One pass shave?

So last night, I was in a hurry to get into bed for whatever reason :rolleyes:, and I decided to go with a one pass shave. With mostly WTG and scything strokes, I got a really nice shave in virtually no time. It was really surprising. I guess I shouldn't be surprised because I remember (vaguely) a thread not too long ago about the one pass challenge that Glen issued.

I'd always been told that a single pass wasn't good enough, but I wouldn't have been embarrassed at all to go out to a business dinner looking like I did after that shave.

I just thought I'd share and see what your thoughts are on a one pass shave.

I've done it in a pinch, but the results were less than adequate. Would certainly not go to work looking that way.

I rarely use more than one pass for a shave anymore

One pass is perfectly presentable for me, and it's quick. It continues to improve with watchful practice

For most of my face, I do only one pass. The exception is my chin area - I've had a goatee on and off so it's the part of my face that I'm least experienced at shaving and I typcially do the chin in two passes. I very rarely shave ATG because it irritates my skin, but I do go XTG in some areas regurlarly.

i could probably get by with one pass with buffing and touch up strokes included but .... I love that warm lather coming out of that Moss scuttle for the second pass too much to deprive myself of it. :)

I have been doing one pass shaves for awhile now. I do 2 passes every once in awhile. (Like today for instance no reason just felt like 2 passes) but for the most part doing 1 pass shaves has helped a lot with my touch and shaving skill, it also seems to have helped my honing. If I can get a great 1 pass shave from a razor I honed then I know I did a great job.

A one pass shave is really a great way to work on
your shaving technique. I typically do WTG followed
by XTG, but sometimes I go back to the single WTG
pass to get keep my technique in check.

- Scott

Never been able to do it. One pass, WTG feels like it does nothing for me.

I can get a one pass shave that looks just fine.


But I like the feel of BBS too much to stop with just one pass!

ATG one pass with some overlap, then rinse and WTG with some overlap with just water.
I do a few passes on the neck area with the skin pulled in different directions.

I used to do a buffing motion all over my face but decided I wanted to make things more difficult, i.e. do it properly in two passes or less. Technical adjustment and practise was required, but well worth it.

Yeah, it certainly wasn't BBS (as Craig pointed out), and I did miss the second pass of lather (in fact, I almost lathered up again because I enjoy that warm lather so much).

However, it was much much smoother than I expected.

I usually do a "modified" one pass. What little I might miss on the first pass gets an immediate splash of water and a second cut. It's still a better shave than 3 passes with a DE.

When I reluctantly have to do a one pass shave, I call it a speed shave. It only happens when in a hurry. It looks acceptable but nowhere near as fun. Before Straight shaving, I always sported stubble cause I hated shaving with a passion. Now I love shaving and look foward to my daily shave and kissing my wife with a smoooth face. She likes it too.
Mike

When I one-pass it's usually because it was less than 24 hrs since my last ATG shave... so I just skip right to ATG. I can shave a single WTG/XTG and be fine (I used to wear a beard almost all the time)... but I consider myself practically sporting 5 o clock shadow walking out of the bathroom, which really doesn't matter since I usually shave at night anyway.

The problem with single pass WTG/XTG I find is I have a nasty tendancy to miss the very edges of my neck. This is usually fixed with a quick dry-swipe and off I go, to adventure!

Gentlemen,

One pass will not be made into law in my little shave kingdom. With a heavy beard that grows in any direction it jolly wants, I must do three pass or face little patches of stubble like speed bumps.

With the grain, across the grain and against the grain is the daily routine. Throw in an additional pass on the neck to battle the east-west hair growth revolution.

Besides, as others have noted, I welcome the warm brush and the luxurious lather on my Hollywood face. A 25 mm. brush is warm and cuddly in my scuttle this morning and I am almost tempted to skip breakfast.

Regards,

Obie

I have done a one pass shave when I'm in a hurry, or one and a bit.

Sometimes I tell my self to do a one pass shave, but it takes such a short amount it just doesn't feel like enough. It doesn't help that I am 100% a creature of habit and I'm just so used to my routine I don't even think about it when I'm there.

It's certainly adequate as far as it looks, but the feel gives it a way.

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Originally Posted by Seraphim

I can get a one pass shave that looks just fine.


But I like the feel of BBS too much to stop with just one pass!

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This is my experience as well.

In my case, I need at least two passes. One pass just doesn't cut it for me since I have a very heavy beard from my jaw to my neck. I need to do three passes in this area; mustache and chin: three passes, cheeks I can get away with two passes.

When time is short one pass works for me.

Visually I can get away with a one pass, but if I want to feel smooth I need at least a XTG; given that, I have been just doing WTG while still learning.

Sorry. Its all 3 ways for me. Stubble like nails.

i could get away with just to go to work but why waste that warm lather i always do 2 passes i wont do a 3rd unless im going out

One's enough if done right. It is all I ever do.

I've been straight razor shaving for a few months now. One pass WTG is usually pretty good, but since I enjoy shaving now (hated it before) I do WTG all over, XTG on jaw line, then ATG all over. Love it! I feel disappointed when I finish. Can't wait for my next shave!!

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Originally Posted by red96ta

I've done it in a pinch, but the results were less than adequate. Would certainly not go to work looking that way.

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"Less than adequate" is the word.

Sometimes, when I had an early 4:45 am shave and my day stretches late into the evening I do an acceptable two-pass shave 12 hours later.

But single pass?
Don't think so - at least not for my whiskers.



B.

I think one-pass shaves were much more common before the advent of the safety razor and shaving every day. 150-200+ years ago, most men didn't shave every day, and when they did, it was probably usually a single-pass shave. The late Patrick O'Brian, in his Aubrey/Maturin novels, makes particular note of this at various places. Occasionally Stephen Maturin (a man generally careless of his dress), upon being informed that Captain Aubrey has invited a guest onboard ship to dinner, will pass his hand over his face last shaved 2 or 3 days prior, and mutter, "It will do, it will do." And in other places, junior officers expecting a severe reprimand for some fault or oversight are described as reporting to their captain "triple-shaved"--a 3-pass shave, only undertaken on special occassions.

I have really stiff facial hair and I do it every day with a few touch ups on the chin. I am in the military so it must be pretty decent or I would get called out on it.

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Originally Posted by Redcane

I have really stiff facial hair and I do it every day with a few touch ups on the chin. I am in the military so it must be pretty decent or I would get called out on it.

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I used to get dressed down fairly regularly when I was in the USAF because the electric piece of garbage that was sold to me as "a razor" was wholey inadequate to the task.
I normally do 3 passes and touch up on the neck and chin. If I want a one pass shave, the straight, or any other razor I own, is capable of it. But it won't be as smooth to my hand, and 8 or 10 hours later, I'll need a "real" shave.
Usually, though, if I have time for one pass, two will not take much longer, and the results are much better.

One pass ATG, only goatee area gets WTG followed by ATG. BBS if razor is sharp enough.

I can get by with one pass and you wont see any whiskers but I feel them and that's not satisfactory to me

You can achieve a really close shave with a one pass shave but in reality you are not having a one pass shave, like the first post said and this is my method always little light scything strokes WTG and XTG going over the same area several times does give a very good result.

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Originally Posted by Durhampiper

I think one-pass shaves were much more common before the advent of the safety razor and shaving every day. 150-200+ years ago, most men didn't shave every day, and when they did, it was probably usually a single-pass shave. The late Patrick O'Brian, in his Aubrey/Maturin novels, makes particular note of this at various places. Occasionally Stephen Maturin (a man generally careless of his dress), upon being informed that Captain Aubrey has invited a guest onboard ship to dinner, will pass his hand over his face last shaved 2 or 3 days prior, and mutter, "It will do, it will do." And in other places, junior officers expecting a severe reprimand for some fault or oversight are described as reporting to their captain "triple-shaved"--a 3-pass shave, only undertaken on special occassions.

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Great series of books. Appreciate the cite.