Thread: ATG SHAVING?

I am obsoltely against it.
This is my reasons. Please come up and prove to me i am wrong.
In my personal experience people who start to shave with straight does have problem at first.
They try to get similar shave to MACH3 SO ON and do go against the grain.
At first they do get great false result .
What i mean by great false result.
Shaving against the grain does in fact cuts hairs deeper then while they use regular wtg or xtg.
In fact if you do have sharp blade and shaving experience you would get exact result just going wtg and xtg.
This is why i called it great false result.
In their mind they think they cannot get similar result without going ATG.
Why i am against to do ATG.?
While you use your straight razor ATG you are unknowingly damaging the your skin protection. You in fact will not feel comfortable shave after ATG .You face will bother you. Burns etc .
I think if you have a sharp blade, scything motion technique, good preparation and patience you will get BBS most of the time.
Now please prove i am wrong.
GL

You know as well as anyone that it's impossible to prove a negative. Seems that the burden of proof is yours, and I'm absolutely riveted. I can hardly wait to see the proof, my friend

*subscribes*

I have a counter example. ATG is the only way of getting my chin smooth because of my wirehair and grain there. I cannot do scything on most parts of my chin as I would slice them off. OTOH if I do ATG anywhere else, my face is in flames two days later.

For me under the chin I can do only WTG and ATG, no XTG passes.
I never had any problems with face irritation after ATG shave. I shave every day.
I think the need for ATG and the skin reaction to it is very individual parameter.

ATG is not something that I do very frequently, but I have shaved ATG on my neck on occasion, just as Lynn demonstrated in his dvd. When I do, I have the smoothest, longest lasting shave ever--at least on my neck.

I wouldn't rcommend that ATG is something that a newbie to str8 razor shaving should dive right into. They should get the hang of WTG and XTG first. Getting comfortable with those two moves alone will keep their hands full for the first couple of months.

No one can prove you wrong! WTG is the only direction that I can shave in which I will not be shaving ATG. I do 4 passes for a reason. I like BBS or DFS and that is not possible, for me, without an ATG pass. My razors are as sharp as anyones, from what people have told me, so I know that doing a single pass will not give me the shave that I want. Up front, scything with some of the razors that I have is downright dangerous! When I am done I can use an alum block and get almost no burn. Go figure it must be a YMMV thing.


Later,
Richard

Originally Posted by hi_bud_gl

While you use your straight razor ATG you are unknowingly damaging the your skin protection. You in fact will not feel comfortable shave after ATG .You face will bother you. Burns etc .

Not for me. I get the smoothness I want and none of the burn and discomfort you mention. Maybe it isn't for you, but that doesn't mean it should be brushed aside.

Actually, quite a few areas on my face I do single pass ATG, as it has no uncomfortable side effect and gets the job done. ATG is something that doesn't work everywhere as a starter for me. Perhaps you experience similar discomfort stronger.

Originally Posted by mainaman

I shave every day.

Stefan This is your trick and success.(basically you don't let your facial hair grow and thicken your blades should last longer too) That is why you don't have irritation so on problems. There is not so many of us could shave every day. fastest and best is every other day for me.
sometimes you will need to give time to skin to heal.

I agree with you only for the cheek areas, the only way i can even approach a "smooth" shave under the neck area is to shave ATG. I hate the feeling of hair under my neck after a shave and only using WTG i achieve results comparable to a mach 3 ATG. Considering i can accomplish a smooth shave (not BBS but way better than mach 3) after my fifth str8 razor shave ever, I think I'm a quick learner. I shave XTG on my checks and ATG under the neck and upper lip (crappy results XTG) with relatively no cuts (did have abrasion today though due to poor lather).
While I can't say my neck area isn't aggitated after a shave I only experience tight skin, but i have absolutly no irritation after some cold water and a good balm/aftershave. i do only shave at most three time a week though. I have a goatee and don't shave my chin...yet...i don't see a point in ATG everyday unless your face is like a chia pet, which maybe the case?

Originally Posted by hi_bud_gl

Stefan This is your trick and success.(basically you don't let your facial hair grow and thicken your blades should last longer too) That is why you don't have irritation so on problems. There is not so many of us could shave every day. fastest and best is every other day.
sometimes you will need to give time to skin to heal.

Well yesterday I shaved 3 day old beard and had no skin burn.
When I started shaving ATG would leave burns, and frankly I was close to give up on that pass. I started honing and eventually I was able to get the edges of my razors sharper than what they were initially and the ATG was no problem for me. In my opinion sharper edge will give smoother ATG pass with little irritation, I could be wrong but I can't think of anything else that can explain this. My bear prep is pretty much some homemade preshave oil and that's it no shower, no hot towels no prelathering etc.