Thread: Single Pass Shaves Vs Beard Reduction

Originally Posted by hoglahoo

Please define your terms beforehand instead of experimenting on us with them

So is beard reduction the reduction in length of the stubble, the reduction of the number of hairs present, the change in shape of the stubble, a combination of these, or something else I am still missing?

All right all right. I'm about to get my butt handed to me by my fellow SRP members. : - )

I take beard reduction to mean progressively shortening the length of your beard by taking light multiple passes in different directions until you no longer feel stubble.

They must be doing one ATG pass. That would result in a BBS shave. I can't imagine doing something like that but I guess it's possible?

Originally Posted by gull

They must be doing one ATG pass. That would result in a BBS shave. I can't imagine doing something like that but I guess it's possible?

The way it works for me is this.


I have sensitive skin and I shave daily. If I don't do my passes very lightly, I will end up with horrible razor burn. The only way I have found to get consistent BBS (felt in all directions) with no irritation is multiple light passes 1 WTG, 1 XTG and 1 ATG.

Now having said that. It makes sense to me that each pass reduces the length of your whisker by some nominal amount until you can no longer feel stubble.

I like what holly4pirating is saying relative to each pass being BBS in that direction only. So that means a WTG pass gives BBS in that direction, an XTG pass gives BBS in that direction, and an ATG pass gives BBS in that direction.

But it still seems to me that the length of the whisker is shortening with each pass - thus beard reduction.

I think it might be easier to go after a Middle East peace accord rather than get full agreement on this.

Ah, if this is how we define beard reduction, than I agree with it.

I too have sensitive skin, so I only shave WTG. That is why I came up with DBBS and XBBS - it was a way for me (when talking to myself) to quantify my shave results. So I only reduce but never eliminate my beard!

I don't see how the length of the whiskers has anything to do with irritation - does a razor need to be pushed harder against the skin in order to shave a longer hair against the grain?

Originally Posted by hoglahoo

I don't see how the length of the whiskers has anything to do with irritation - does a razor need to be pushed harder against the skin in order to shave a longer hair against the grain?

I don't think it does. For me, I am talking about how agressively. I am going after stubble.

If I go agressively after the whisker, I get a close shave and irritation.

If I go lightly after the whisker, I get a stubbly shave and no irritation. So I have to make more passes to get the best quality shave with the least irritation to my skin.

Why doesn't it work to shave lightly against the grain on the first pass? To ask another way, why does shaving against the grain require less aggression when the stubble is shorter? I thought a sharp razor makes contact with the hair the same way no matter how tall the hair is

Originally Posted by hoglahoo

Why doesn't it work to shave lightly against the grain on the first pass? To ask another way, why does shaving against the grain require less aggression when the stubble is shorter? I thought a sharp razor makes contact with the hair the same way no matter how tall the hair is

Great question - here I am into speculation as I have not seen this under microscope.

I speculate that if you just went into shaving a let's say 2 day old beard growth, the shaft of whisker that you are cutting is circular in cross section. So the first pass of WTG cuts a long tapered wedge along the length of the whisker from the base of the hair follicle to wherever the edge of the blade exits the whisker. Feels good with your hand going WTG but not ATG.

The XTG pass again puts a long tapered wedge cut starting at the base of the hair follicle to wherever the blade exits the whisker. So now you have a whisker with long wedge cuts on two sides 90 degrees from each other. Feels good running WTG and XTG, but not ATG.

When the ATG pass is made, the cross section of the whisker is no longer circular and is kind of a floppy pencil point shaped object that cuts with an easy stroke - no pressure. I would suspect that just plowing through the circular cross sectioned whisker from the ATG position would cause a lot of irritation. Going ATG, the whisker would hook on the edge and force it to cut right down at the follicle. Which is what it does at the third pass, but the cross section is much smaller and easier to cut at that point. So you have complete removal of the stubble down to the base with the least irritation possible

Ok - that is my best speculation on the whole matter. I am ready for the opposing viewpoints.

Originally Posted by volleykinginnc

I guess a lot of it has to do with how thick your beard is to begin with as well.....I could get BBS in one pass if I shaved my ass simply because I don't have hair there.

good point! lol my thoughts exactly (Well, close to exactly)

Originally Posted by hoglahoo

Why doesn't it work to shave lightly against the grain on the first pass? To ask another way, why does shaving against the grain require less aggression when the stubble is shorter? I thought a sharp razor makes contact with the hair the same way no matter how tall the hair is

Try it and see what happens. I did and my beard was laughing at my razor (yes, pro-honed). Beard reduction can be a good thing.