One Pass DE Shaving

Eeyore said:

Since this is kicked up anyway ... I don't think that I agree with the absolute way you state this.

Whatever works for you, does not work for everybody.

For guys with sensitive skin, reducing the number of passes (and choosing a more efficient razor / blade combo) is worth a try though. It may work well for you.

I personally choose multiple passes with a very mild razor; works best for me.

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+1

Johnny Dale said:

My Slant does a great job on the first pass but I still need another pass and then touch-ups.

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With my Slant, I get BBS in one pass often enough that it doesn't surprise me anymore. Going in with a lot of whiskers and excellent prep makes it all possible, and the razor seems to know its way around my beard without too much input from me.

I quite often do a 1-pass shave, no matter what is the Razor du jour. WTG going N/S, then some touch-up under my chin and I'm good to go. I frequently do this when I'm getting ready to go to work (although I don't HAVE to shave for my job, sometimes I do, especially in hot weather.) It also is a handy way to freshen myself up after work if I'm going out to a nightclub or something where I need to be properly groomed, but don't have enough time to dilly-dally in the shave-den.

The precise, daily, one-pass shave is what I find myself settling into. Like the OP, I find it helps keep the ingrown hairs from taking hold. Maybe it's because less passes mean less chance of cutting "too close"... Maybe it's because, shaving daily, hairs that would like to curl back into the skin don't have the time to get long enough to do so.

I'll admit, it's not the closest shave when judged by feeling my face. But it looks like a good clean shave for the day and doesn't bring about an unsightly, red, ingrown hair mess.

All that said, if I skip a day, one pass won't cut it for me. I'd need two.

I normally do a 2 pass WTG shave but now have gone just with a slow 1 pass with a couple of touch ups. I find this just as good as 2 passes but with less irritation and ingrowns. I tend to enjoy the shave much better when I go slower on my face.

kingfisher said:

My point is I don't think everybody could do this. How long would it take you to grow out a full beard? I've seen guys who left their beard alone for a week and I have more beard in 48 hours. I could have a passable beard in about 6 or 7 days, if I wanted to sport a beard.

My point is that those of us who have this kind of rapid growth cannot get away with a one-pass shave unless we push to the point of extreme irritation.

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This ^^^.

Generalizing about peoples faces is about as accurate as generalizing about DE blades. Some of us out there are just plain hairy, and what works for the guy who shaves twice a week, and maybe on Saturday, is not going to work for the guys who often shave twice a day, and could do three times if they were bored.

Very helpful thread, perhaps for a number of us who love the art but wish to love it more by reducing some of it's challenges.

Being an old wire salt and pepper beared guy I had to, out of necessity adopt a one pass pass over style for my daily shave.

I can't miss a day of shaving for the reasons of enjoyment, pride of personal presentation and a general feeling of refreshed wellness, just me, I have to do it.

The rub for me is cumulative skin damage. Best of class prep, soap, blade and razor, all burnt in by years of natural selection have allowed me to only get so far with out having to adopt my dad's one Passover dayly shave.

Simply put, regardless where one starts, one stroke with the grain, an immediate stroke a cross the grain while still wet and move on throughout the shave, one initial lathering, minimum touch up and call it a good shave because God let's me get away with it, smile's!

It may not be helpful for anyone but me however I hope it is helpful for some.

Best regards to all

Thanks for bumping this and adding your routine. I think there's alot of guys here that can only do one pass.

As others have said it depends on the razor. But as a general rule with any DE I can get a nice acceptable shave in 2 WTG passes. Ymmv.

I agree Mark,

Two pass wtg is very helpful for us who have the courage of the blade when the skin is not.

I envy those who are blessed with willing skin but we can still keep up with our daily refreshments.

Wink!

Welcome! Whatever works for you is perfectly fine!

My experience is that I can get SAS with one careful pass. However, I need three passes for DFS or better! Clearly YMMV!

One pass has never done it for me, regardless of equipment - DE, SE or cartridge.

There is a lot of truth to this. When I stopped trying to do 3 formal passes, my shave got a lot better. I do single pass only on bottom of my neck, second most other places and touch up after that.

I can get a decent CCS with one WTG pass with an aggressive razor (H1/H2 or R41). I still prefer a second XTG pass with buffing along jawline and chin. This gives me an excellent DFS and zero irritation.

If I'm in a hurry a single WTG is ok, but usually I'm not in a hurry so enjoy the second pass.

Since I have some efficient razors, I think I may try doing a one pass shave every day. I generally shave once or twice a week, and a lot of times I'll do so many passes that I can easily irritate my face (in an effort to get a BBS). Shaving every day kinda sounds like a bummer to me, but at least it doesn't take long to perform one pass.

1-2 WTG has become my go-to shave. Often the second pass is more for fun or touch ups than completely necessary. I have an average beard. Black and curly but I'm no Jon Hamm. It helps to keep the skin stretched tight and smooth. The only person that mentioned it to me when I made the switch was my youngest son who is very observant. I think it looks about the same as when I did XTG passes, though it feels rougher and doesn't last as long. But in the end I chose comfort and ease.

A single pass does pretty well for me, along with a few touch ups I would be ready for work with just 1 pass. Usually I do at least a XTG pass after however, just to get a closer shave.

DE shaving is a beard reduction technique in its original principles. Be true to its values and you will be repaid 100 fold.

mmack66 said:

It may be all you need, but my whiskers grow in different directions and a single WTG pass would be useless.

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+1. If I did a one pass shave it would look as if I had skipped many spots.

A one pass shave looks fine to me when I'm not wearing my glasses. Now if I could convince everybody to remove their glasses I could save a whole two minutes shaving.

Daily shaving I almost always do one with the grain and one against the grain. BBS almost every time.