That Next Step...

Okay, I've got the WTG pass down pat. No problems. XTG on my cheeks, chin and under my nose, no problem. ATG on my neck and even my cheeks, problem. ATG on my chin, big problem. Any tips on conquering this pass?

Perhaps a little background would help. My shave prep consists of washing my beard in the shower with the same shampoo I use on my hair, then using the same conditioner I use on my hair. The conditioner stays on my beard for the duration of my shower. I rinse with hot water, dry off except for my beard then lather and shave.

My razor was honed by SRD within the past few weeks. Before every shave, it goes 40 laps on canvas and 60 laps on latigo. My strop techniques isn't necessarily perfect, but I don't think it's horrible. I haven't knicked my strop in months. There are no nicks on my current strop. I hold the razor with just enough preassure to ensure the blade lays flat on the strop. My pace is slow to moderate.

I've tried everything from a 30 degree angle to laying the blade flat on my face. All angles pretty much result in the blade catching and skipping and not a smooth slicing of whiskers. I can plow my way through with a little extra preassure, but it still typically takes another couple of passes to get smooth and it leaves my face feeling positively scraped.

Why am I persisting? Yes, I have read other posts where others don't even do an ATG pass. Basically, I love that ultra-smooth BBS feeling that I've only ever gotten by going ATG.

Any thoughts?

Brossar,

I will be the first to say that I am not the most experienced in wet shaving, nor straight razor shaving. However, what has been 5 months of time with the razor has taught me a thing or two when it comes to experimentation. I have found that my neck once was a troublesome area, a place where even with a scary sharp Lynn blade, I couldn't wipe the hairs off ATG on my neck. What i had found was that with my previous WTG and ATG strokes, i was not removing sufficient hair, such that the hair was catching at all the wrong angles when i tried my ATG. To correct this, i found that experimenting was the best for me. One day, i decided that I was going to try the XTG stroke in both directions. For me, my hair that follows the vertical line of my adams apple is 100% vertical. My first wtg stroke is down, and my next two XTG strokes were taken with the right and left hand, approaching the area at a 45 degree angle. Not the blade angle, but the angle at which i attacking the hair.

For me, this achieved the necessary hair reduction to allow me a very very smooth shave without the ATG, (and for days that I feel like faceturbating) and an amazingly smooth ATG shave. I have heard people tote that fewer passes are better, but for me, my skin is able to handle the four pass approach, and it nets me a much more comfortable shave than skipping steps. Some things to note is that even with the two XTG strokes, i still lower my blade angle to 5 degrees, or flat against my skin depending on the razor. I've found that while learning, paying attention to the growth of the hair is 90% of the battle.

I hope this may help you, as your prep seems to be sufficient.

-Jax

MB --

Your ATG will get there. It's like an epiphany when it happens.

Make sure you are contorting your face to get good angles with stretched skin. I have a heavy beard and struggled with the ATG.

For me, two things got me there for regular BBS after ATG:

1. Adding an XTG pass in between the WTG and ATG.
2. Skin stretching. You basically want the area you are shaving to be hard and flat -- pulled taut. That, coupled with a low angle and some practice, ought to get you there.

Good luck!

Thanks Jax. With your thoughts in mind, I did my best this morning to take a 45 degree ATG versus a 90 degree ATG. I don't know why this is so hard for me with a straight, but it is. To make things a little easier, I incorporated a bit of a scything motion. Nothing dramatic, just a nice gentle turn of the wrist at each stroke. Blade was almost flat against my skin. My blade mowed through even my toughest beard with a purpose. While I didn't achieve total BBS, I think it's just blade angle refinement now, I do feel I cleared a hurdle just by relatively effortlessly getting throuugh this last tough pass.

Thanks for getting me to look at this from a different, ahem, angle.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jaxx2112

Brossar,

I will be the first to say that I am not the most experienced in wet shaving, nor straight razor shaving. However, what has been 5 months of time with the razor has taught me a thing or two when it comes to experimentation. I have found that my neck once was a troublesome area, a place where even with a scary sharp Lynn blade, I couldn't wipe the hairs off ATG on my neck. What i had found was that with my previous WTG and ATG strokes, i was not removing sufficient hair, such that the hair was catching at all the wrong angles when i tried my ATG. To correct this, i found that experimenting was the best for me. One day, i decided that I was going to try the XTG stroke in both directions. For me, my hair that follows the vertical line of my adams apple is 100% vertical. My first wtg stroke is down, and my next two XTG strokes were taken with the right and left hand, approaching the area at a 45 degree angle. Not the blade angle, but the angle at which i attacking the hair.

For me, this achieved the necessary hair reduction to allow me a very very smooth shave without the ATG, (and for days that I feel like faceturbating) and an amazingly smooth ATG shave. I have heard people tote that fewer passes are better, but for me, my skin is able to handle the four pass approach, and it nets me a much more comfortable shave than skipping steps. Some things to note is that even with the two XTG strokes, i still lower my blade angle to 5 degrees, or flat against my skin depending on the razor. I've found that while learning, paying attention to the growth of the hair is 90% of the battle.

I hope this may help you, as your prep seems to be sufficient.

-Jax

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Keeping the skin super taught is critical when doing and ATG pass over the chin, I usually do my whole neck up to just under my jaw line first. I then take my free hand and push it up under my chin to help keep the whole area taut. I also make sure to extend my lower lip up as far as I can. Keep your angle shallow as well, adjust as you come over the chin. I have attached a photo which probably explains what I mean better.

Kentriv,

+1 on that photo, I know for a fact that I shave my underjaw that way, and i'm willing to bet my Torrey that others do the same.

Brossar,

I'm glad that your seeing improvement, i've found that small changes can make great results over time, but the most important thing while Shaving is to concentrate on the little things like: Lather, Angle, Pass direction, hair growth. Good luck to you and your future hair removal endeavors.

-Jaxx

Good Photo and recommendation on keeping the chin area taught. Yes, reducing the chin hair with a WTG pass is the way to start it. Add a XTG pass to help with the reduction. Then go ATG. Great lather and hot water rinse in between passes.

Also, the chin and jaw line and neck near the adams apple get more passes and at different angles since the hairs are more challenging.

I once sharpend up one of my blades and thought I could just Go ATG on the first pass and the chin hairs eventually stopped the blade. I also gave myself two weepers from this effort. Light multiple passes always win out over "forcing" it.

That great BBS feeling is addictive and a very satisfying feeling.

I hope this helps you reach reach your goal easier.

Pabster