Against the grain woes...

Newbie here,

Been shaving with for a month or so with a str8. It seems to be working out pretty good.

I come from a HD DE Merkur and went to a Dovo str8 fresh from a honemeister. (Thanks Bart!)

I can get the first two passes -with and across the grain- all right, but when I attempt against the grain: good grief! It seems the blade wants to catch!

So, I am trying to rule out the sources of my woes.

I tried flattening the angle
I maybe too chicken.

Is there a methodology to get through this?

Thanks!

D.

If the razor is catching, dont force it. You'll end up cut to ribbons or with the worst razor burn you ever did see...!

Are you re-applying lather between passes? If you are just using water, you may find it helps to re-lather between passes to add to the glide.

Do flatten your angle out, almost to the extent of having the razor flat against your skin. You need the shallower angle to pull this pass off.

You may be like me, and your skin just doesnt like the ATG pass. I've done it a few times, but I used to get horrible razor burn and irritation. My face just doesnt like the ATG pass and I never do it now. I get BBS with a mix of WTG, XTG and diagonal passes.

A master barber at Trumpers told me to never do the ATG pass as it will irritate the skin. Now I know some people can do it with no problem, and thats fine for them, but if its not working for you, dont just keep at it and hope it will come right.

When you're trying to get this pass down, the key advice is dont force it! Down that road lies pain and blood loss, so if its not happening, just let it be.

So take it slow, use lots of lather, keep the angle flat and keep a light touch.

Good luck!

Hello, Dorian:

I agree with Stubear on every point. I, too, try to avoid against the grain passes as much as possible. The only place I do it now is on the neck, although I am working on moves to eliminate that as well.

Keep working at it. Indeed, the worst thing you can do is to force the razor.

Regards,

Obie

I just marvel at some of the videos with guys shaving apparently swiftly ATG. That being said, I seem to recall (wow has it been so long) that with my DE Merkur I never went ATG either.

I think I am just going to have to accept and try:
- once WTG, and
- twice XTG but from opposite directions.

Good deal?

(Oh, and I lather and strop between passes. I find that stropping between makes a nice difference.)

Give that method a try and see how it works! If you get a good shave with no pulling and irritation then keep with it, if it doesnt then you'll need to re-think afterwards and try something new. All part of the fun..! :D

As always, keep the pressure light and watch those angles.

Also, try mapping your beard growth. Feel which way the hair grows with your finger and pull the skin the other way to make the hair stand up. Then when you make your passes, you should hopefully get a closer shave!

Thats good that you lather between passes, it really helps the shave. I dont strop between passes, but if this is working for you then keep doing it..! If you try something and it works, then its a keeper as far as I'm concerned!

Good luck!

Thanks!

Will do. And yes - I did "map out" my face. Some things were very surprising.

Cheers

D

at first i should say if bart sharpened your blade then that blade is shave ready. Problem is most likely in your shaving technique. In reality you neve should shave atg.

Going against the grain without irritation is very difficult. The razor has to be really sharp and perfectly stropped. The razor is moved gently against the grain at a very low angle. The razor must have no pressure applied to it at all.

An across the grain pass should produce a very close shave and should be a good prerequisite to the against the grain pass.

The irritation you can cause with an against the grain pass, in redness, will almost always be more obvious than the closeness you might achieve in doing it.

The place to start is on the outside cheek, under the sideburn. Pull the skin down with the off hand during the stroke. After a bit of practice you'll get it.

By the time you "get-it" you may realize that the same techniques across the grain produce equal closeness.

Don't forget that the world is not broken up into across the grain and against the grain options. There are several directional strokes that incorporate both characteristics. You can do a stroke that is both against the grain and across the grain at the same time.

There are a few spots on my face that get shaved best by an against the grain approach. Under the bottom lip, under each sideburn, and under the jaw line (assuming you don't like to stretch the jaw line skin up over the jawbone to shave it).

You have been at it for a month so don't expect to much, to quickly. I would suggest that you get a little more experience before trying to really get down with AGT. If you are doing well and not cutting yourself, just enjoy the shaves that you are getting. ATG will just happen, if you want it to, after some more experience. It may be that your skin will not allow it. Nobody in the outside world will see the difference, just you. When you do your passes, do you use overlapping stokes that are not to long? On my WTG , which is my first pass for the shave, I use about 1 inch strokes and overlapping about 1/2 inch. A good way to gauge your shaving technique is to feel your face after a pass. You should not feel any beard in the direction that you just shaved. To get ATG I have to make sure there is almost no hair left after the previous pass and have to use some advanced techniques that I really would not recommend till you have a little more time under your belt.

Take care and just enjoy the ride,
Richard

If you must do multiple passes, make sure that your face is well wetted before each pass. You can either apply water generously or relather.

+1 to all the good info so far!

ATG is a tough one for me, and I don't even attempt it anymore really.

I can get an amazingly smooth shave now just going WTG/XTG.

My neck was the trouble area...could never get it really smooth, but I tried stretching tighter, and attacking it from different angles, and it made a world of difference. I may never try ATG again :p

ATG is the ultimate sharpness test. As a daily 3 pass straight shaver, I find if a blade's edge is breaking down it appears in the ATG pass. When shaving with a DE, I assume you also went ATG and had no problems. Assuming that's so, your face can take ATG. Forty passes or so on finishing stone should cure your difficulties.

I'm an oddity on here, I think, in that I ONLY shave ATG - because of how my whiskers lie, it's the only way I can get a good clean shave. I used to have trouble going ATG, but I now have it completely sussed out. As well as the earlier mentioned stretching, here's three things to try before giving up on it:
1. Make sure your lather is perfect - I used to have very uncomfortable ATG shaves, until I realised my lather wasn't right, so wasn't giving me enough slick. I'd also never consider going water-only on an ATG pass - I need that slick there to protect me.

2. Re-prep your beard before the ATG pass - it may be drying out and losing its softness, making it harder for the blade to cut it and causing sticking. Try a hot towel, copious lashings of your favourite pre-shave cream (GFT Skin Food or Proraso pre-shave both appear to be fairly commonly used on here) or simply apply a layer of lather, leave to sit for a wee while (perhaps while stropping the blade) then rinse it off and reapply lather before shaving.

3. Try a heavier grind - I personally love wedges, becuase the lack of flex means they're less likely to catch while passes through my coarse beard. If, like me, you have a coarse beard, you may have good results with a quarter-hollow or similar wedge-type blade.

I usually do a 3 pass shave, wtg,xtg, and atg. Going against the grain is my favorite pass. I usually wind up near bbs and I think it's due to good prep, good lather, and an extra shot of glycerin in my lather. This really slickens up the shave and leaves me with no burn or irritation. Another prerequisite for a really good shave is a truly SHARP razor. Thankfully, mine came from SRD in perfect shaving readiness and so far, I've been able to maintain that keen edge through slow, careful stropping. And as for stropping, I do thirty laps every time before I shave.

I too have had to give up ATG passes. I found I was wearing a perpetual rash. After backing down to a WTG and XTG passes only the rash is gone.

I've just recently (today) thought of trying shaving with one pass but shaving twice a day. Solves that irritating problem of wanting to shave more often.

Also tonight is "Date Nite". Taking the Wife to the local live theater for dancing, snacks and a movie. :)

Zacsdaddy