Thread: One pass with XTG/ATG only??

When I started cold water shaving, I felt that the blade pulled a little more on ATG - so in response I worked even more on my technique.

After this got to the point of feeling 'normal' and comfortable, a thought popped into my head - ATG only??

Could you just go for the 'last' pass without WTG - assuming your blade and technique were good enough?

So - I tried it last night. Using just my usual '2nd pass' routine of XTG/ATG with gentle scything/slicing/buffing motions.

Result? All in all - pretty good. Felt a bit like when I first started doing ATG - pulling a bit at first, but improved as I adjusted my technique. Not the most comfortable, but I felt that with practice it could get comfortable.

Will I keep doing it? Not sure at this point, but it was an interesting experiment. I'm thinking that with a well tuned technique, you could probably have a pretty comfortable shave with BBS results in one pass XTG/ATG.

Even with a 2 pass shave - I probably don't need to fuss quite as much on the WTG pass.

I guess it all comes down to experimenting with and improving my technique.

Thanks for reading!

All the best,
Michael.

Congrats!

I think what it comes down to is what works for you. If you can shave ATG for the first pass and get a close and comfortable shave, then go for it!

If you get any pulling or irritation from it though, you'll probably need to stop doing it or change the direction of your pass. Listen to your face; If its going "owowowowpleasestopdarnthathurts!!" then stop or change something...!

I'm one of the guys who cant do an ATG pass, no matter what. If I do, it looks like I stuck my face in a paper shredder..! But if it works for you, and you dont get any irritation, then stick with it and heres to many happy shaves!

Keep us posted on how youre getting on, I'm interested to hear how your method progresses and develops for you!

Good luck!

If I'm shaving the day after a BBS shave, then there isn't much growth yet, and I can go with the solo ATG pass. It's a little rougher on my skin than doing a WTG or XTG pass before it, though, so I don't think I could do it every day.

Ok - this is now my official shave!!

Maybe the cold water has gone to my head and up is down in cold water land, but...

...the one pass XTG/ATG keeps getting better!!


First shave was with 2 day growth. My other shaves have been the normal 24 hour growth.

I guess doing ATG/XTG first is more a leap of faith than anything else... well, ok - and technique adjustment.

Afterall, even after doing stubble reduction WTG - you're still taking the same thing off ATG?? You're cutting at the same place, just that the hair length is shorter.

I think going gently, with slicing motions is the trick - of course the risk of cutting yourself increases, but that's where practice comes in. There is less to no pulling this way.

The down side is less time shaving!!

Btw - when I say XTG/ATG, my blade is angled like a very flattened \ when going from left to right.

Anyway this is working for me and I'm enjoying the learning and discovery process.

All the best,
Michael.

Originally Posted by northpaw

If I'm shaving the day after a BBS shave, then there isn't much growth yet, and I can go with the solo ATG pass. It's a little rougher on my skin than doing a WTG or XTG pass before it, though, so I don't think I could do it every day.

Just about the same - except I make sure to go extra light so it's not so rough. If I do skip and worry about irritation, I'll do XTG instead of ATG with a really shallow angle. Works alright for me.

If I have shaved 24 hours earlier, there is so little to shave that I just give a XTG/ATG pass to touch up the shave for another 24 hours.

Pabster