Jumping straight to ATG?

Hello all,

This morning I conducted a bit of an experiment and jumped straight to shaving against the grain on my neck and cheeks, using only a single pass for those areas. I found it to actually be a little easier, certainly faster, and did not seem to introduce any irritation. So my question is thus... what is the point of shaving in multiple passes when you have a straight that can cut it close the first time without "jamming up" the way a disposable or even a DE could if you get too much hair involved at one time.

The chin and mustache area... now that's another story.

Thoughts?

I would assume that the idea of multiple passes is to help reduce irritation. However it all depends on the individuals skin I suppose. Some are more susceptible to skin irritation than others. Just my thought. I usually go against the grain on my first pass on my neck.

Yup, it depends entirely on beard type and skin type. Some can get away with it, others can't. I've tried it a couple times, both times my beard laughed at my razor and I went back to the beard reduction system.....:rofl2:

I shave most of my head ATG with a DE on the first pass. My beard I usually use WTG, XTG, sometimes an ATG with a straight or DE depends on time.The mustache area I do XTG never ATG , I like my nose the way it is :D

I agree. If your face and skin type can take it, then why not. I wish I could use this method, but owing to how dehydrated parts of my skin are and the number of ingrowns I would get, even a small area of ATG is enough to cause me multiple spots all over my face... Enjoy it while you can!!

If your whiskers only grow in one direction your good. To find out, after you try a second pass, look at the shave cream on the razor. If there are any whiskers, you know why you need the second pass.

I've done it and it worked fine. It seems to work even better, though, if I do a WTG pass first. Each pass only takes two minutes so time isn't an issue.

I believe the idea is to reduce the stubble in stages as to help with irritation. Everybody's beard is different, and yours might not be as coarse as others. If this works for you then keep doing it, as it would save a lot of time. Personally, I do 1 pass with the grain, and 1 pass ATG, & that's usually sufficient, although I sometimes touch up some areas using an across the grain motion.

Starting out, with either the SR or DE, I go WTG to reduce the beard, then a combination XTG and ATG to finish it off.

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Originally Posted by jfritsch

Hello all,

This morning I conducted a bit of an experiment and jumped straight to shaving against the grain on my neck and cheeks, using only a single pass for those areas. I found it to actually be a little easier, certainly faster, and did not seem to introduce any irritation. So my question is thus... what is the point of shaving in multiple passes when you have a straight that can cut it close the first time without "jamming up" the way a disposable or even a DE could if you get too much hair involved at one time.

The chin and mustache area... now that's another story.

Thoughts?

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jfritsch,
As you probably already figured, everyone's technique is different and most likely it is based on a person's beard grain pattern. There are guys here who can get a smooth shave just going WTG, whereas people like me has to use several types of passes for a smooth shave.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jfritsch

Hello all,

This morning I conducted a bit of an experiment and jumped straight to shaving against the grain on my neck and cheeks, using only a single pass for those areas. I found it to actually be a little easier, certainly faster, and did not seem to introduce any irritation. So my question is thus... what is the point of shaving in multiple passes when you have a straight that can cut it close the first time without "jamming up" the way a disposable or even a DE could if you get too much hair involved at one time.

The chin and mustache area... now that's another story.

Thoughts?

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There are parts of my face that won't even tolerate XTG. I don't know whose kid I am, either, because my dad has always shaved ONLY against the grain, and he doesn't even get a weeper from it. To the left and right above my chin is an area that will not tolerate anything harsher than blade buffing WTG, and I can burn it even overdoing that.

So, I'd say if you can go ATG right off the bat and your skin tolerates it, you can ignore anything anyone tells you to the contrary. It's pretty easy to tell if your skin does or doesn't tolerate a certain method.

If I were to tell my dad that he should start WTG instead of just blasting it all of ATG right away like he's done for the last 50 years, he'd look at me like I was nuts.

If I've always been able to get away with just shaving ATG with a "normal" razor (i.e. mach 3) is it likely that I will with my shavette as well? It would certainly be useful to not need to do more than 1 pass...

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Originally Posted by phunni

If I've always been able to get away with just shaving ATG with a "normal" razor (i.e. mach 3) is it likely that I will with my shavette as well? It would certainly be useful to not need to do more than 1 pass...

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It's very likely, but you won't know until you try. When using a shavette just remember to cut the pressure down to zero and keep the angle very low.

Everyone is different, there are certain parts of my face where I have shaved ATG from day one as I don't have the dexterity or face profile to do it any other way.
It may sound odd, but until I read about WTG, ATG etc. on this website I simply 'shaved' without the complication of knowing that someone had come up with technical terms for what I was doing.
Perhaps we over-analyse what we are doing too much instead of simply getting on with it.