Thread: shaving against the grain

I go ATG on my upper lip all the time. The key for me is to hold the blade with both hands not the scales; and with a flat angle go up. I also hold the upper lip taunt with my bottom teeth. I occasionally get a red dot or two but most times no problem. Give it a try.

I never do more than one pass, pretty much with the grain, though the scything motion results in some XTG as well. I may touch up a spot here or there if it does not feel smooth after the first pass, but usually this is not necessary.

Thanks for all the help guys, to answer a question Im using white tea, it was sent to me by a very generous SRP member called crichton when I had started thinking about straight razor shaving, It was around that time I ordered my beginners razor, a wapi. Well im gonna go take a shower and try out some of the advice ive noted down, Im gonna try the fools pass, taking great care of course, also ill try the advice about laying my razor almost flat against my skin and using two hands to guide it. Ill be back in a bit to report. thanks again everyone

I take the blade across the upper lip. Like I was painting a mustache on my upper lip. This is of course after I go WTG.

Hate to admit it but when I first started my nose was the victim (nicked) in an attempt to ATG on the upper lip. Thats when I realized why 3/8 or 4/8 razors were for trimming back in the days. Now if I need cleaning up, my 3/8 is always the back up.

I've never tried, past the first couple of shaves when I realised it wasn't easily achieved, gone ATG on my mustache.

What I DO do though, is, on the corners of my mouth, after the first WTG pass, use the heel of the blade following the natural line of the mustache and go across the grain.

This gets pretty close, and very close on the corners of the mouth which is a big factor as I think that makes it much smoother for my gal if she wants to steal a kiss off me

Ooh, and for shaving ATG on my neck, IMO, that's the easiest stroke in my shave. Just go slow at first, and you -know- you're not going to cut your throat, just stay relaxed and remember to keep your pressure and blade angle right and you'll be tip top.

Sammy

+1. I use almost the same technique, but I shave about 30 degrees off of true ATG on the upper lip and lower neck as a final. With the blade laying against my face, I am successful in getting a close (almost BBS) shave on the upper lip. Technically, it's WTG, XTG, XTG and clean-up the upper lip and lower neck with a blade buffing technique at the end of the shave. It seems to work with very little irritation.