Thread: Why should X/ATG be more comfortable on the second pass than the first?

This is something that I've never really understood. The razor sees the same thing either way - your hair at face level. For example, it's no more challenging to shave off a weeks worth of hair WTG than a days worth WTG, so why should XTG or ATG be any different?

The only hypothesis I can come up with is that by the second pass your face has had more time with lather/water on it, so it's effectively gotten extra beard prep.

Anyone have any ideas?

perhaps when you do wtg passes you aren't always completely cutting the hairs flat to the surface of the skin. More like some of the hairs get whittled thinner during the WTG pass and when you do your XTG/ATG passes the hairs are much easier to cut through. who knows.

I wonder if the beard hairs are at same angles to the skin after a day and after a week(longer hairs) and if this might have any effect?

Wish I had an answer, but I only do two passes WTG. I never go ATG. My shave feels smooth and looks fine. I'm happy with it.

have a snickers and you won't care

I would surmise it's because you are going across the grain. No different than cutting wood. With the grain is easier than against or across.

I have thought about this and come to pretty much the same conclusion mainaman did. When your hair is upright it is easier to cut and the shorter it is the more upright it stands. I would even postulate that a WTG shave with shorter hair would be closer then a WTG with longer hair for the sane reasons, I have had results that support this but not from a large enough sample to mean much.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

I would surmise it's because you are going across the grain. No different than cutting wood. With the grain is easier than against or across.

+1. And of course, due to stubble reduction and softening of the beard, is is much easier to do XTG on the second pass. Even with a very sharp razor, shorter hairs will provide less resistance than longer ones.

Originally Posted by holli4pirating

For example, it's no more challenging to shave off a weeks worth of hair WTG than a days worth WTG, so why should XTG or ATG be any different?

Though this may seem to correlate it doesn't. The first time I tried ATG as my initial pass was also the last time.

I think the way the hairs are cut on that initial WTG pass varies greatly from hair to hair. Some are just left shorter, while others are being 'split' or left nearly flush. Essentially, you're cutting fewer and fewer hairs with each pass.

EDIT: after careful re-reading, I'll have a go at the actual question.

ATG, and to a lesser degree XTG, forces the razor to cut completely through virtually every hair. There's less a chance of it passing over or just slicing the hair than there is in an initial WTG pass, so you feel a ton of resistance if you go ATG without first reducing the number of hairs.

For a WTG pass, any razor resistance will pull the hair out from the skin. Obviously, this is fairly comfortable, or Schick would have gone bankrupt years ago.

With X/ATG passes, razor resistance will either bend the hair (unlikely given a previous pass), or push it back in towards the skin. Resistance from a properly honed and stropped razor is trivial, so this shouldn't affect closeness much. However, it is reasonable to suspect that these small inward movements of the hairs while shaving could cause the blade to be forced in towards the skin, potentially causing irritation and/or razor burn.

That's my two cents.