Thread: ATG tips

While at work at the fire house I use the WTG AND XTG. to get a good shave. I have to do that for time sake. It's a good shave but not true baby soft. When at home, I do the ATG after the WTG and XTG. however the last couple of times I have done XTG I get these little skin flappy things at the folical. They don't go red or hurt or even feel like razor burn. That is until I put some after shave balm on and then they go on fire. The blade cuts great and passes every HHT I throw at it except for super fine hair. I guess my question is it a honing issue or angle or micro chipps. Any advice would be great

Thanks.

Originally Posted by Firedug

While at work at the fire house I use the WTG AND XTG. to get a good shave. I have to do that for time sake. It's a good shave but not true baby soft. When at home, I do the ATG after the WTG and XTG. however the last couple of times I have done XTG I get these little skin flappy things at the folical. They don't go red or hurt or even feel like razor burn. That is until I put some after shave balm on and then they go on fire. The blade cuts great and passes every HHT I throw at it except for super fine hair. I guess my question is it a honing issue or angle or micro chipps. Any advice would be great

Thanks.

GOT IT!!! I shaved on Friday and had the same ATG issues sooo I decided just to do touch ups. So without lathering I was doing a couple of problem areas ATG with no issue. MMM.....light goes off. My lather was to thick so it was causing the blade at a low angle to either stick or jump. So Sat/Sund I put on lather but not quite as thick and BINGO...worked like a charm. Did 2 ATG passes today and I'm finally as smooth as the DE....I feel awesome! Another thing I found is that I couldn't be tentative with the strokes if that makes sense. So what I found was lighter lather, speed up the stroke and confidence worked like a charm.

Originally Posted by hi_bud_gl

It is not just You Not so many people believe so. Just try and see.
if you go back and read some posts about bbs shave you will find very helpful threads.
This topic has been discussed before many times.
i am not sure in which subfolder they were but i remember they are out there.

Another noob here (90+ days), having all the normal issues when starting. 'Also a fairly course lawn to mow. I was able to do atg in the first few days (one of very few things that came easily), but I think Hi_Bud is saying something pretty important here & it has become a goal for me. When I argued that heavier blades were better, I got strong correction (thank you to each one who did) that it was technique. I think getting BBS smooth without atg is another important thing to shoot for in technique. I'm not there yet, but that's definitely the target. Under chin & jawline, the grass grows at an angle, so south to north pass isn't actually ATG. I have to factor this in during 2nd pass. Like most, there are always sections that defy smoothness, but I want to learn to get them w/out ATG. Hi_Bud does us Noobs a serious favor here, but it may not be easy or quickly learned. I think our faces will thank us w/ less irritation and nicks if we learn it.

Lie you my beard grows in many directions. I have found that by using all three of the strokes it takes care of 98% of the hair. This leaves little for me to touch up. I've had some days off to let my face grow and heal up. I then watched a video on SRP on different ways to make Lather. I have been melting my soap in a small bowl. I did that for convience, time, and less to carry to work. I then tried the lathering techniques found on that video an kept the lather warm using a small insulated coffe mug. Then I found out that I have been making lather completely wrong for years. I got a great shave. Oh and also I adjusted my angle from about 5 degrees to about 10 on my ATG. I came to a hypothesis (with my what little knowledge I have) that I was letting my thick bread cool and dry by the time I got to my ATG passes. Also, as all the all dogs of straights will say "it's your ANGLE". So yet again me trying to cut corners on my lather for convience sake cost me a great shave. However, if any others have some advice as to why the ATG skin flappy things came about. Please let me know. I only had one shave since I let the face normalize. So it could happen in the future.

Hey,
Sounds as though your grip on the razor and angle of the blade is off. When saving ATG the blade angle should be small, 10-20 degrees, your blade should be rigid (limited movement within your hand and in unwanted motions/directions), and your motion decisive, but their should be virtually no pressure against your skin.
These techniques will prevent excessive popping of the blade and allow for ATG passes. You get a feel for it as you shave, its wierd cause you want to securly grip the razor and prevent its movement by locking your wrist but also allow for blade movement when nessecary to prevent cuts. The sharper the razor the less pressure needed to cut. my fully hollow razors tend to pop when my technique is off b/c they are thin and don't have alot of inertia when cutting but thier sharpness accounts for that, when they dull more passes are needed to accomplish the same task along with slightly more pressure. hope this helps

Originally Posted by james2

Hey,
Sounds as though your grip on the razor and angle of the blade is off. When saving ATG the blade angle should be small, 10-20 degrees, your blade should be rigid (limited movement within your hand and in unwanted motions/directions), and your motion decisive, but their should be virtually no pressure against your skin.
These techniques will prevent excessive popping of the blade and allow for ATG passes. You get a feel for it as you shave, its wierd cause you want to securly grip the razor and prevent its movement by locking your wrist but also allow for blade movement when nessecary to prevent cuts. The sharper the razor the less pressure needed to cut. my fully hollow razors tend to pop when my technique is off b/c they are thin and don't have alot of inertia when cutting but thier sharpness accounts for that, when they dull more passes are needed to accomplish the same task along with slightly more pressure. hope this helps

Pressure is an interesting thing.....I found that I have to apply some pressure to get the ATG moving or the blade will skip and jump like a 12 year old school girl. On the opposite side I started to use negative pressure on the strop if that makes sense....I pull it up ever so slightly and that seems to have made a difference as well. Of course I say that but took a gash out of my jawline this morning on the ATG pass...I think that I didn't change my angle when coming up from the neck.

Yeah sounds like your technique, every now and then the blade does the same to me but its usually because my stroke pressure (force to move the blade ATG) is insufficient for my beard. Also instead of trying to make one swift pass make short synthing motions to help control the stroke. This will help you understand the right angles, hand positons, and pressures to apply when shaving ATG for your beard. Under the jawline is problably the hardest part to shave to me, I generally focus on my neck portion first and shave to just under the jawline, then I pull my skin on my jawline upward and shave it with and more control and ease. Other than that didn't understand the negative pressure comment and as a side note don't let the poping intimidate you. If the blade is cutting the hair it's sharp enough but in order to cut ATG confidence and proper technique is the key.