Thread: Shaving against the grain

So I've been straight razor shaving for a while now and I am very satisfied with the whole thing. I shave mostly every day and do manage to get very confortable shaves with hardly any trouble, nicks or irritation. But I always have to stop a step away from perfection... I fail to get BBS from every direction.
I always do a 2 pass shave: WTG and XTG. But when I try to go ATG I always fail... It becomes a very painful thing, the razor starts pulling and I just give it up... I find there's no need to ruin a next to perfect shave by irritating my skin doing something that hurts.
I guess I've tried everything: angle, pulling the skin, going smooth and slow, small strokes and even perlilous motions that shoud be labeled as "don't try this at home!"...
So... today I tried once more. Same results... after a little atempt I just gave up, tried to touch up and off I went. Once again feeling frustrated with the ATG stroke.
I saw videos, read all the shaving information I downloaded from the web when I first started up with this and no results... the razor keeps pulling.
I know you may think it's dull. But I strop correctly (I guess...) and touch up on the hone once in a while and then use a pasted strop for the final polish. The razor goes great WTG and XTG so I guess it's sharp enough... Or is it?...

I feel a bit frustrated. I know ATG is a different ball game altoghether... but I was wondering if any of you have had similar trouble and if you'd be willing to shed some light on this problem of mine.

Thanks in advance.

You can try and go a bit angled against the grain, not directly against the grain. Sort of a 45 degree against/across the grain type of pass.

Sometimes I do this type of pass in place of the standard 90 degree XTG pass, which then makes the true ATG pass that much easier.

Bottom line is still whisker reduction. Depending on beard type, you may not be a 3-pass to BBS shaver. It may take you 4 passes (WTG, XTG, Diagonal ATG, ATG).

And to further confuse things: try angling the blade relative to the direction it is moving. Normally we beginners like to have the blade vertical like this going toward the direction you are shaving

] ----->

Instead, try angling the blade, but still move it straight ahead, like this:

/ ----->

that is the first step to getting a "scything" shave movement that should *slice* the whiskers intead of trying to *chop* them.

People say you should "lead with the toe", but I find leading with the heel is just as effective.

Experiment.
Enjoy!

I have to use an extremely light touch when going ATG. It took awhile to be able to make it work, had to slowly change the direction from XTG to ATG in gradual steps over many weeks of shaving.

Does that make sense?

Someone has to kick in the open door, so let that be me...

Your razor might be sharp enough for WTG & XTG, but just not keen enough for ATG, certainly if your beard is coarse.
You could try stropping again, before your ATG pass. You could perform a HHT. I'm not saying that a razor that fails the HHT can't go ATG, but since I make sure my razors pass that test I never had any problems anymore with pulling or skating.

I would also like to suggest that you skip the XTG pass and go ATG immediately after your WTG pass. Once you master ATG, you can add the XTG pass again and see what that does for you. I always perform my ATG on a layer of "lathery water", just to make the razor glide over my skin, but translucent enough to see really well what 's exactly going on. It's visualy quite rewarding to see your face becoming more BBS with every gentle little ATG stroke you perform.

Best of luck,

Bart.

This subjects one of my favorites! So far three great responses! I can pull it off after 2-3 days of beard growth and if all the planets are in alignment and I've sacrificed a small animal to the shave god, etc...
My question is:
How about prep? I'm constantly trying for bbs and can only get there with an atg pass. But I think the culprit now may be my prep work.

Good luck and thanks for bringing the subject up! I've done it one too many times

I've got a tough beard & for me prep is everything. Here's my prep routine.

1. Wash face with soap to get the skin oils off the hair. Skin oil is waterproof, so water won't penetrate unless you do this.

2. Wet towel in the hottest tap water & apply the hot towel until it's no longer hot.

3. Massage in shave oil

4. Apply a layer of shaving soap

5. Strop the blade & let the soap soak in.

6. re-apply soap if it's dried out.

7. Start shaving.

The routine goes pretty quick once you've done it a few times

Yes, I've used that and it works well but I'm going to try this one next:

1. In the shower, Wet face with warm water.
2. Smear on generous amount of Proraso preshave
3. Shower, washing face last, gently rinsing only non-bearded area
4. Apply Preshave oil
5. Soak hot towel, DO NOT wring it out. Apply to face fully soaked with hot water.(do this for a couple minutes) repeat of you like.
6. Before exiting shower, rub face gently with hot/soaked towel to remove any excess preshave. Face is very slippery at this point.
7. Apply Proraso Prep presahve cream again.
(Exit shower)
8. Apply lather to face, with brush.....then rub in with fingertips. Rinse with hot water
9. Re-apply and fully lather face. Then shave.

Stay Tuned...

Is there any spot that you can shave against the grain? I found a few spots were easier to go ATG than others. I started with those places and expanded. As my technique improved, the razor became less likely to hang up. Try just working to improve a little bit each time.

Most days, I still only go ATG on my neck and under my jaw. XTG gets me very close to BBS everywhere else. If I have a big occasion, I go ATG everywhere.

Jordan

For what it is worth--I have the same exact problem. I have found that using a heavier razor makes it a bit easier. When I used a smaller, lighter razor I had trouble balancing the fact that you cant put too much pressure on your skin, but you still need a firm stroke. I guess the heavier razor allows me to control the pressure I use against the skin more, allowing me to get a firm pass across my face while wihtout ripping my skin off (which, believe me, I have done).
When I posted a similar question, the advice that was given to me--which turned out to be really good advice--was that it just takes practice.

Originally Posted by fatherof4

For what it is worth--I have the same exact problem. I have found that using a heavier razor makes it a bit easier. When I used a smaller, lighter razor I had trouble balancing the fact that you cant put too much pressure on your skin, but you still need a firm stroke. I guess the heavier razor allows me to control the pressure I use against the skin more, allowing me to get a firm pass across my face while wihtout ripping my skin off (which, believe me, I have done).
When I posted a similar question, the advice that was given to me--which turned out to be really good advice--was that it just takes practice.

This is a very good point. I can go against the grain in more areas more effectively with a larger blade or a Sheffield style than I can with a Solingen razor which is much lighter. I thought it was just that they flexed more or something, but I think you are on to something here. I am still working on being able to go ATG on the chin area, but all other areas work pretty well, especially the cheeks and lower jaw area.