Thread: Problems shaving against the grain

Thank you all for responses. I just started a new job so I haven't had a lot of time to invest in shaving. And my face is still scared, luckily not scarred. Since shaving with a straight razor, I have never stretched the skin more than just moving my head or jutting my jaw to stretch the skin without my hands. So I will try stretching the skin with my fingers. Also, about the lather: from other threads, it sounds like people use a thinnner later to be able to see what they're doing, but doesn't that mean less lubrication and more pain? Or is the light touch Sharp&Shiny mentioned light enough to not warrant a need for a lot of soap? I will try different combinations of this stuff and the kind of 3/4 pass fpessanha and Leon mentioned and let you know how it goes. But is sounds like shaving ATG is like everything else and just requires practice and experience. And maybe a high pain tolerance.

Thank you all for all your input,
Joe

I don't believe in thinner lather. The more the better as far as I am concerned. Spoil yourself and get some Castle Forbes shaving cream and then try going ATG. You will find your face smoother than ever before.
In fact today I shaved WTG and ATG and my face is BBS.

I'm with Rich. I like a nice, thick lather for all passes. My final "touch-up" pass is water only, but I'm just picking off the odd straggler.

A number of factors must be in place to be able to shave ATG without discomfort:

As stated above, good rich, slick, thick lather. Stretching the skin in front of the blade, if you can. In some areas this can be aukward. Most important, IMO, is the nature of the edge on your blade. This is a concept that I have lately been investigating. I noticed in my rather large herd of razors, all being quite sharp, some would shave ATG with much more comfort than others. Hummmm? I was finishing my honing sessions with Chromium Oxide, and I believe this made many edges a bit too sharp, and resulted in shaves that were uncomforitable & a bit irritating. I have since discontinued using CRO as part of honing and have limited its use to touch ups only. (sorry to be so lengthy) I now use slurry at the end of my honing sessions to smooth out the edge (thank you, Bart). My last two stones in the honing progression are a 16K Shapton on glass and my finisher is a Nakayama. When I am finished with the 16K, I will add 12 or so lapes, with slurry, at the end, and then finish with the Nakayama. I can't begin to explain how this has affected the edges on my razors. So far, every razor that I have used this new (to me) proceedure; my shaves have been smooth and incredably comforitable.

Steve

If you are getting a good comfortable shave now, why are you trying to go ATG. I'm a single pass guy myself (though I do alter the stroke direction as I go) and I get a great shave.

Originally Posted by fccexpert

If you are getting a good comfortable shave now, why are you trying to go ATG. I'm a single pass guy myself (though I do alter the stroke direction as I go) and I get a great shave.

Proably the quest for the perfect shave..

I have always had problems with ATG but thebest solution I found was to do first WTG then XTG and then a three-quarters pass - not quite ATG with a toe leading stroke which gave me the best results of closeness without burning.

Originally Posted by kleibjr

I have never stretched the skin more than just moving my head or jutting my jaw to stretch the skin without my hands.

That's the biggest problem, right there. Not stretching is fatal. The second problem you have is the angle of the blade, it needs to be shallower on the ATG pass. Here's why: imagine that the hairs are inclined, like the slash /. When coming from the left (WTG) the normal angle of the blade keeps it down towards the base of the hair instead of riding upwards along the hair. When coming from the right (ATG), if the blade is held at the same angle it will be pushed down the hair into the skin, so the angle needs to be flatter.