Thread: Shaving Against the Grain

I'm one who has fairly coarse, very dark facial hair and I need to shave against the grain to look and feel completely clean shaven and get that BBS shave. I've always shaved like this with cartridges and DE razors. So far in my straight razor shaving journey, which has only been a month or so, I can shave with and across the grain very comfortably with zero irritation most of the time. Now it does get closer than a DE can going XTG, but it's still not as smooth as I like it to be. And this is fine, I am still learning and not expecting any overnight miracles. I just do a final pass with my DE to clean up. I am thinking though that I will have to go against the grain to really get the smoothness I am used to experiencing. I try an ATG pass every few shaves to see if I'm good enough to do it, but most of the time I stick to WTG and XTG. ATG is getting better and easier, but I always have a little bit of irritation.

My question for those of you who shave against the grain, how long did it take you to develop your skill to do so comfortably? This is more of a curious question. I am happy with my skill progression and have no desire to rush the learning process. I am just curious as to how others have progressed in this skill.

Guitarguy118, it took me a couple of months to get the hang of ATG. For the first few attempts it was the one pass that I always managed to cut myself on. You'll soon learn the correct angle and pressure that works for you. Trial and error! Good luck!

To me i dont need the AGT pass on my cheek but i have to do it on the neck. I found that the lowest angle You can use the better it shave so to my opinion shave the blade as flat as possible whit still no pressure, this just my opinion of course but it did work for me. Gino

I find that I get better results ATG with my smaller blades.
This may be because they a a bit stiffer than 6/8 &bigger full hollows.
Also I do tend to use a shallower angle when going ATG.
For me 5/8 &smaller give the best results.
Cheers Paul

The big thing is that the ATG is almost a cleanup pass. You should be at the point you are getting a DFS on your WTG pass or passes before going ATG.

I started ATG after maybe a month. Started with my neck and then worked my way up the jaw line and cheeks a little at a time, as I began to feel comfortable with it. For myself, I found that if I didn't feel comfortable, I stopped and tried again later. It will come soon enough.

I do a three pass shave everyday now.

Having a "true shave ready edge" on your razor and learning to stretch your skin taut makes ATG shaving much easier.

You definitely want to make sure your blade is really sharp.
And you definitely want to stretch properly.

I started getting doing ATG a little bit at a time and just added more areas as I felt comfortable. I think I was about 2 months in when I was finally able to do my whole face comfortably and another month before I could do it without having to clean up with a more modern razor.

Take it slow and it will come.

I'm not really worried, my shaves so far have been very enjoyable! I'm really loving the process of the straight razor, and my shaves are definitely getting better. I definitely have skin stretching down, it's nice and tight especially shaving ATG. And thinking of ATG as a "clean up" pass is actually helpful. I'll have to pay attention to how close my WTG pass is next time I shave. I have thought about the sharpness of the blade issue too. I got my razor from the classifieds here at SRP and I'm sure it came very sharp and shave ready, but I suppose it's a possibility I've made the edge less than perfect since then. Is there any way to check the condition of the edge without sending my razor out to someone? There is zero tugging going WTG and only minor tugging XTG/ATG but it's not enough to rule out technique as an issue.

Originally Posted by criswilson10

You definitely want to make sure your blade is really sharp.
And you definitely want to stretch properly.

I started getting doing ATG a little bit at a time and just added more areas as I felt comfortable. I think I was about 2 months in when I was finally able to do my whole face comfortably and another month before I could do it without having to clean up with a more modern razor.

Take it slow and it will come.

I agree completely, well said! As for checking the blade for sharpness, the best way I can do it is simply to shave with it. Some might be able to tell by other ways, but if it shaves well then it is sharp