in the long run!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by animalwithin

......snip....
all of my ATG shaves are always bloody and really rough after WTG passes.
... snip....
I have a similar problem for a few days after I shave. I can't shave after 2-3 days because the hair is too short
and almost stiff, going ATG would definitely cause some blood loss, almost as if I need to wait until the hair is
long to have a smooth shave.

Anybody have similar experiences? Any advice?

Thanks!

---

Yes I do....
My advice is to skip ATG. Try shaving across the grain.

If WTG is noon on a clock work your way around the clock to
find the ideal shave attack angle. My first pass is now
about a 2:00 or 10:00 pass and my second pass never
goes past 4:00 or 8:00. When I have a sharp well polished
blade a light touch and systematic single pass does the
trick and lets me ignore the grain for the most part.

Mama bear, papa bear... this one is just right FOR ME.

What happens to my face is two things.
Shaving ATG the blade attacks the base of the
whisker and because my whiskers are tough
the blade pushes the whisker up and when the blade
exits on the other side encounters a spring loaded lift
of skin that gets attacked. Sometimes just red,
sometimes my skin leaks red stuff.

Second the whisker can lift and get snipped off below the skin
where it can tunnel under the skin. The infernal (**&^%
multi blade razors do this with ease.

I keep some Yellow handle travel blades in my travel kit.
The BIC® 1 Sensitive (classic sensitive) to avoid this issue.
BiC had a wonderful discussion on their web site that I can
no longer find.

It sounds like your symptoms are not as sever as this:
Pseudofolliculitis barbae - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mine are not... but in the extreme it exposes the issues.

In addition to shave angle and pressure improvements
revisit your shave prep. Wash with a quality soap
to remove protective oil from your whiskers. This is to
make sure water can soften your whiskers. For some
this is a pre-shave shower. After softening whiskers some
lightly apply a pre shave oil. Since whiskers are "hydrated"
at this point the goal is to slick up the skin so the razor
can slide off the skin oil also keeps the whiskers from
drying out.

After/ Post shaving advice runs from do nothing to a long list
of products. My general rule is to rinse the skin clean
and let it dry. After 15-30 min I then can apply a balm
like Nivea sensitive post shave balm or simply a
bit of baby oil (mineral oil). I cannot tolerate cologne.

I do sometimes "measure" the shave quality with an alum
block. If it burns and stings a lot I used too much pressure
or my blade was dull. An alum block tends to minimize
infection and improves the condition of my face "tomorrow".

So preshave and lathering improvements, lighten up your touch,
minimum products in the one hour after shaving.

Sanitation, sanitation, sanitation... the first seven day set
to buy is a set of towels for shaving. Always dry your face
with a clean dry towel. Wash them hot with no products....
Do not knot them up wet and let them mildew....

Some great advice here, thanks guys! I have tried XTG strokes, after WTG though it doesn't do too much. I think I prep well, although I probably can do better according to what you guys have described here. I usually wash my face for a couple of minutes with really hot water and then work up a good lather. My lather is definitely good though, not too dry or too moist. My shaving angle might be off, I might need to have a smaller angle.

Laurens and Elinar, I haven't tried just one direct ATG pass, might have a go at that. I only do ATG on the stache area though and it works fine. I'm pretty good at stretching the skin...my worst performance happens around my mouth. I'm pretty bloodless at the cheeks with all types of passes but as soon as I start approaching my mouth, that's when things get bad. I can still see the hair after a WTG pass, but they're quite short and going ATG at that point feels like I'm going too deep into the skin.

Learn to do an XTG scything pass,you will have no need to go Atg,BBS every time with a well honed razor.

There is still at least one more possibility but it may not apply - are you allowing your blade to "rest" for a few days before shaving with it again? There is a line of reasoning that states the edge of your blade needs a few days to "snap back into position". Not allowing that time causes the edge to roll a tiny bit when you strop it next time. The result can be very similar to what you're describing as well as induce those mystery nicks. I'm sure there's still quite a few posts in here about all that.

pixel, my scythe pattern, I take it you mean in a curved swipe across the skin?

Air, I rotate my razors so at least 5-7 days in between using the same one again.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by animalwithin

pixel, my scythe pattern, I take it you mean in a curved swipe across the skin?

Air, I rotate my razors so at least 5-7 days in between using the same one again.

---

Scything is actually a sawing motion.

Really? I'm not exactly sure how to do that lol. So on my cheeks for example, my hair grows downward. So I'd pass the razor left to right while sawing up and down?

Not back and forth,Is a normal XTG stroke with a downward movement,hard to explaine.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

Not back and forth,Is a normal XTG stroke with a downward movement,hard to explaine.

---

So it's like cutting a tomato with a semi dull knife motion? :)

use the site search box,plenty of info,hard to explaine.But it works.