The Hybrid Pass

[Alembic]

I have noticed in many of the shaving videos I've watched that a lot of people don't make a pure North to South pass, then an East to West pass (or West to East) and then a South to North pass. Conventional wisdom would label these as WTG, ATG and ATG respectively. I know in these are not strict because of grain direction.

What I see people do is one or two kind of a hybrid passes, changing direction from North to South, East to West, West to East and South to North in one pass. For our purposes I am defining a "pass" as a full face lathering and shaving until the lather is gone. A second pass would be re-lather and shove until all of that lather is gone.

There is probably efficiency in doing it this way that I am not gaining from my process, which is lather, a pure North to South pass, re-lather, then an East to West pass on one side, West to East on the other, re-lather and then a South to North pass. I am very anal retentive and follow this routine exactly every day.

So my questions are what is your process, and, is what I'm seeing others do an indication of experience resulting in a more efficient shaving process?

Cheers!