Thread: Shaving against the grain

My girlfriend bought me a dovo 5/8 for my 21st birthday back in April of this year(2012) I've gotten with the grain down pretty well but across and against are a little hard for my hand to figure out. I tend to ccut myself pretty bad going against. Are there any hand positions anyone can recommend? I've tried everything I can think of including using left hand on right side of face and vice versa

Do Not worry about it at this point,do two with the grain passes,in 6 mos,start dinking around with with an XTG pass,get that down,than try maybe an XTG scything pass after one WTG pass.
rome was not built in a day,you have a major learning curve in front of you,Enjoy the ride,never give up,wellcome to SRP.

I've been using the straight for a year & 1/2, never go against the grain, 2 passes with the grain & I love my results.

So as far as suggesting any info on ATG, sorry I don't have any.

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

Do Not worry about it at this point,do two with the grain passes,in 6 mos,start dinking around with with an XTG pass,get that down,than try maybe an XTG scything pass after one WTG pass.
rome was not built in a day,you have a major learning curve in front of you,Enjoy the ride,never give up,wellcome to SRP.

Thank you, I guess I am getting ahead of my self. Btw what is scything across the grain

ATG is where the roots of the hairs are tossed aside. One MUST do it. JMHO. Scything is where you tilt the blade and run it, straight up and down. Period! Makes for better results.
Of course these are advanced shaving techniques and will come to you! Something which you should try and do!

It's especially important to keep the skin stretched taught and keep the razor pretty flat when going against the grain. If I cut myself going against the grain it's usually because of one of those two things.

Not to worry,it will evolve in due time,and before you know it,your going to say: this is a cake walk,but a tad down the road.
Enjoy the journey.

Originally Posted by RARamirez

My girlfriend bought me a dovo 5/8 for my 21st birthday back in April of this year(2012) I've gotten with the grain down pretty well but across and against are a little hard for my hand to figure out. I tend to ccut myself pretty bad going against. Are there any hand positions anyone can recommend? I've tried everything I can think of including using left hand on right side of face and vice versa

I've been shaving for a year and I've only have went ATG one time after I got the experience under my belt but. I usually do a complete shave if I'm taking the wife out